MATRIXSYNTH

at 6/16/2006 11:33:00 AM

I'm not gong to spoil this for anyone. Go here and check out the video. After that go here and check out the rest of his work. Amazing.

via fmasseti.

at 6/16/2006 11:31:00 AM

flickr by The Green Listener. Title link takes you to more.

at 6/16/2006 12:54:00 AM

"A massive update to our popular Discord series of effects, Discord 2 takes the vintage pitch-shifting style of Discord 1 and 1.5 to an entirely new plateau. With a full-featured delay section and mod routing system, Discord 2 has become a specialized platform for special effects, in addition to its normal skill as a workhorse delay and pitch-shifter. "

Note this is from Christopher Randall of Analog Industries. His products are top quality.
Title link takes you there.

at 6/16/2006 12:53:00 AM

Gorgeous shot from this Synthwire post. Looks like Carbon111 got a Waldorf Q rack to go with his Serge and XT. Nice. One more shot after the hop.

at 6/16/2006 12:52:00 AM

flickr by nazrimuhi. Title link takes you to more.

at 6/16/2006 12:51:00 AM

Shot and details pulled from this auction. Via Fabio Masseti.

"This is a giant modular synth comprising around 72 modules, housed in a big wooden cabinet. The modules are either Doepfer, or Analogue Solutions, with a couple of home-brew modules. It has FIVE power supplies installed. The cabinet has carrying handles on each end and has seen only studio use:Never gigged.

The modules are - 2X master clocks / 4X 8-note sequencers / 4x Sequence length switches / 1X power switch / 1X PSU management module / 4X sequencer output length selector switch modules / 4X dual VCO / 1X single VCO / 3X LFO-noise-sample & hold / 1X dual quantiser / 1X signal switcher / 1X VC signal switcher / 1X 256 human allophone generator / 1X 256 wavetable VCO / 1X VC source / 6X Concussor percussion modules / 1X 4 channel mixer / 1X dual VCA / 1X buffer-mixer-invertor / 2X dual envelope gen / 2X single envelope gen / 1X envelope follower / 1X trigger delay / 1X signal switcher with LEDs / 1X ring modulator / 1X audio divider / 4X multimode filter-VCA / 1X Trautonium 4-bank filter / 2X synth VCF-Envelope gen-VCA / 2X MIDI to CV convertor / 1X joystick / 1X triple voltage source / 2X signal-control meters / 1X 8 channel mixer / 6X multiples/ 2X socket adaptors / 1X infra-red headphone transmitter for cordless headphone monitoring / 1X passive ring-modulator, and more. Also included in this offer is my CRT Oscilloscope. It's a Heathkit single beam unit; very useful for tuning VCOs into phase.

There's room for more modules too if you should wish to expand further. The cabinet is home built using a stained wood, designed for pride of place in my studio, and isn't bad, but you may feel you want to rehouse it in a cabinet more suitable for transportation to gigs. The back opens on hinges for getting inside.

There are FIVE power supplies, each with its own toroidal transformer (An.Sol.). Each supply feeds its own distribution board and the modules are fed through ribbon cables from rows of sockets. The power supplies have independent fuses, accessible on the front panel, each with its own indicator lamp to indicate a blown fuse. The on-board 4 channel and 8 channel mixers can receive inputs from other external equipment for special treatment."

at 6/16/2006 12:50:00 AM

flickr by Nohaptimus. Title link takes you to more shots.

at 6/16/2006 12:49:00 AM

Shot by fr1zz

at 6/16/2006 12:48:00 AM

at 6/16/2006 12:47:00 AM

Title link takes you to the Pro One Annotated Manual.

at 6/16/2006 12:46:00 AM

Title link takes you there. Via Jose Sogo Flores.

at 6/16/2006 12:45:00 AM

flickr by Ssskkkiiinnn. Title link takes you to more.

at 6/15/2006 01:40:00 PM

Remember this post? Well the details on the mods are in via Chris Strellis. Title link takes you there.

at 6/15/2006 01:39:00 PM

This set includes the Amdek Handclapper and Boss PC-2, both previously posted, the Casio VL1, Noise mod for the PC-2, clap_schemo is a better scan of the boss/amdek handclapper schemo, synbal, synclap, and syntom2 are construction articles from e&mm (british synth mag from early -80´s) on how to make your own diy drumsynth modules.

