Moogulator on MySpace

Title link takes you to Moogulator's MySpace site. Pretty cool. Moogulator runs a number of sites including Sequencer.de and the Machinesound.de blog amongst others. When I think of the top synth sites out there and especially in Germany, I think of Moogulator and Sequencer.de.

Klaus Schulze

Gorgeous shot of Klaus Schulze pulled from this Moogulator post. Title link takes you to a bigger shot.

Moog Modular Synth Manual

Title link takes you to shots pulled from this auction. Crazy that this is listed at 170 Euros.

ORLA Piano, Drawbar Accordian

More accordian madness. This one along with some other links sent my way via ben shannon illustrator. Title link takes you to ORLA.

Yamaha CS80

Title link takes you to shots pulled from this auction. Via Loscha.

Native Instruments Kore Video

Title link takes you to the video on Sonic State.

EML Synkey OVATION

via this auction. Details below.



"Rar, fancy: vintage EML Synkey vintage analog punch-card programmable synthesizer in recently adjusted; absolute top condition. It's the top rar: OVATION - version. Fully works and sounds incredible: The low-pass filter goes to high-pass filter and the band-pass in between and this is extremely effective. It has ringmodulator and some arpeggioator-like LFO-waveform varies due to the speed. It's unique and you can make some unpredictable polyphonic arpeggiations. Dealing with punch-card makes this machine very exotic! So maybe you bid on technically one of the best Synkey of the world! Pitty, it runs on American standard current 110 V , so there's a 220 V -adapter in need or comit me to do the modification for some extra (ca. 35-50EU depending on trafo)!"

"... these came out as early as in 1976, not 1978/79 as stated on most synth-sites out there. At least, this is what I was told by one of the founders/owners of the EML company - States Mikael. Thank you for the info! "

Update via the comments: "The Synkey service manual I have dates the individual drawings from about April 1974 to March 1975. 1976 therefore seems about right."

Santuarios

Thought I put up a post on this previously, but I can't find it, so here it goes. Title link takes you to Santuarios, a site with tons of gear p*rn of various studios.

Christian Wittman of Lightwave

Deathknöbbes

Hubba hubba. Waldorf Q on top of Alesis Andromeda. I found this one on this post about the PEK. You never know where you'll find some of these gems.

Update via Mr. Array in the comments:
"That's no Q+. Just a regular 16 voice Q, and a yellow one at that. I think the yellow was the best color by the way.

If you want to see a Q+, look over yonder:
studio_2005_small.jpg

There's an XTk 30 hidden somewhere in the pic too ; )"

matrix: I thought that was a reqular Q based on the logo, but the only color that made sense to me in the shot was red. Thanks for clarifying Mr. Array. It's updated.

Update2: And another shot form Mr. Array.

DX11 With Accordian Keys

Another synth modded with accordian style keys. Title link takes you to shots pulled from this auction.

Roland MC4 b + MTR100

Title link takes you to shots pulled from this auction. The Roland MC4b is an old school sequencer with CV outs (pictured below). Note the MTR100 cassette interface for storing your sequences in the other shots. Via bleepsandbloops. BTW, according to the post, if you buy this for bleepsandbloops you'll get a boob flash.

Gnostic Rocket and The Springboard Dub

Title link takes you to Gnostic Rocket, a new blog on "Analog Synths, Circuit Bending, Music Production, Loop-Based Music and more. Brought to you by Gnostic Rocket, a Toronto-based experimental dub musician." Current post is on The Springboard Dub (pictured below) with samples. Interesting piece. I'm looking forward to seeing what else crops up. Check it out.



"This instrument is basically two cannibalized delay circuits, with bends added, built in a small piano-shaped cabinet (the unit is about 13" across, 18" high). There are springs in the cabinet where the piano keys would usually be."

Update via Doktor Future in the comments: "Hey , I listened to this guy (Gnostic Rocket) and this instrument at the Ambinet Ping in Toronto. Was pretty good. He backed it up with an electribe. It was a good set. He told me he paid a lot (can't remember exactly how much, somewhere between 2 and 4k CDN I believe) for that springie thing." Thanks Doktor.

The ANYSEQ

Title link takes you to a page on the ANYSEQ on sequencer.de. For those of us that do not speak German but speak English, here is a Google English translation. This appears to be a hardware sequencer by the folks of Anyware Instruments who brought us the SEMtex.

