AIR on DVDBORN

Title link takes you there. Some amazing jam sessions to see.

Retro on Retro

Title link takes you to a post on the Future Retro Revolution on Retro Thing, alluding to the similarity in design to a pizza. The Pizza Box. Hmm... now why didn't I think of that...

Essential Retro Update

Looks like Retro Thing's James Gahame now has his Essential Retro book available via Amazon for a mere $19.95 US. James is a fellow synth addict and has dedicated an entire chapter to synths in the book. Very cool. Title link takes you there. See my previous post for more.

Guess The Moog - New Flickr Shot

Online Synth

Title link takes you to a simple subractive online synth. You edit it, press the synthesize button and a wav of the sound downloads. Via Music Thing.

Weblog Award Time!

1 day left. If you were waiting for the last minute to vote, now is it. Feed your habit. : ) Remember this blog is new and is on one topic only. Check out my Blogroll on right pane for my favorite sites worth voting for. You can vote for up to three for each category and four for Weblog of the Year.

"From now until 10:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (GMT-5) on Tuesday, January 10, 2005, anyone can nominate their favorite weblogs."

ElectroPlankton Released

Wow, it seems forever ago since I posted on the ElectroPlankton. Well according to Create Digital Music, the game will finally be available in the US. Hmm... Might be time to finally pick up that Nintendo DS.

Two Latronic Notron Sites

Title link takes you to the TecnoMage Latronic Notron Site. Note this is the same host for LIFE. Just like the way that sounds. ; ) The Latronic Notron is a rare and somewhat exotic step sequencer. You can find an overview of the Notron on SOS.



The second site worth checking out is the synthservices page, which has manuals for download and upgrade information if you were lucky enough to score one of these before they disappeared.

Roland Service Bulletins

Title link takes you to a number of Roland Service Bulletins hosted on Synthservices.com. Make sure to track back to the root of the site for more. BTW, if you're looking for M64C or M16C carts, it looks like he had a couple as of September 05.

The Crumar Spirit on Sound on Sound

The Crumar Spirit came up on the AH mailing list recently and non other than Gordon Reid posted a link the the SOS article on the Crumar Spirit. SOS is a great resource in that they post many of their reviews free of charge online.



"Nevertheless, Crumar singularly failed to make it into the big league, so when they announced the Spirit in 1983, nobody took any notice. The world's interest was only marginally more piqued when Crumar let it be known that Jim Scott (one of the co-designers of the Minimoog), Tom Rhea (another Moog employee best known for writing many of Moog's synthesizer manuals) and none other than Bob Moog himself had helped design it. And that's a shame, because, as you will see, the Spirit is one of the most complex, challenging, and -- above all -- powerful monosynths ever produced."

Non-Linear Digital Implementation of the Moog Ladder Filter

Title link takes you to pdf.

LIFE

Meet the Little Infinite Frequency Expander. Title link takes you there.



"LIFE is essentially a compact self-contained hand held inspirational tool for everybody interested in the creation of sound. It is difficult to describe the sounds that LIFE can produce, words such as… "organic", "unexpected", "ambient", "hypnotic", "subtle", "analogue", "fun", and other expletives have been used by musicians who have used the device , usually followed by "can I keep it ?" and "how much ?".

Fractal Blue Electric Blue Voyager

Trip, the stary black below is the actual finish.



"The Electric Blue Voyager is housed in a fractal blue solid ash cabinet. At first it looks black but as one draws near the fractal blue flecks pop out in an eye catching display."

RMI Harmonic Synthesizer

via this auction. Via Rasmus A. Nyaaker. Thanks Rasmus!

""The Harmonic Synthesizer - a precise approach to synthesis. You are given accurate control of waveforms by Digital harmonic Generators [2 digital oscillators with 16 sliders for producing frequencies 1x to 16x]. At your command are relative intensities of all overtones to beyond audibility! Each of the two digital harmonic generators produce an independent audio output for exotic contrasts in stereo. Preset waveforms can be selected or mixed with the generators for instant changes. Dynamic effects are created by voltage-controlled filters with low-pass, band-pass, and high-pass mixable outputs. [The envelope generator for the VCF is very strange on the Harmonic Synthesizer. It has a knob to select "Sweep Up", Sweep Down" and another knob for time.] Intricate melodic and rhythmic "sequencer" patterns are created by holding chords. Digital circuitry insures tuning stability and "drift-free" performance. The controls are rugged. The case is tough. RMI enjoys a history of building trouble-free instruments."----[from the RMI Harmonic Synthesizer's promotional brochure]"

Nice Panties

Via PunkdISCO on AH. Title link takes you to the striptease.