Update: One more via Peter Ullrich via Synth Ollie: drumbox_layout_pack.zip.

"SynTom II and Cymbal II: PCB scanned from the Austrian magazine ITM Praktiker ("Drumbox")"

CLICK FOR MORE »

at 6/15/2006 10:57:00 AM

Yamaha SHS-10 circuit bent. Via Synthtopia.

at 6/15/2006 02:45:00 AM

You might notice a new link at the top of the right column named "Synths on Ebay." I created it for two reasons. The obvious, if you click on it, find something you like and buy it, I get a cut of Ebay's cut and you get the warm fuzzies for supporting this site. Note neither you nor the seller pays anything extra, it comes out of Ebay's pocket. So if you find it useful, please, feel free to use it. There is a search box on top that you can use, so you are not limitted to my default search terms. BTW, if you have input on adding words or the design let me know. I was thinking of creating manufacturer links so you can quickly click and browse based on manufaturer, but I figured you can also just add it to the search box on top. Note that the search box contains the query terms I currently have set up, so you don't have to retype everything - just add the manufacturer or other term you want and remove anything you don't want. I need to see if I can make that search box longer, but currently that's how they have it set.

The second reason I created this was for my own convenience. You know I post pics and details from auctions that people send me and that I find interesting. To be honest with you, I've only been putting stuff up that people send me because I simply do not have the time to go searching on Ebay for content. However now I can just click on the link when I'm bored and see what's out there. BTW, feel free to continue sending stuff you find as I'm sure I will still miss stuff. I hate the thought of rare pics and details on the obscure stuff getting lost in limbo.

Check it out. Comments always welcome.

at 6/15/2006 01:10:00 AM

Buchla Thunder take 2. Title link takes you there.

More on the orginal Thunder here, and a green one here.

Gotta love the Buchla naming convention.

Updates via the comments:

"It's the thunder and the lightning take 2, you forgot about the rings you put on and wae around the air to modulate stuff."

"Thunder is a MIDI instrument with a specialized software language called storm.. the software allows Thunder to do things the 222e cant... the 222e is CV/Pulse and can of course do things Thunder can't

the input interface look the same but i wouldn't call the 222e Thunder 2"

And Doktor Future praising Buchla? Can this really be him? : ) - see comments here and here.

"This is tremendous. I loves it. I am saving for it. Don told me it can be programmed to output any voltage, so it's not just the 1.2 volt/octave. This means you can use it for any modular, which is just super great.

It seems to be a merging of thunder and lightning, which is sooo fantastic.

I am actually saving for this. Totally worth it.

Oh, and it makes no sound on its own, so I won't bother asking for an mp3 ;)"

at 6/15/2006 01:09:00 AM

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

MODIFICATIONS:

"I had this modified by John Leimseider, Electronics Technician at the Cantos Music Foundation in Calgary. JL has had over 20 years experience with Arps and can be Googled

This one has had TL071 op amps installed to replace the old ones which reduced the noise and improved fidelity. This also reduced the DC offset which is like the background voltage which the audio signal rides on. The offset doesnt actually contribute to the wanted signal its just like static so reducing it is a good thing.

The Arp envelopes are known for having inconvenient lengths so I had switches installed that allow you to double the attack, decay and release times.

The power supply was replaced to allow both 240/115V operation, its currently set to 115V but can be changed by disconnecting one wire and soldering another, about 15mins work.

Also added was AC coupling which involved adding capacitors to the circuit again to reduce the the static (DC) components from the input signal to the amplifier.

Finally, John installed an external input for the electronic switch which lets you control the switch from something other than the clock for the sample and hold. This is great because 'you can plug in 2 oscillators to the inputs of the switch and then control it from the square out of an oscillator. When you do this with synched oscillators, you get some amazing new timbres'."

at 6/15/2006 01:08:00 AM

This one in via Javier Zubizarreta:

"Check what I found on the Waldorf site, on the PPG 2.V plugin page:

At right you have a screenshot section, if you click on "graph panel" you´ll see something weird in the filter response... a crazy drawing and the words "Whoops"!!!!!! That´s not all... if you click on "Program" screenshot you´ll see "vcf - rand" where it should say "true PPG" and "XXX XXX" where it should say "out 3-4".

