MATRIXSYNTH

at 5/14/2006 01:13:00 AM

flickr by misscaro.

at 5/13/2006 05:43:00 PM

"Cybersonica and Encompass, in association with Phonica Records, present a two-week exhibition of contemporary sonic artworks. The exhibition showcases a range of sonic and audiovisual works which move beyond the ‘screen, keyboard, mouse scenario’ to explore new and exciting approaches to creative interactivity - responding to physical input, proximity, sound, kinetics, elapsed time and the surrounding environment. All the selected works are playful, engaging and accessible to all."

Cybersonica & Encompass Sonic Art Exhibition
Monday, 8th - Saturday, 20th May 2006
11.30am-7.30pm, Mon-Wed, 11.30am-8pm, Thurs-Sat
Phonica Records, 51 Poland Street, Soho, London W1F 7NG

Title link takes you to more.

at 5/13/2006 10:17:00 AM

Midi Bagpipe Emulator.

"vPipes is an electronic Uilleann Pipes emulator (without regulators) affording the possibility of practising in a variety of situations which would prove to be impractical or impossible with a real set of pipes."

Title link takes you to more info.

via Music Thing.

at 5/13/2006 12:24:00 AM

Check this wall out. Going from left to right then top down: Two Oberheim Cyclones, JL Cooper Synapse MIDI patchbay (16 in, 20 out), Grex MXF8 ("the
almost vaporware product from the Notron guy (Gerard Campbell)"), a GenoQs Octopus, Oberheim DMX, two Sequentix P3s. a LinnDrum, two Notron sequencers and a Linn LM-1. Here's one more shot.

So of course I had to ask how the sequencers compared. Tom had the following to say:

"Octopus, P3, Notron are all different. I've only had the Octopus for a day, so what you're reading is initial impressions.

The Notron is still the only hardware sequencer I know of that decouples the note on time from the length of a step. Everyone else forces a note on to be less than or equal to a step size or else used some type of tied note notation to extend it.

Why do I care? Well, it's easy on the Notron to set one element to play 2 notes with long overlapping times and then to have the pitch or sustain modulated over the course of a sequence. Ideal for slow spacey things like old FSOL or Orb stuff or for NWW/Coil drone things.

The Notron is also one of the few (only?) hw sequencers to send out MIDI CC messages 'between the notes'. Everyone else spits out a MIDI CC value at each step. Notron sends out a seemingly continuous stream so that modulations really do sound and feel smooth and flowing. So you can have a track running at a slow tempo and still apply a smooth modulation with it. Other hw seqs would have a large, grainy steppiness to them at slow tempos.

The Octopus has a very easy interface for zooming into the step level and back out to the track view (10 tracks at once) or grid view (multiple pages of tracks). It's also very easy to check and change things like MIDI channel for each track (one button press and one knob turn). Still in development so the modulations and 'extras' are not as fleshed out yet as the Notron or P3. It does have some nice touches already and the UI really does make it fast to use.

The P3 reminds me of the Oberheim Cyclone with access to it's programming guts. :-) It's easy w. the P3 to create those self-modifying sequences that morph over time and change and shift with each pass. It's a very inward looking sequencer - it's focussed on modifying it's internal patterns and play structure.

The Notron is an outward sequencer - it is designed to spit out as much different MIDI info as possible and let the source deal with it as best as it can.

The Octopus is inbetween. Lots of parallel tracks possible (90 max), with some internal modification possible, not much extra MIDI spit out (other than the standard MIDI cc info per step)."

Via Tom of Synth Services. Thanks Tom!

at 5/13/2006 12:15:00 AM

Click here for another sample of the OB-Mx sent my way via Brian Kehew of The Moog Cookbook. It's the 4M mp3. The other is the sample he previously sent in.

"Here are some of my sounds, they kinda show off what the synth does well. It's aggressive without losing the "muscle" of the sound; a real DIRTY sound when you want it. It has nice complexity and definitely sounds analog. I think it's unfairly treated by some people, although there are others like me that are in love with it. The filters sound great, and the complexity - from the Matrix-style routings - gives it a lot of options if you're a programming nut.