Roland TB-303 AcidLab
"Looking left to right the new functions are:

Overdrive nob - self explanatory
Decay nob - decay control for the VCA (the standard Decay nob is for the
Filter Env)
Resonance nob - additional res range control
Accent Switch - turns accents on for each step
Accent LED - self explanatory
Slide Switch - Not sure as does not currently work but presumably turns
slides on for each step
Slide LED - self explanatory
Bend Switch (3 pos) - Not sure but does some very cool audio bending. Can
get really hard/nice bass drum and snare sounds aswell as other musical
stuff
LED under the Bend Switch - gate LED
xMod Nob - Cross mod amount
xMod Switch (3 pos) - wave cross mod source with middle being off"

PPG Waveterm Library

I haven't been to the PPG site in a while. Title link takes you the Waveterm Library page containing direct conversions of the original Waveterm disks in WAV format. There is a link to download the complete archive or you can listen to them individually.

Korg MS Series in a Rack

Title link takes you to a post on Moogulator featuring one of the first shots he put up on his synth site. It's a racked MS20, MS50, and SQ10. Title link takes you to the post with links to more shots.

New Hartmann Neuron Software

Via tahome in the comments of this post:
"There's new software for the Neuron and NeuronVS by one of the former developers of the synthesis technology (Stephan Bernsee) at http://www.osxtools.com" Title link takes you there.

Synton 3000 Modular on the *Bay

Two shots pulled from the auction.

Close Up Synth Shots - Motherload

Carbon111 just belched a load of close-up synth shots on VSE and it looks like a bunch have followed. Title link takes you there. Enjoy. Make sure you are sitting down. : )

Drumcomuter MFB-502

Affordable little analog drum machine by MFB. Some samples after the hop. Also make sure to check out the MFB Msuikelektronik list for more of their instruments, including the MFB-POLYLITE a four voice version of their MFB-SYNTH LITE II, but with no knobs? BTW, Novamusik used to sell MFB in the states, but I no longer see them on their site. If anyone knows how to get them in the US, please comment.



· 7 analogue instruments
· integrated 16 step sequencer
· 26 controls for Attack, Decay, Pitch and more
· Kick and Snare each programmable with two different pitches
· Tom programmable with three different pitches
· Memory locations for 72 rhythms and 8 songs

Allerian's Red Poly 800

Title link takes you to a bigger shot. Via Allerian in the comments section of this post.

Wendy Carlos - Jack Robinson Collection

Click here for some amazing shots of Wendy Carlos.

"[Wendy] Carlos, musician and composer, is one of the great innovators in electronic and synthesized music. He is pictured here from a session in December, 1969. Carlos was the innovator behind 'Switched on Bach' and with Rachel Elkind they were composers on Stanley Kubrick's 'A Clockwork Orange', and 'The Shining'."

Update via the comments:
http://www.wendycarlos.com/faqs.html
http://fatbaron.com/carlos.html

Photos from the Remembering Bob Moog Exhibit

Title link takes you to pictures of the Rememering Bob Moog Exhibit in Binghampton, NY, last night, Jan 6.

Moog Synthesizer - Henry Ford Museum, Michigan

Apparently the Henry Ford Museum in Grosse Point, Michigan has the early Moog pictured below listed in their collection. Title link takes you to their Musical Instrument Collection page wher you can see it. If anyone has seen it in person please feel free to comment. Update: Just heard someone saw it on display in the Detroit airport. I remember hearing about a Moog in O'Hare; I wonder if the two were mixed up and it was actually in Detroit? If anyone knows, please comment.

Update: Word is this piece is in the Detroit airport.