Moog Party Time - New Flickr Shot

Pikachu Possessed

Alright, this one would freak out my daughter. Via GetLoFi.

Roland SH-5 Modular - New Flickr Set

Title link takes you to more by unrest including Fenix and Serge modulars.

Willy D. Synth - New Flickr Shot

I think he has synth on his mind... Title link takes you to more.

Unisynth Electronic Guitar

No title link. Some shots I pulled from this post on Craigslist. More on the Unisynth Electronic guitar here.

Synth Buddha Says...

"Every human being is the LFO modulating his own health or disease."



I think mine is set to random. Title link takes you to more shots by The Genie Photos.

Dance Buddha Dance!

Ok, had to put up another. I just picture this little Buddha rocking out.



Make sure to read the captions when you get there.

Three Decades of Buchla

You are looking at three decades of Buchla in one gorgeous Buchla modular consisting of modules from the 100, 200 and new 200e series (who said you couldn't mix the 200e with older Buchla modules?). Title link takes you to a larger shot and one additional shot. Absolutly breathtaking. Note there is one non Buchla module in the system, a Milton Sequencer by Peter Grenader. Thanks Reed!

Update: Notes from Reed: "I decided it was time to put the greatest hits of all my Buchla systems into one easy-to-use configuration. It is basically all my personal favorites of the 100, 200 and 200e world, culled from systems that have come in & out of my hands over the past 12 years.

After I figured out the module configuration, I had the guy who did the metal ducting in my studio fabricate 7 "boats," in Buchla parlance, out of galvanized steel. Then my business partner Phil & I bought a router & some maple: plywood for the sides & solid pieces for the front. Learning how to use the router to cut curvy pieces of wood was fun. Phil did nearly all of the routing while I did nearly all of the sawdust-sweeping. We both did a lot of sawing. In the meantime, my long time technical guru Takeshi Kawana of Kawanatron built a beautiful power supply which weighs in at 46 pounds & sits separately from the maple cabinet. All 3 of us ran the various power wires & terminals throughout the boats, and I spent many nights installing the modules, replacing their power wires & terminals, and overcoming my 20-year fear of soldering.

I will not sell this. Most of the modules (except the 200e and some of the late-70's 200 stuff) have been an integral part of my music-making life for years, and ever since we first threw the power switch the instrument has been used every day in our television music business and almost every night after work when I stay & get wrapped up in the banana cords."

New Gear from EAR

"Electro-Acoustic Research is pleased to formally announce four
Livewire modules premiered at the Winter Namm show:

The Sub-Divider

A modern day re-issue of Nyle Steiner's classic Synthasystem
Frequency Divider. The Sub Divider is everything The S-P
Frequency Divider was...and a little more.

The Chaos Computer Series

The Chaos Computer, Random Gates and Analogue
Computation modules are the first three in a series of modular
analog computing functions which will be coming in the next few
months.

For details, images and descriptions of these and other Livewire
products, click on the link below and hit the Livewire tab for the
product summary menu.

http://www.ear-group.com/"

BamBam Studio

Title link takes you to BamBam Studio sent my way via Marc van den Hurk. Links to some gear p*rn below.

Mmmm... Hartmann


"A studio from om of the three Gearjunkies ;))))

http://www.bambamstudio.nl/plaatjes/studio/HighRes_photos/
I also have pics from my stydio in the 80/90ies:
http://www.bambamstudio.nl/plaatjes/studio/Jaren-80-studio/

more info on www.bambamstudio.com

Marc van den Hurk
music producer | sound engineer"

Full gear list on site.

The Honky Tonk Music Klone Dual Percussion Synthesizer

This one came up on AH with no info. If you know more about it, please share. Title link takes you to more shots [2/1/10: looks like the link is down].

Update 2/1/10: Some additional info via Alex: "The Klone Dual Percussion Synthesiser features -- as the name suggests -- two individual synthesis channels. Each channel comprises a VCO and noise generator, a multimode filter (HP, LP, BP, BS) which can self oscillate, and a simple D envelope (with variable polarity) for filter and pitch modulation. The envelope's decay time (which can be considered as release time) also affects the VCA. Channel 2 features also an LFO and the ability for FM -- which can produce some interesing results. Klone is either triggert by pads (e.g. Simmons Hugger Slave) or by a drum machine with separate (trigger) outputs.