I think it got too much attention for being connected to Don Buchla - he did very little on the synth, and it's NOT like a Buchla really. But you have to give them credit - at the time this came out NOBODY was making analog synths. I thought it was such a bold (and commercially ahead-of-it's time, or behind-it's-time!) idea. Sure was expensive though. For a short time, about three years ago, unused voice cards were turning up - they all sold fast as people stacked up their synth. Mine now has all twelve voices."

OB-Mx shot via Sequencer.de.

at 5/13/2006 12:12:00 AM

This one in via Phil. Two shots pulled via this auction

Click here for a Popular Electronics article on the Psych-Tone.

Details from the auction:
"very similiar to the Triadex Muse this is a simpler odd creation from Popular Electronics, Feb 1971- issue is included with notes. weird synth. seems to be working, the attack , sustain, decay, controls don't seem to have much, if any effect, and is sold as is, as described. This thing is lots of fun, crazy patterns, you can freeze the pattern so it stutters. A very nice and fun piece and seems well put together, one slider cap is missing. more info on the psych tone here"

at 5/13/2006 12:10:00 AM

"I made an awesome Techno/Rave styled Track just with a Gameboy Advance, Gameboy red and Help from a Jp8000.. Its called: Play it loud (Advanced Mix)"

Title link takes you there. It's the first track when you get there.
Via Tax-5 on this VSE Post.

at 5/13/2006 12:09:00 AM

Title link takes you to shots pulled from this auction.

at 5/12/2006 07:30:00 PM

This one for a Roland TR-808.

Matthew Hodson asked me to put this one up for him.

He's selling this.

And the scam is selling this.

Matrixsynth to the rescue! : )

Be carefull folks!

at 5/12/2006 10:40:00 AM

Title link takes you to some gorgeous hi-res shots of the PPG Wave 2.2, sent my way via Kevin Kelly. Very nice. Thanks Kevin.

at 5/12/2006 09:45:00 AM

This has to be the funniest shit I've ever seen. Huppo put his Nord Modular up on the bay two weeks ago. Some guy just put up his own auction, but get this. Not only did he copy huppo's auction but he actually pointed to the pics on huppo's server. So what did huppo do? He updated the pics of course.

"Hey Matrix,

This is Huppo from VSE. I put up a post in the Gear for
Sale section regarding an ebay auction I found this morning.
You might be amused by the auction.

In short, my own Nord Modular auction from a couple weeks
ago was lifted word for word and picture for picture by some
dirtbag. Only he left the links to the pictures on my
webserver! How thoughtful of him to give me permission to
change "his" listing at will. :o)

love your blog. its a daily stop. Thanks!

~huppo"

Thank you huppo! This is absolutely hillarious!
Shots saved for posterity; title link takes you to them.

at 5/12/2006 09:43:00 AM

This one via Mike Jerugim. Title link takes you to more including some really nice Yamaha CS80 shots.

at 5/12/2006 08:40:00 AM

Title link takes you to a post on GetLoFi with links to some vintage Casio keyboard manuals including the SK-1. Perfect timing for me as I just picked up an SK-1 for $4.99 at a local thrift store.

at 5/12/2006 01:10:00 AM

Title link takes you to more - a lot more.

at 5/12/2006 01:09:00 AM

Title link takes you to a 40.3M MOV of the Space Synth. Via the comments of this post.

at 5/12/2006 01:08:00 AM

flickr via malota.

at 5/11/2006 09:06:00 AM

Published on May 9, 2006

"Testing out Essential Reality P5 Powerglove with some G2X patches. Awesome :)"

Via Luca of ProgSounds. Very nice indeed. Thanks Luca!

at 5/11/2006 09:03:00 AM

Title link takes you to shots pulled from this auction. Via Luca of ProgSounds.

at 5/11/2006 09:01:00 AM

Cool extension for FireFox sent my way via Loscha. If you have Firefox you can install this extension and zoom in and out of images on this site and any other site for that matter without leaving the page. It just makes it one step easier. Thanks Loscha!

at 5/11/2006 02:19:00 AM

Title link takes you to shots pulled from this auction.

Details:

"Model SQ-01, Make = Firstman, which is a Multivox company.

This rare mono synth does some really deep, very analog bass. Somewhere between a Moog bass and an SH 101. You can enter notes into sequences with the one octave of membrane keys, ala EDP Wasp. There are 4 banks or 4 sequences of memory that can be written and recalled.