Wood and Metal Made by Robert Moog
1964-1965 United States
Depth 19-1/4"; Width 36-5/8"; Height 8 -1/4"

PPG 1003 Sonic Carrier

Title link takes you to shots pulled from this auction for a PPG 1003 Sonic Carrier. Talk about a rare piece. Info pulled from the auction below. Via Kevin of Audio Playground. Thanks Kevin!



[To be clear, I am not the seller]
"a rare synthesizer produced in 6 or maximum 7 pieces in the world. This is the PPG 1003 soniccarrier, famous beceause used from Klaus SHulze with his PPG 300 system , and from Tangerine Dream. The 1003 is a analog 2 VCO controlled in a digital way by PUSHBUTTONS for to have + or - values . But the Sound is totally analog like the PPG 300 system. This synthesizer was also possible to remove from its case and put in a PPG300 system like was in Shulze's system. The synth is a monophonic 2 VCO with a memory section for to store programs. Was the first one that was able to store (we was in 1976). The cosmetics conditions of my 1003 are very good, but of course is used because this one was s/n 002 and was the one used in the SHOW in 1976 and 77. But the frontal panel is perfect.The synths works perfect but the memory section not always store, but this was the normal working way of the 1003 since the beginning. The 1003 is big, weight 20 ks, and is not eaasy to ship. The 1003 was a prototype and yuo know that all PPG producta ARE wanderfull and crazy at the same time. The unit ha salso the CV ,GATE and FILTER for to give you the way of to drive the 1003 with every device like interface or modular system."

Poly 800 mkII Page

Click here for a Korg Poly 800 mkII page sent to me by Devin (Drexon Field). There are some nice shots up and one trippy demo of the Poly 800 running through a couple of Alesis FX boxes. If you track back to http://www.drexonfield.com/, you will find links to Music, Video, Review, Studio Gear and Links. Well worth checking out. Thanks Devin!

Oberheim Xpander Site

Title link takes you to a nice Oberheim Xpander site. Make sure to check the "Xpander inside" link to see the differences between the US and Japanese(?) versions. Also check out the KRAAKDOOS (Crackle Box) and the Orange page. ;) BTW, if you have an Xpander and are wondering what version you have but you do not want to open the box, the US version has its lettering over the jacks in the back while the Japanese version has it below. Or... Aeonian on AH posted that his has "SAKATA SHOKAI LTD "Made in Japan" on the serial badge"

Akai HS-1000

Part 2 of DVDBORN's "Synths That Never Were." The first was the Oberheim OB-8k. Title link takes you there.

Bob Moog.com

Title link takes you there.

Synthi-E

Music Thing has a post up on a Synthi-E up for auction. I immediately when to grab the shots and then realized that I already had back on 8/19/05. See this post. I was wondering how long it would be before I saw one of my pulled auction shots back on the bay. This is the first! : )

Update via the comments:

"the auction is in fact the same seller (myself) as the first one listed, thanks (electroman)"

New Plan B Modules from EAR

Four new modules. Also, Analogue Haven is now the official US distributer.



The Model 14 Dual Voltage Processor
The Model 16 Spectral Multiplexer
The Model 19 VC Gate Delay
The Model 23 Dual analog Shift Register

Roland SH-5 Patch Sheet

Update: New patch sheet with numbers added around knobs for more precise editing.

Title link takes you to a pdf of a Roland SH-5 patch sheet made by Francois P. He'd been looking for a patch sheet for some time and finally decided to make his own and offer to others for use. Very nicely done I might say; and very cool of him to share. Thanks Francois!

Mungo Enterprises

Moogulator put up a post on Mungo Enterprises. Of all things they make an Ensoniq ESQ knob box that looks pretty impressive (picutured below). They also list a Sync box, TR606 Mods, MIDI Retrofits and Misc Projects on their site.

Roland SH-201 and Novation Remote 61

The Remote 61 is real. The Roland SH-201 we have yet to see. "Know the SH-32? Put a 49 keyboard, black finish and external audio input on it and you'll get an idea." Title link takes you to Music Things post.

Novation Remote 61

The Mutronics Mutator

Niall on AH put up a shot of the inside of his Mutronics Mutator. I realized I haven't put up a post on the Mutator, so why not. Title link takes you to the Mutator site with samples and more.