It seems the pics are from an early stage of development or something, strange they used the XXX which means other things... ;)"

ppg_wave_graph_window.jpg
ppg_wave_program_window.jpg"

A couple of updates via the comments:

"These are really early drafts of the GUI. There is still a bug in the straight line between the Modifiers section and two sections below.

The funny drawing etc. would fit perfectly with the sense of humor of the Waldorf folks, especially Wolfram Franke, who did the PPG 2.V

In Germany the XXX does not mean anything special, except a placeholder for 3 characters...

Georg."

"I remember seeing these screen shots just before the beta test I took part of started. And I was the one that noted the wrong design of lines on the front panel first. Mainly because I did not had the right host to use the beta version to test in the first two weeks of beta testing.
Anyway, this was my first beta test for a synth related product then.
And yes, the humor of the Waldorf team was always like this.

And I can asure you: tripple "x" is only a often used combination of letters as place holders here in Germany. Nothing more.

Till "Qwave" Kopper"

Yep, I miss those days on the Waldorf List. Here's another interesting bit of Matrixsynth trivia. When I received my Waldorf XTk, I was so thrilled I sent waldorf an email. They asked me if they could put it up on their user reviews site. I was so thrilled I of course accepted. The review sat there as the main user review for the Waldorf XTk for nearly a year. Good times indeed.

at 6/15/2006 01:07:00 AM

Title link takes you to shots pulled from this auction. Someone should call Phil Cirocco of The Novachord Restoration Project.

via alec.

at 6/15/2006 01:06:00 AM

Title link takes you to the full size scan. Via Synth Ollie.

at 6/15/2006 01:05:00 AM

Via underface in the comments of this post.

"Derek Sherinians (Billy Idol, Dream Theater) did something similar on one his last tour. He had a bunch of nords and a Z1 covered in red tape. Not sure if I like the angled keyboards though."

at 6/14/2006 11:19:00 AM

Via Chris Strellis on AH:

"Writing under my alter ego of STRELLIS instead of Voynich (or is that the other way round?), I have an analogish track for you to listen too.

Numbers have mystic powers and affect our lives. Different numbers influence us in different ways none more so than the power of 9. Is this the real life?, is this just fantasy?, caught in a landslide, no escape from reality.

Roland S330 12-bit sampler is used for VP330 Vocoder Plus choir pads, VP330 strings build up and VP330 strings lead. Digital representation of something very analogue.
Korg DW8000 is used for unison bass sequence (marvellously juicy) (8 VCFs in those notes!)
Ensoniq Mirage for piano and organ duties. (CEM filters)
Roland JX-10 for bell sounds, fuzz sync solo, string pad wah and the bass and pad at the end
Linn 9000 for drums (CEM filters)

The_Power_Of_Nine.mp3
The_Power_Of_Nine_(Remastered).mp3

The Power Of Nine
5 mins 01 secs
6.90MB file size
192kbit MP3

I don't really believe there are powers in numbers except perhaps for 101,202,303,808 and 909 :)

I hope you enjoy the track

Chris

P.S I've taken down the Acxel Resynthesiser video files becuase you analogue guys have download 2GB of my 5GB/month bandwidth, 340 downloads, on just these videos about a digital snythesiser!

www.strellis.com
www.voynich.co.uk
www.strellis.co.uk
www.chromic.co.uk"

Hmm.... Something tells me we had something to do with that bandwidth issue. : ) Feel free to post whether you like the pre or remastered version of the track.

at 6/14/2006 12:05:00 AM

Title link takes you to there.

Recommendation: When you get there, right click and save the mp3 links on the bottom of the page, queue them up, and then click on the rotating icon link and enjoy. Some amazing music and great shots.

P.S. You might recognize PSProject from this post.

at 6/14/2006 12:04:00 AM

I believe this is a MicroKorg seminar based on the link. If you know Japanese, feel free to comment. Check out the first shot when you get there though. Instead of the synths being ready to play, they are all in there boxes, requiring the users to unpack them first. Why? If they all got a free MicroKorg out of this, that would be one seminar I wouldn't mind attending.

via Martin Neumann.

at 6/14/2006 12:03:00 AM

Just your monthly synth p*rn thread on VSE. This one does have some nice shots though. Title link takes you there. And of course I referred them here. Shots saved here for posterity as eventually the VSE thread will dissapear into limbo.

at 6/14/2006 12:02:00 AM

The System

Oberheim DMX

flickr by Ethan Callender. Two shots this time. I wanted the top shot and I wanted to show the logo. I love when manufacturers do that.