ALSO, you have CV in and out and clock in and out for control. With using the same CV converter I use for my Roland Sh 101 it plays just fine. Also I have stepped the sequencer in sync with my TR 606. So both sync of sequencer and CV playability are possible. This is a very rare item, let the audio demo speak for its self at http://www.myspace.com/omosc just scroll down to Firstman demo and have a listen, the first part is dry, the second half is with delay and verb...awesome filter, cool sequencing, vintage analog and no one else in town will have one."

at 5/11/2006 01:42:00 AM

This one in via Pual Nagle on SynthSights. Hmm... I do think it's about the gear after all, well just a little... Is the Radias even out yet?

One more shot....

Title link takes you to Bogus Focus Records, home of both shots.

at 5/11/2006 01:37:00 AM

Gorgeous shot from Skydancer Media via Richard Wentk on SynthSights. Hmm... I thought SynthSights wasn't about the gear. : ) Title link takes you there.

at 5/11/2006 01:31:00 AM

Another via dmxkrew. I was going to just append a link to my previous post for this one, but come on... there's a cat and tons of synths, so... it get's it's own post.

at 5/11/2006 01:14:00 AM

This one via dmxkrew. I love the synth in this video. BTW, anyone know what it is? My brain stopped working about two hours ago...

Via the comments it is the Roland Jupiter 4.

at 5/11/2006 12:53:00 AM

Title link takes you to shots pulled from this auction.

Details:
"This is a non-working Philicorda, believed pretty much complete except for the panel underneath the keyboard and one switch top, but making no sound. It would be possible to repair it, or replace the innards with another example, because the whole point of this is the superb psychedelic painting on the case.

It's the work of Alistair Campbell, aka The Great Unknown. He has been painting in this style for thirty or more years, including doing the cover art for a classic book on psychedelic bands, but generally only sells art to friends or gives it away. www.eclipse.co.uk/sweetdespise/libertycaptions/ tells you a bit more about him.

This amazing image is the result of about 50 hours' work - and a lifetime of mystical experience."

at 5/11/2006 12:27:00 AM

Check out their synth list on VSE post. Yowsa. Title link takes you to Avalon Superstar's website. Once there, the gallery link takes you to more pics. I couldn't figure out how to enlarge them in either IE7 or Firefox, so if you figure it out feel free to comment.

at 5/11/2006 12:26:00 AM

"Usine is a universal audio software especially designed for live or studio utilisation. Usine is made by musicians and audio engineers to respond to their specific problems in a lot of domains like live sampling, effect processing or sound design. Usine is a real musical instrument, flexible and powerful if you like to transform, resample the sound on stage (not only push the play button of your sequencer!), improvise and create unusual effect."

Title link takes you there.

at 5/11/2006 12:25:00 AM

Looks like the Aurora made an appearance at SDIY 2005. That's Paul Maddox of Modulus Electronics and the Monowave playing it. Some notes on sound according to two that have actually played it: according to Chris Strellis "It was OK - a bit confusing routing some of the modulation sources to destinations. Definately Moogy sounding and probably worth the money. It was for sale then at something like £400. I passed on it." According to dmxkrew, "just saw your post on the aurora, it's hand built by adrian who runs SRS in bedford, UK, which is where my mum lives so I usually go there when i need something fixing. adrian is a nice guy and good at fixing stuff, he let me have a play on the synth when it wasn't quite finished, sounded great, the design owes a lot to the SCI pro one in my opinion." At the price under 600 Euro, I'm thinking this might actually be a great little monosynth. More on the Aurora here.

Update via the comments of this post: " have had the AR1 for quite a while now and have used the synth on many recordings for solo projects under Brendan Pollard and Rogue Element.
She is extremely versatile, moog sounding but with careful manipulation even ARP. Fantastic for sound effects, leads, basses, etc.
Our studio is 90% analogue and she was definitely a worthy addition to our collection,
Cheers
Brendan www.rogue-element.uk.com"

at 5/11/2006 12:02:00 AM

flickr by donalhanley. What is this and what does this knob do? Looks like a Novation to me. Bueller? Bueller?