"The Mutator is a stereo analogue filter and envelope follower with full control facilities. It contains two independent voltage controlled filters similar to those found in analogue synthesizers, which can be used to treat any external sound source. Each filter can be controlled from its own associated low frequency oscillator (LFO) and/or its own envelope follower section, which extracts the envelope contour of an input signal and applies it to control the cut-off frequency of the filter."

Note that chip in the middle is an SSM2045. I checked Synthech and Sequencer.de to see what other synths might have used the chip. I only found it on Sequencer.de for the Solton SM100 used as a VCA/VCF. If you know what else the chip was used on, feel free to comment. Click here for a full shot of the above.

Update via the comments:
"Someone who was there at the time said...

Little-known fact:
Contrary to the information given by the Mutronics website, the Mutator was conceived, designed, and the first production runs hand-built and tested by a British guy called Nigel Bradbury who started Mutronics with London-based studio-owner Mark Lusardi in the mid 1990s.

With his partner and their new-born daughter remaining in their home-town of Oxford, Nigel worked on the Mutator in London for £50 a week, almost all of which was taken up by the rent for his grimy week-day accommodation and bus transport back home at the weekends. Eventually it became uneconomic and uncomfortable for him to continue spending so much time away from his family, and Nigel parted company with Mutronics with nothing but a second-hand Mutator (previously owned by Duran Duran, no less) to show for his hard work and creativity.

His part in conceiving and creating what is probably the best analog filter unit available remains unmentioned on the Mutronics website and promotional materials, and some people feel he was unfairly treated by his business partners. To this day he refuses to discuss this period of his life.

Nigel currently designs medical electronic equipment in Oxfordshire."

Update: more updates in the comments.

Fizmo Fixed and More on SYNTHWIRE

If you haven't checked out SYNTHWIRE lately make sure to drop by. Lot's of good posts have been coming in. XCerveau put up a post on the Moog 1130 Drum Contoller, Carbon111 put up a post on the Nord G2 Engine Controller, and he fixed his Fizmo! BTW, SYNTHWIRE is a community blog meant for you to post your stuff or other synth related stuff. If you want to start posting feel free to shoot me an email and I'll add you to the list. Invite link on the right pane of SYNTHWIRE.

The Thummer

Here's an interesting looking controller via Music Thing. Looking at the site I oddly found no mention of MIDI, only USB. See quote below. If that's the case, no using this to control my synths. : (



"Does the Thummer(tm)-Brand Jammer Produce Sound?

No, it does not produce any sound by itself. It must be connected to a personal computer (Mac, Wintel, or Linux) — via the prototype's included USB cable — to interpret its player's actions and generate musical sounds. This is very similar to an electric guitar, which needs a separate amp to produce useful sound. Future versions of the Thummer(tm)-brand jammer may include internal music synthesizers, but even then, the Thummer(tm)-brand jammer is so small that it has no room for high-quality speakers, so it would still require an external amp (or headphones)."

Thumtronics

Metasonix Wretch Samples

Michael Weeks of www.thewretch.com and www.endmusik.com just sent me links to samples and shots of the Metasonix S1000 Wretch. He is working on the manual for the Wretch and has a protype in his studio. Very cool of him to send this our way. Thanks Michael! Links and some info below.



"A full multi-part demo, with all synths the S-1000, and all drums
processed through the waveshaper and filter: http://thewretch.com/metasonix/S1000MultiDemo.mp3

Also in the directory - http://thewretch.com/metasonix/ , there are
several other demos of more extended tweaking, just single patterns, or
pattern chains, from a future retro mobius with live knob tweaking.
And there are some other demos of just the filter section, as it is the
same circuit being used in the TM-6.

And of course - mandatory synth pron - some nice close up arty photos
of tubes!
http://thewretch.com/metasonix/S1000Closeup1.jpg
http://thewretch.com/metasonix/S1000Closeup2.jpg
http://thewretch.com/metasonix/S1000Closeup3.jpg

take care,

Michael Weeks
www.endmusik.com
www.thewretch.com"

Oberheim OB-8k

Awesome. DVDBORN has a post up on the Oberheim OB-8k. If I remember correctly it was supposed to be a Gibson Oberheim midi controller with a Matrix-6 synth engine built in. The interesting thing is all of the Gibson Oberheim midi controllers at the time were the off-white cream beasties. What I envisioned was something like the Oberheim MC3000 with sliders but I never saw one. Well it looks like DVDBORN somehow found a shot. Title link takes you to the post with a much bigger version of the OB8-k prototype below. Amazing find.