Title link takes you to the set.

at 6/14/2006 12:01:00 AM

Remember Forat? Looks like he custom painted Madonna's keyboard player's rig as well (Roland Fantom, X7, SH-201, and V-synth); looks like the V-synth XT remains black and isolated in plexiglass. Title link takes you there.

Via Music Thing.

at 6/13/2006 10:08:00 AM

Yep... via Andy Squirrel.

Shot from http://www.arpodyssey.com/.

at 6/13/2006 09:45:00 AM

Plug in board for the CME line of controllers. 198 Euro on Thomann. Title link takes you there.

"WALDORF NANO SYNTH PLUG IN BOARD FÃƒœR CME UF midikeyboards,synthesizerboard with 1000 sound, 24 voice polyphony, 16xMIDI multi mode"

I don't see anything on the Waldorf site. I wonder if it's a true synth with fully editable parameters or a scaled down preset synth.

at 6/13/2006 02:12:00 AM

Title link takes you to the post on GetLoFi. Casio SK-1.

at 6/13/2006 12:10:00 AM

Title link takes you to shots pulled from this auction. Via my nifty 'bay ads to the right.

Details from the auction:
1 Voices / Stimmen 1x Multitimbral
Memory / Speicher no
Tech subtractive
subtractive analog (no hybrid parts)
2 OSCs + 4 Sub
1 Filter lpf self reso 4 Pole
1 LFOs tri saw square
1 ENVs 1x ADSR
44 Keys / Tasten Ctrl: no
AT / VEL no
Sequencer

"Vermona synthesizer is a monophonical 2 osc synth with a great moogish sound.It is one of the only analog synthesizers produced by German music company Vermona throughout the 1980's. It is a 2-VCO monophonic analog synthesizer. It has most basic analog edit parameters. A 24 dB/oct analog VCF filter with 4 knobs (Brilliance, CutOff, Resonance, Contour), a single LFO to modulate the VCO or VCF sections and a typical ADSR VCA envelope. There are preset VCF and VCA settings as well as a Manual mode.

Its sounds are pretty basic analog stuff. It makes a real nice analog bass. The nice effects on-board is the portamento-like Glide effect and Vibrato. Colorful knobs, a clean layout, vintage wood end-cheeks and a genuine analog sound. It's an interesting piece."

at 6/13/2006 12:09:00 AM

more from arrrika.

According to rick of electricmusicbox, "thats the buchla 406 ( keyboard equipted 400) from Cantos.. i know that instrument well as I spend alot of time at Cantos."

at 6/13/2006 12:05:00 AM

Gorgeous shot of a Korg MicroKontrol on CDM. Title link takes you to the post.

at 6/13/2006 12:04:00 AM

I recevied the following from Wine Country Sequential today. You might think the price is higher than one you can find elsewhere, but realize the piece of mind you get when buying one of these. A few years ago, I purchased a "perfect condition Prophet 5" of the bay. Of course it wasn't and it had a number of major problems I sent it to a tech who couldn't fix it, then off to Wine Country. It was so hosed I was left with the option of continuing on trying to repair it, paying for each step on the way, or trading it in towards a Wine Country Perfect Prophet. I traded it in and never regretted it. Had I known then what I know now I would have just gone for the Wine Country Prophet 5. It's been a few years and my Prophet 5 is still as good as new.

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

June 12, 2006

Thank you for your previous interest in purchasing a Prophet from Wine
Country.

A Restored & Warranted Prophet-5 Revision 3.3 in excellent condition with
original
operations manual, 120 original factory programs, 61 new rubber keystops
installed,
and a Certificate of Restoration is now available for $2398.

A Restored & Warranted Prophet VS with original operations manual, original
factory programs, VSROM#6 Cartridge, Final Version 1.2 ROMs & Certificate of
Restoration is now available for $1898.

Visit www.SequentialCircuits.com for pictures and details.

All Prophets are 110/220VAC switchable. Contact us for Terms of Payment.

Thank you for your previous interest, and best of luck with your music.