I bought mine for 230€ (or was it DM?!) some years ago and it is in a rather poor optical condition, despite of that it's still fully operational." Click the KLONE link below for more.

Q R Ghazala's Tape Canvas

The brown stripes are tape. See the tape head at the end of that cable? Well you can pass it along all that tape in any direction you want. Interesting. Title link takes you to the post on GetLoFi. I'm digging GetLoFi's new looks as well - very sharp.

Stooge Industries

Title link takes you there. "Stooge Industries began by accident in 2000 when Dave Bradley decided to add modules to his Synthesis Technology MOTM synthesizer from different manufacturers, but with custom matching front panels. After a long period of trial and error, he found he was able to exactly match the original look of his system. Word got out and other folks wanted panels for their own systems. Six months later Dave and Larry Hendry joined forces. These "wise guys" shared a love for the Three Stooges, as well as synthesizers. Guessing correctly that there was a demand for synthesizer accessories, they became partners even though they had never met face to face."

Monosynth Lead War on HC

Remember the Mono Bass Synth Samples on HC? Well unfed started a Monosynth Lead War thread on HC. Feel free to submit your own or see what others are submitting. I'll post back when the results are in.

Update: Looks like there will be a Pad War as well. I'll put up a post on the results.

Larry Fast and Synergy

Title link takes you to the Larry Fast Synergy site. Scroll down and look for the album list on the left and/or bottom of the page for links to shots and interesting info behind each album.

Shot from The Metropolitan Suite - Note the Moog Modular 15

Dave The Packrat's Studio

David C. Lovelace, creator of The Packrat sent me the following shot of his studio. I asked if it would be ok to put it up on a post and he said sure. Nice studio. Title link takes you to a bigger shot. Thanks Dave.

914 Fixed Filter Bank and More Coming From Audio Damage

Title link takes you to more on Analog Industries.



"We will release the 914 Fixed Filter Bank, which is a major upgrade to the 907A. The 914 features 12 bands, as opposed to 8 in the 907A. It also has makeup gain (an oft-requested feature of 907A owners), separate level controls for wet and dry, and an overall bandwidth control. It is head and shoulders above the 907A, and with the bandwidth control, makes a stellar passive-style equalizer. The 907A will be discontinued, and the 914 will be $39.00. The upgrade for previous owners will be $10.00, and will include Universal Binaries for the OSX crowd."

Roland SH-101 - New Flickr Shot

Cool shot by cydonia.

Maplin 5600 Vintage Analog Synth

Title link takes you to shots pulled from this auction. Details below. You can also grab a zip of the 5600 technical specs here.



"Sound sources: 4 Oscillator; Noise generator (pink-white); External signal in.

Sound modifiers: 2 Filters; 2 Amplifiers; 2 Ring modulator; Envelope control

Joystick-action is unparalelled: you can set the intervals; amounts and you route anything to be adjusted to the joystick as: filter cutoffs; oscillators... by a single pin-matrix-ing.

Spring-Reverb; LFO; Inverter; Sample & hold; Transient-generator; Exponential converter; Phaser; Stereo output.....

The machine is pre-wired and modular and can be cross patched with the pin-matrix like that on the EMS- synthesizers. That makes all much easier; faster; and sensible and adds endless possibilities. This modular synth is one of the most versatile synth of the world in it's class and beats all the famous and classic modulars in this aspect!

I only sell it because I don't have the time to work on it! 1 Year ago I've been spent hours with testing it and I have to say all was very easy to find on it and I've made some kick-drum sounds and I have to tell: The precisity of the access to all the possibile parameters was really amazing: Setting the pitch of a kick drum's click-portion and adjusting the level and lenght; then the thumb, the tail, the body can be set likewise. All the levels; pitches; times can be set on say even a single kick drum and it's far not that easy on almost any other modulars!

The machine is in showroom condition, like never used, without any scratches. Internally I will try testing before selling it. It comes with the flighcase-cover and will look like a small Fender-Rhodes. The included manual details the diagrams, the operation and has setting-charts. If I will find it, I will include the other manual which has all the technical details as specs. service manual. Weights about ca. 30 kg so please think accordingly!"

Note: I am not selling this so do not contact me. Just pulling the shots and details so they are not lost when the auction is lost months from now.

Roland Jupiter 4 - New Flickr Shots

Title link takes you to more shots by The Genie Photos.