Update via the source himself:
"Its an X-Station. The Effects section (which features delay, reverb, chorus, compression, distortion and EQ) has three generic knobs - Level, Top Line and Bottom Line. It adapts to whichever effect is currently selected, so for Delay it controls feedback, for Chorus it controls Rate, for EQ base level etc."

at 5/10/2006 09:23:00 AM

"ALCHEMISTS OF SOUND
Saturday 28 May 2005 8.30pm-9.30pm; 3.15am-4.15am

"The BBC's Radiophonic Workshop was set up in 1958, born out of a desire to create 'new kinds of sounds'. Alchemists of Sound looks at this creative group from its inception, through its golden age when it was supplying music and effects for cult classics like Doctor Who, Blake's Seven and Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, and charts its fading away in 1995 when, due to budget cuts, it was no longer able to survive.

There are interviews with composers from the Workshop, as well as musicians and writers who have been inspired by the output. Great archive footage of the Workshop and its machinery is accompanied by excerpts of the, now cult, TV programmes that featured these sounds."

Title link takes you to more info.

at 5/10/2006 01:39:00 AM

Title link takes you to another shot and some mp3s. Roxy Music meets Japan, 80s synth pop. Jason Proctor on synths.

Update via BariaBlog in the comments:

"oh my god! what we do as youths comes back to haunt us doesn't it!

Jason and I were doing this stuff inthe early eighties and believe it or not we are still at it - across oceans and time we still have a mad desire to make a racket.

Watch out for invasion of the fat traingle players in future - the other half of the spaceship!"

at 5/10/2006 01:36:00 AM

Title link takes you there.

at 5/10/2006 01:21:00 AM

Click here for a demo of the Frostwave Fat Controller driving a Modulus Electronics Monowave. The track is Sequence 1. A Virus Indigo provides textures and a Multimoog provides lead. Via Seth Elgart on AH.

at 5/10/2006 12:23:00 AM

Title link takes you to JeffreyKoepper.com, home of Analogue Jeff's website. I've seen Analog Jeff on AH a number of times, and I've been meaning to check out his site for some time but haven't gotten around to it. You'll find a nice set of synth pics and some samples of his work. Hey, where's the cat?! : )

at 5/10/2006 12:22:00 AM

flickr by JSRockit.

at 5/10/2006 12:21:00 AM

flickr by JSRockit.

"Very cool synth based on the chip from the original arcade game Space Invaders. You can control the parameters via the Tandy joystick."

Update via the comments:
"Here is a video from the guy who makes them:

spacesynth.MOV"

at 5/09/2006 10:18:00 AM

Check out this post on Digital Music Mag.

Hmm... Yeah, I'm with him, this would definitely suck. However, if there are dependencies on the hardware for DSP, that would make sense, but something tells me that's not the case. I haven't done much research on Kore. The Korg Legacy is a great example of doing it right. You can play the soft synths with or without the controller connected.

at 5/09/2006 10:05:00 AM

Marcus Couto on AH recently posted this asking if anyone knew more about it and if anyone actually owns one. If you know anything please comment. Title link takes you to Synth-Restore who carries it. There are demos on site. Details pulled from the doc linked on this page.

MODEL type: AURORA AR1
VCO 1 : saw,pulse,triangle waveform, adjustable pulse width, octave shift.
VCO 2: saw,square,triangle waveform, adjustable interval (pitch), octave shift, sub oscillator.
VCO 3: saw,square,triangle waveform, adjustable interval (pitch), octave shift, sub oscillator.
(main tuning from front panel control)

LFO: (can be used as another vco at hi-frequencies, for ring mod type effects) routing to VCO's, Pulse width, VCF, VCO & VCF.
Individual tri,sq,saw, random waveforms (any combination can be used) Manual depth, plus mod. wheel amount.
VCF 12db type (gives more raw sounding edge, similar to Oberheim, early ARP Odyssey)
High or low pass type (switchable) cutoff, resonance, keyboard tracking, ADSR amount, modulation from vco 3 also.
ENVELOPE GENERATOR. ADSR type (attack,decay,sustain,release) routed to VCF, and VCA. Auto trigger switch

PERFORMANCE CONTROLS: VCA keyboard gate mode, portamento (glide), white noise level, main output volume.
INTERFACE. Main output,headphones out, CV input, GATE input, VCF external control, external audio input.
POWER: IEC (kettle-plug) power input (external power switch/fuse holder) 220-240 volts.
37 note keyboard.
Aluminium data plate, with serial/model number
UK price £549
Turnaround time 4 weeks.
£200 deposit required (non returnable)"

BTW, if you heard the name Aurora in regards to synths but can't place it and know it's not this Aurora, it could be the Alesis Aurora you were thinking about.

