Yamaha FVX-1

8-Operator FM synthesizer that seems to use 12-bit D/A

More on the Yamaha FVX-1 in German and Google translated. Also on 120 Years: "YAMAHA used FM synthesis in their Electones, too. HX electones and FVX-1 module were 8-Operator FM synthesizer that seems to use 12-bit D/A, and it could have been the evolution of DX7 I series." Via Sequencer.de.

Update via Loscha in the comments:
Link to Manual, and "no-one ever mentioned this in the YamahaBlackBoxes group!!!"

Update: One more site sent my way via brian comnes: link

- very rare programmable 8-operator FM synthesizer expander released in 1988
- 64 editable parameters - 22 direct + 42 with DOS based editor
- DSP - 11 effect algorithms Stereo-Chorus, Stereo-Pan, Symphonic, Phaser, Flanger, Delay, Tremolo, Digital hall, Celeste and Wah.
- 5 LED dsplays + levelmeter
- 4 x 8 voice blocks (4 part multitimbral)
- 248 ROM, 248 RAM presets, 16 performances
- 2x MIDI IN (front and back), 2x MIDI OUT (front and back), MIDI THRU, Headphone OUT, Aux OUT Stereo, Main OUT Stereo, Main In Stereo Cinch, Main Out Stereo Cinch, Aux In Stereo Cinch, Aux Out Stereo Cinch, Pack Port
- 14 Buttons + 1 Coarse, 4 endless controllers, 1 Main Out volume knob, 1 Aux Out volume knob, 1 headphone Out volume knob

Monome 40h on YouTube

Note, the monome is a controller, it does not actually produce sound. More on the monome here. Via Matthew Davidson on SynthSights.

Update via Matthew: "The 40h is not a MIDI controller (but it can be via the mapd software) Natively, it speaks OSC (OpenSound Control) which is a richer (open source) protocol that more products are supporting."

More on OpenSound Control: one, two.

Another update via Matthew: Apparently Bidule and the Lemur (not Lenny, well he does to I guess) also support OSC.

Blectum

Another shot of people outside with synths. Via the comments of this post.

Friends - New Flickr Shot

flickr by antfactor. No one I know, just shots of some people with their synths on the street. Hmm... Wonder what the story is behind this one. Who goes out with their synths like that? Nice fashion accessory. I'd want a keytar strap myself.

MOTM Modular - New Flickr Set

flickr by mikest. Title link takes you to the set.

Keith Levene - PIL

Keith Levene of PIL with small Roland 100M.

via Mikael Lingren on AH.

Plogue Bidule

"Is this a familiar picture? Cables lead from a microphone input into a small digital effect. More cables connect the effect to a mixer. Elsewhere, a MIDI cable links a MIDI input to a synthesizer, which is in turn connected to a mixer. Old hat, right? Now, imagine this: the same single output socket sprouting no less than eight different cables connecting eight different effects.

It gets better: A sound is broken down into 256 individual bands, then each is tweaked one at a time in a unique way. As he performs, a musician decides to add an LFO to a synth's filter cutoff knob, where no LFO existed before. Sound crazy? Not anymore. The new paradigm of computer audio can be summed up in two words: "real-time" and "modular" – both of which are embodied by one application..."

Title link takes you there. Via Analog Industries.

Obeheim Two-Voice - New Flickr Shots

flickr by Ethan Callendar. Title link takes you to more shots.

Roland TR-909 Service Manual

Title link takes you to a 9.82M pdf.

Serge Modular Music Systems Historical Materials

Title link takes you there. Via sequencer.de.

DIY Sequencer PCB Group Panels

Title link takes you to the post on sequencer.de.

Moog Sonic Six Shots

Title link takes you to shots pulled from this auction.

via Loscha.

Update via underface in the comments: "Sound on Sound has a pretty informative retro review of the Sonic Six here."

MS 20 - New Flickr Shot

flickr by pyramidimaryp.

The Trapezoids - Yellow Meat on YouTube

"1981 video by unknown Minneapolis New Wave band The Trapezoids"

genoQs Octopus OS v0.92 released

I love it when manufacturers incorporate what users ask for. Hats off to genoQs.

"Dear all,

we are proudly announcing our first maintenance release for the Octopus OS, now available for download from our web site.

The new OS release incorporates some fixes, some changes, and some additions, all according to numerous discussions we have had with users since the initial launch.

We strongly advise all users to switch to the new version of the OS, not least since it is the foundation on which we will base our further efforts.

Along with the MIDI System Exclusive file comes an update version of the Navigation Guide and Storyboard document. The Navigation Guide contains a "What's new" section on pages 41/42 for the convenience of those familiar with the earlier version of the document.

Also, please note that you will lose your memory content in the process of upgrading to the new version.

Please use the follow link to go directly to the file download area.

Also, there is now a thread in the forum, intended to host discussions and comments related to the current release. You may use the following link to reach it.

Thanks all for your input, trust and patience.

Marcel + Gabriel

genoQs Machines
______________
www.genoqs.net"

Synth Noir

Found this one on Sequencer.de. If you know what Film Noir is, you will get a kick out of this site. I recently saw Kiss Me Deadly which some consider to be the first X-Files or Repo-man of the mysterious-radio-active-box films. The site and this shot of an EMS Synthi-E reminds me of it; trips me out to see a synth in this perspective. Very retro.

Bossa Nova - New Flickr Shot

flickr by devowski.

Moog - New Flickr Shot

flickr by walter.franchetti.

Korg MicroKontrol

flickr by fibra.

The Work of Jin-Yo Mok

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.

ASR-10 - New Flickr Set

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

Discord V2

"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.

Waldorf and Serge by Carbon111

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.

Yamaha CS20M - New Flickr Shots

flickr by nazrimuhi. Title link takes you to more.

Custom Modular

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."

x0xb0x #159 is Born - New Flickr Shot

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

Livewire Dual Cyclotron - New Flickr Shot

Shot by fr1zz

Go Moog! - New Flickr Shot

Pro One Manual Online

Title link takes you to the Pro One Annotated Manual.

Sogosound - Roland VSynth Site with Samples

Title link takes you there. Via Jose Sogo Flores.

Poly-61 and Zoe - New Flickr Shots

flickr by Ssskkkiiinnn. Title link takes you to more.

DW6000 Waveform Mods

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

More Scans by Synth Ollie

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 »

Synthesizer With Patch Bay

Yamaha SHS-10 circuit bent. Via Synthtopia.

Synths on the 'Bay

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.

Buchla Multi-Dimensional Kinesthetic Input Port

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 ;)"

ARP 2600 Shots and Mods

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'."

Whoops!

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.

Hammond Novachord on the Bay

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

via alec.

Boss Percussion Synthesizer pc-2 Schematics

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

Red Taped Z1

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."

STRELLIS - The Power of Nine

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.

PS Project

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.

Crazy for MicroKorg

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.

Synth P*rn Fest on VSE

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.

Oberheim - New Flickr Shots

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.

White Roland

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.