Oakley, MOTM and Blacet Modular Synthesiser

Title link takes you to shots pulled from this auction. Details saved below.



"Custom built “one off” large format Modular Synthesiser in Mint condition and perfect working order. It has been custom built from the very best of Oakley Sound, MOTM, Blacet, Encore and Tellun System modules, with custom engraved stunning looking electric blue front panels and a solid American Oak case. It has been designed and built to the highest standards, and has two separate power supplies, a Power One 1.7Amp PSU for analog modules and a Power One 800ma PSU for the “dirtier” digital modules. This arrangement keeps the soundpath noise free.

I built this modular without regard to cost and for my own personal use, it has a wide variety of filters so that as well as making all of the usual (and unusual J )modular sounds, it will also mimic a lot of old school Analog synths – the Oakley VCO’s are based on the Minimoog core, so in conjunction with the Oakley Superladder moog filter you can get perfect Minimoog and Moog Modular sounds, or use the MOTM 440 for Pro 5 sounds, the MOTM420 for Korg MS20 sounds, The MOTM410 for Korg PS3200 sounds, the MOTM480 for Yamaha CS80, the MOTM485 for Yamaha GX1 etc. BUT it also includes 2 Blacet Miniwaves with optional PPG wavetable ROMS, so wire in a couple of the Miniwaves and use them with the MOTM440 filter and you have instant PPG Waveterm 2.3 sounds!

But there is more, it also includes some very rare modules including the Oakley Octal Resonator (Only 20 ever built!), the very highly regarded ENCORE thru zero Bode style frequency shifter and the extremely wacky Neural Agoniser, which uses two huge (and very expensive) Accutronics spring line reverb tanks to make sounds you have never heard before! The Blacet MiniWaves both have the Hylander Rom expansion boards, so each MiniWave has TEN selectable Roms instead of one or two, and there are 256 waves and 256 banks in each rom - that is a LOT of waveforms. One of the ROMs even allows the MiniWaves to act as a fully featured Quantizers!.

Here is a list of all modules:

TOP ROW
OAKLEY MidiDac Midi to CV Convertor
1 of Custom Built Noise source - produces White Noise, Pink Noise and two of three oscillator 808 type “Chime” Noise sources – great for bell tones
2 of OAKLEY VCO Modded with Switchable Octaves and Fine tune (like minimoog)
1 of Oakley VCO with standard Coarse and Fine Tune controls
2 of BLACET Mini Waves – Modded with Rom expansions, each miniwave has TEN selectable roms, instead of usual 1 or 2. Includes PPG Roms and many others.
2 of Oakley ADSR / VCA’s latest issue with extra fast envelopes and status leds
1 of MOTM 440 Voltage Controlled Filter
1 of OAKLEY SuperLadder Moog filter 1P, 4P and bandpass
1 of OAKLEY Octal Resonator resonant filter bank

BOTTOM ROW
1 of OAKLEY VC-LFO
1 of OAKLEY Sample & Hold and Slew Module
1 of OAKLEY Wavefolder
1 of ENCORE Electronics Thru Zero Frequency Shifter
1 of OAKLEY Little EG – AD and AR envelope shaper
1 of OAKLEY Triple VCA
2 of OAKLEY MultiMix – With full “Stooge” mod front panels, allow addition or subtraction of voltages
1 of MOTM 485 – Yamaha GX1 LP and HP Voltage Controlled Filter
1 of MOTM 410 – Korg PS3200 style Triple Bandpass Voltage Controlled Filters
1 of OAKLEY OMS410 Expander for MOTM410, allows external use of 3 LFO’s, extra CV’s etc
1 of MOTM 420 – Korg MS20 style LP/HP/BP Voltage Controlled Filter
1 of MOTM 480 – Yamaha CS80 type LP/HP Voltage Controlled Filter
1 of TELLUN TLN-156 Neural Agoniser – With Dual Accutronics spring reverb tanks and full front panel design.

I will include a useful selection of patch cables. Also included is a huge ring binder with operation notes, building instructions, parts schedules and circuit diagrams for all of the modules. The whole system has been recently calibrated and fully tested and is 100% working. It has had very little use and should provide years of faithful service.