Oberheim MC3000


Oberheim OB-8k Prototype (title link takes you to bigger shot)

Visual Analyser

Interesting. I'd love to have an oscilliscope but the price of one always set me back - you can buy a synth for the price of an oscilliscope. I just ran into Visual Analyser. I haven't checked it out yet, but it does look cool. Title link takes you there.



VA is a real time program which simulates a set of electronic instruments, Such as:

• Oscilloscope (dual channel, xy, time division, trigger)


• Spectrum Analyser with amplitude and phase display (linear, log, lines, bar, octaves band analysis 1/3, 1/6, 1/9)


• Wave-form generator with "custom functions", triangular, square, sinus, white noise and pulse generation (NO ALIASING)


• Frequency meter (in time and frequency domain) and counter


• Volt meter with rms and peak to peak display


• Filtering (low pass, hi pass, band pass, band reject, notch, "diode", DC removal)


• Memo windows for analysis and file saving of time and spectrum displays


• A TRUE software digital analog conversion (for complete signal reconstruction)

Pinky's Tube Synth

Title link takes you there. Via schism of Analogue Haven. Also featured on Analog Industries.

MultiMoog Patch Sheet

Title link takes you to a bigger shot. Via Dan on AH.

Analogue Haven Winter NAMM 2006

If you are forunate enought to go to NAMM this year, this is the booth to check out.

"Analogue Haven will exhibit from January 19th until the 22nd at the NAMM show in Anaheim, California. Our booth is # 1787 which is located in Hall E. For details including a floor layout please visit the NAMM show's website.

The following manufacturers and gear will be presented at our booth:

Doepfer - Dieter Doepfer and Sibille Heller - Super Suitcase with all A-100 modules including new A-188-1a/b BBD delay, A-101-9 Universal Vactrol, Switched Capacitor Filter, Zero-Thru Quadrature VCO, Touch Sensor keyboard, R2m Ribbon Controller, PK88 and LMK Professional Controller Keyboards, D3m with D3c drawbar controller, all OEM/DIY products, midi-cv and midi-sync interfaces, midi controllers and MAQ 16/3 midi/analog sequencer.

EAR Group - Mike Brown and Peter Grenader - Livewire and Plan B modules.

Eowave - Emmanuelle Gallin and Marc Sirguy - Eowave Bugs and Persephone.

Future Retro - Jered Flickinger - Revolution, Mobius, XS Expander.

Manikin Electronic - Thorsten Feuerherdt - Memotron and Schrittmacher.

Metasonix - Eric Barbour - S-1000 Wretch, TM/TX series pedals.

Modcan - Bruce Duncan - Series B system with all modules including new Analog Sequencer 54b and Clock 53b.

MOTM - Paul Schreiber - Frac Rack series modules with demonstrations from Robert Rich.

Vermona & HDB - Thomas Haller and Denny Schreckenbach - all gear including DRM, Perfourmer and Retroverb

Other gear being shown by us include:

Analogue Solutions - Vostok and possibly Concussor drum series.

Anyware Instruments - SemTex XL.

Cwejman - Eurorack module prototypes and possibly S1mk2.

Elektron - possibly Machinedrum UW.

Infection Music - Zeit.

Jomox - M-Resonator.

Macbeth Studio Systems - M5.

Sequentix Music Systems - P3.

* plus additional special guests"

Leap Sounds on CDM

This year we had what's known as a leap second, and extra second at 23:59:60. Did you remember to adjust the count to 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,1! : ) Create Digital Music asked readers to submit one second pieces of music in celebration of the leap second. Pretty cool. Title link takes you there.

Golpes Bajos Korg MS

Nice shot via this VSE post. Anyone know what synth he's playing under the MS?

Mr. Moog - New Flickr Shot

Yes it's Dr. Moog. Title of shot is "Mr. Moog."