Kind regards from California,
David Sesnak
General Product Manager

at 6/13/2006 12:03:00 AM

flickr by bobcat rock.

at 6/13/2006 12:02:00 AM

flickr by tangent.

at 6/12/2006 08:00:00 PM

You might notice the addition of Ebay ads to the right. I finally got around to checking out their affiliate program. Feel free to check them out because obviously if you do and actually buy something I get a cut. : ) Same with any other ads on the site. The funny thing is advertising aside, I'm actually looking forward to seeing what comes up in the ads. I might find some good synth shots for posts, and who knows you might find something you are looking for. I currently have it set to search for Synth minus CDs. I'll have to tweak it over time to filter out the garbage. I'm also going to see if they have anything else worth putting up, but believe me I will only put useful stuff up, not pop-ups or giant banners, I promise. Anyway hope you all don't mind. I really am looking forward to seeing what sorts of stuff comes up. Also, the right bar of the site is meant for advertising, archives, the search box, archives and some recommended reading. The body of the page and the header will stay the same so the same amount of content will always be on top. And of course if any advertisers out there want to advertise on the site, shoot me an email. Highest bidder gets the highest spot on the right, currently that would be no one. : ) Feel free to comment.

at 6/12/2006 02:17:00 PM

Title link takes you there. Click on the images to launch videos when you get there.

"This guy posted the video links to these -- 5 Quicktime videos of Alessandro Cortini's (Nine Inch Nails) combination Livewire/Plan B modular synth. Apparently, the guy who posted this is a pcb stuffer for Livewire and could not reveal the system's owner."

Via cebec.

Update: Looks like new posts are coming in and moving the video posts down the list. Here are the links for the archives: one, two, three, four, five. Do check out the other shots via the main link as well.

at 6/12/2006 11:14:00 AM

Title link takes you to Twango. What is it? In short it's a place where you can share media including photos, videos and... audio. Why am I posting this? Because I can't stand free file sharing sites that require you to run through an advertising obstacle course just get to the file you want. We now have an alternative. Check it out. Twango is free, simple to use and easy to share. It's still in Beta, so there are bound to be some quirks, but I just tried it for my previous post and it was pretty painless. Here's my Twango share. Obviously, I will only be posting stuff that currently does not have a home there. Media on other people's sites belong on their sites. How did I find out about Twango? I know one of the guys behind it. BTW, this is not a paid advert. I'm posting this because I checked it out and I think we have a need for this sort of site. It beats the ad laden file sharing sites. Check it out for yourself. If you have any comments, you know where to post them. You'll notice I used Twango to host Scott Metzger's mp3 in my previous post.

Files here

at 6/12/2006 11:11:00 AM

Scott Metzger sent me a nice track featuring the Clavia Nord Lead 3, Yamaha CS-80, Moog Voyager, and Roland Jupiter-8.

"My music is under the name of bUTCHER. The song is called Endless Weekend. You can listen to other songs on myspace, which is here.

It starts off with a nordlead 3 which continues throughout the song. Then the drum samples start up via Logic Pro. The melodies, and chorus are CS-80 (the CS-80 chorus effect is amazing). Bass line is Moog Voyager, and I am using a Jupiter 8 which enters at 2:23 in the song."

Title link takes you to the mp3. You can check out Scott Metzger's MySpace site here.

at 6/12/2006 10:36:00 AM

Title link takes you to a 2.2M AVI of the mod by Chris Strellis. That's a he's using to play through the 256 waveforms.

Update: Also check out Chris Strellis' video on the Poly 800 Slayer Mod.

Udpate via Chris in the comments:

You wanted more info?

You got it!

http://strellis.synth.net/dw6000.shtml

Cheers

Chris

at 6/12/2006 01:26:00 AM

Remember this post. Looks like they were switching domains from .com to .net. Not sure why, but there you have it. Title link takes you there.

at 6/12/2006 12:46:00 AM

Title link takes you to some absolutely stunning shots of the Cantos Synth Museum by arrrika.

That's a Synthi 100 to the left. Check out the colored knobs in the reflection.

at 6/12/2006 12:36:00 AM

flickr by C Holden. Love the matching shirt.

at 6/12/2006 12:19:00 AM

Title link takes you to a 4.71M mp3 of the Metasonix S-1000 Wretch Machine, fed through a Roland RE-501, and sequenced by a synthesizers.com Q119. Via Michael Weeks. Shot taken from his flickr set.