This is advertised elsewhere (SOS) so I reserve the right to end the auction early. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, not just the best sounding Modular synth available but the best looking one too! You could easily pay more for a piano and that just has one sound and doesn't look as nice either :-)

For further information the links below should be useful:
Oakley homepage: http://www.oakleysound.com/projects.htm
MOTM Homepage: http://www.synthtech.com/motm.html
Blacet Homepage: http://www.blacet.com/MW.html
Expansion board for Miniwave: http://www.hylander.com/miniwave.html
Encore Electronics: http://www.encoreelectronics.com/cont_fs1.html
Tellun Corporation: http://www.tellun.com/motm/diy/tln156/TLN-156.html"

Waldorf, Dave and Dave

And more on HC. Looks like there's a synth p*rn fest going on.

Alesis Andromeda and Dave Smith PolyEvolver

Title link takes you to more, surgical shots of the Dave Smith PEK on HC.

OB12, Korg Karma and Roland JD800 Shot

via HC.

VSE Members Mono Synth BASS Samples!!!

Title link takes you there. This is one long list. Enjoy.

Tapewarm Studio

I asked daddio if he had a link he wanted me to put up for this post on his modded Sequential Circuits Six-Trak. He sent me a link to his Tapewarm Studio. Nice. It's a pretty cool site with tons of groovy shots and music. Well worth checking out. Title link takes you there.

(P.S. I also noticed I had Tapewarm listed on this studio p*rn fest post, but I haven't gotten around to checking all of them out yet. Glad I ran into this again.)

Thanks daddio! Hmm... never thought I'd say that.. I'm old, but not 1950's old. ; )

ARP 2500 Sample, Upgrades and Service on C.M.S.

Title link takes you to Phil Cirocco's C.M.S ARP 2500 page with samples and a list of upgrades.

Oakley Sound TB3031

I previously posted about the Oakley Sound TB3030. I just ran into the TB3031. It's a heavily revised version of the TB3030 including discrete divider and waveshaper allowing more musical sub basses according to the site. The overdrive circuitry allows level changes w/o affecting overall volume and the unit supports filter FM, a sub octave generator, VCA decay control, accented decay control, velocity CV and more. Title link takes you there. Samples on site.

Daddio's Six-Trak

Look closely, that's a separate Fatar keyboard controller. Via daddio of Tapewarm Studio.

Phoscyon

Another Roland TB-303 VSTi. Title link takes you to the site with samples. Via Digital Music Mag.



"Phoscyon is great Acid-Line synthesizer (particularly untypical low pass filters with 18db/oct dumping and constant resonance amplitude in the whole frequency domain). We equipped it with arpeggiator - irreplaceable in electronic music and integrated, perfectly fitted distortion effect, which without Acid music practicaly doesn't exist."

Synthesizer Medley 1985 Grammy Performance

Looks like Music Thing found the motherload of the 80s synth performances on YouTube: Thomas Dolby, Herbie Hancock, Howard Jones and Stevie Wonder all in one crazy ass performance. Title link takes you there. Make sure to check out the other YouTube gems on Music Thing as well.



Tracks I recognized (I know I missed a few, so if you know, feel free to comment):
Rockit - Herbie Hancock
She Blinded Me With Science - Thomas Dolby
Europa - Thomas Dolby
What is Love - Howard Jones
? - Stevie Wonder (I forget the damn name of the track)
I Just Called to Say I Love You - Stevie Wonder
Living in a Computer World - ?
America The Beautiful

Update: And the synth list via pinkus in the comments:
matrix 6
linn 9000
tr606 not pluged in lol
matrix 12
memorymoog
kurzweil controller
fairlight
kurzweil 250x
yamaha qk
oberheim xpander
dmx
thats all i got right now..

Screamers on YouTube

Classic Synth Punk. Zero guitars. ARP Odyssey and Fender Rhodes. Links below.



Screamers - Vertigo

Published on Feb 16, 2006 Fatty Jubbo

Screamers - The Beat Goes On

Published on Feb 19, 2006 Fatty Jubbo

Florian Scheider of Kraftwerk on YouTube

Post up on Synthwire.

Synths Accordian

Interesting mods on a few synths. Note these are keyboard replacements. Remove and store the old and replace with the accordian style interface. No title link, all links with images.

Kobol RSF


Roland Juno 106


Elka Unicord

Roland Jupiter 8 Minus Keyboard

Title link takes you to more shots on synthesizerforum.de.

Principles of Flight vs. Pixel Royal - Video

Post up on Synthwire.