Update via the comments:
" have had the AR1 for quite a while now and have used the synth on many recordings for solo projects under Brendan Pollard and Rogue Element.
She is extremely versatile, moog sounding but with careful manipulation even ARP. Fantastic for sound effects, leads, basses, etc.
Our studio is 90% analogue and she was definitely a worthy addition to our collection,
Cheers
Brendan www.rogue-element.uk.com"

at 5/09/2006 09:42:00 AM

Title link takes you to a huge auction list of some rare items including this Sequential Circuits Programmer 700.

I forgot about this unit. The 700 was basically a CV controler with patch storage, essentially allowing you to store patched for whatever you were controlling it with.

Details from the auction (Google translated from German): "Sales mean in the best way received and fully functioning Sequential Circuits Programmer Model 700. So far I was white the first storable Programmer as condition alone equipment. One can store the following control voltages: Volume days 1/2/3 (with insertable external tension) Envelope 1/2 along in each case Amount, Delay and ADSR (with second one can also still connect external tension). Everything with the pertinent outputs/input in 6,3mm Kline and mini handle. Further inputs for program programmweiterschaltung, gate, SWITCH trigger (Moog) and normal Trgger. Still additionally two sockets on the back were inserted, were times firmly attached at an upper home 2-Voice. In the best way suitably for modular systems. 8 banks with in each case 8 program memories are available."

Update: Synth shots saved here.

at 5/09/2006 09:22:00 AM

That's a bass synth she's playing. Title link takes you there.

This one via Vale on SynthSights.

Update via the comments:
Nice little movie. Been aired one SVT (Swedish Television) and seen at a few filmfestivals.

It's made by Kostr-film, an independent production company from Swedish.

Their website: http://www.kostrfilm.com"

at 5/09/2006 03:12:00 AM

Remember Synth Buddha? Turns out the shots were from a band called The Genie. Title link takes you to more shots of the band. Here's thier MySpace page.

at 5/09/2006 03:03:00 AM

flick by bvincent.

at 5/09/2006 01:44:00 AM

As promised, George sent me an mp3 from our Sunday get-together with me, George, James (Carbon111) and Greg (Alpha Wave). Title link takes you to the 5.32M MP3 of one of our jam sessions. George is on a Roland GR-20 guitar synth playing a sitar patch, James is playing a Waldorf XTk, Greg is on a Zoom drum machine and Ensoniq SQ80, and I was on an Ensoniq SQ1. The SQ80 is playing the bass, the SQ1 is the airy pad lead that comes in now and then and the rest is the XT, sitar patch and drums. George did the mixing.
As I was playing on this particular track, I didn't take any shots during it. This particular one is George playing the SQ-1 and a Mirage on another jam session. The shot captures the atmosphere we were playing in. George has a great studio. In case you missed my first post, you can find more shots here.

at 5/09/2006 01:31:00 AM

Title link takes you to shots sent my way via Michael Weeks. Mmmm.. The green glow...

Also check out this set.

at 5/09/2006 01:25:00 AM

Profile of a Korg MS20 on PunkDisco. Kinda creeped me out. : )

Via dancemachine along with the following:

"here's a track with a lot of ms20 (rev1) drum processing (listen
especially for the s/h, where i pacthed the trigger out of the ESP to
the input of the S/h, so the filter cuttoff changes with each new note)

anyway, i think that dude puts that doll in all his pics to avoid being
ripped-off. but i bet he'll let you post it...."

Me too. Title link takes you to PunkDisco. And... She's watching...

at 5/09/2006 01:24:00 AM

"This web-based hypertext document is intended to provide the advanced user of the Clavia Nord Modular synthesizer with a toolbox of techniques for creating complex and interesting patches. Although the emphasis is on the Nord Modular, the techniques described in this document can be applied to any modular synthesizer, from a modular Moog to the Native Instruments Reaktor softsynth. For more information on the Nord Modular, check out Clavia's web page at http://www.clavia.se."

Title link takes you there.

If you're interested in exploring the world of modular synthesis for fee, here you go. For a free G2 demo editor that will give you more than enough to get started go here.