Virtuoso - The World's First Self-Playing Violin on YouTube

This Violin playes itself via MIDI. About as analog as you get. Title link takes you to the post on Analog Industries with a link to the product page.

Midievil - Greetings From Mexico

midievil sent me a greetings from Mexico along with the following shot. Not a bad setup. Check out he P3 Sequencer on top. Title link takes you to his Flickr set with more shots. Thanks midievil!

Michelle Moog-Koussa and The Bob Moog Foundation

"On August 21, 2005 my father died. He was a great and gentle man who left
his mark on the world forever. During the past year my family and I have
discussed many ways in which we could carry on his work and his legacy.

We have decided to establish the Bob Moog Memorial Foundation for
Electronic Music, with a few carefully chosen objectives, each tied to his
life and work.

The Foundation has set forth the following as its initial objectives:

Endowed Scholarships
The Bob Moog Memorial Museum
Outreach Programs for Disadvantaged Students
Special Events for Electronic Music


Today, we invite you to join us. Please visit our new website

Sincerely,

Michelle Moog-Koussa
Director, The Bob Moog Foundation"

via Mark Pulver on AH.

"Love Ya' Bob..."

A Moment for Bob Moog

Today marks one year since Bob Moog's passing. Title link takes you to Caring Bridge. The site has been updated with a note in the Journal from Ileana Grams-Moog.

"This is Ileana Grams-Moog. Tomorrow is the anniversary of Bob's death, and I know that many of you will be logging on to this site. I have not had the energy or the will to write entries till now, but I have been thinking of all of you who loved and felt connected to Bob, and I wanted to tell you a bit about how it's been." Click through for the full entry, and don't forget to play a little something for him today.
Here is a link to the Moment of Moog MP3. More on the background of the mp3 here.

Doepfer A-188-1 BBD Module and Samples

Via Doepfer: "Module A-188-1 is a so-called Bucket Brigade Device module (abbr. BBD). BBDs have been used to delay audio signals before digital delays dethroned the BBD based effect units. But BBDs have some very unique advantages (or disadvantages dependent on the point of view) over the digital counterpart which result from the special properties of the BBDs. BBD circuits can be treated as a chain of Sample&Hold units (S&H) which pass on their voltages to the next S&H in the chain at each clock pulse. A more detailed explanation – including the different types of BBDs – can be found in following chapter.

In any case the sounds generated by module A-188-1 are very special. Typical applications are: Flanger, Chorus, Analog Delay or Karplus/Strong synthesis. But as the A-188-1 has a lot of very unique features (voltage controlled clock rate / delay time with extreme range, polarity switches for the CV inputs, feedback and BBD out/mix, clock and CV output of the high speed VCO, BBD clock input, feedback insert, feedback up to self-oscillation) a lot of unusual applications can be realized with the module (e.g. delay controlled by ADSR, envelope, random or sequencer with positive or negative effect). The A-188-1 also has no built-in anti-alisaing filter in order not to limit the possibilities of the module. For this the CV out is intended."

Peter Grenader of Plan B/EAR and Buzzclick Music posted the following three samples on Ah in response to requests for examples of the A-188-1 BBD Module. I asked him what else was used and if I could post the samples here. He not only gave me the thumbs up but he took the time out to type up the details below. Very cool. Enjoy.

tests_mix8.mp3
testsmix9.mp3
s2.mp3

"Audio:

This patch is a single sine going through three parallel processes: Two Miniwaves and the Doep Wave Multiplier. It's then into the Model 13 ('both' setting). The EG opening the gate is also giving the freq of the sine a strong goose (freg CV) and it's very short - an A/R at zero everything. Model 13's make short EG very useful for percussive events. The output of the M13 goes into a mixer as well as a Doep. A188 Delay (1024) which goes into the same mixer. This adds to the ringing.

Control:

The control path is all about Milton. Bank one sets up the first four degrees of a major scale . Bank two adds an accellerado to the LFO driving Milton, bank three gives a little increase in amplitude (a button) to the last note in the four position sequence.

There are various Model14's combining signals which give some dynamic presence from the keyboard aftertouch and velocity outputs and set up the equal tempered frequency offset to the sine VCO..

A midi keyboard is used to start the sequencer and the it's own stage four gate out is used to stop it. This is the benefit of having separate start/stop controls, each with external trigger inputs - you can start the sequence with one signal and stop it with another. The EG opening the Model 13 ad giving the thwap to the VCO frequency is triggered by the Milton's Obedient Clock outputs. No pulse is passed unless the sequencer is running, so stopping it at stage four allows only four events to pass and they stop in time with the sequencer halt.

The same signal which starts the sequencer (midi keyboard trigger) is also used to reset it back to stage 1. So each depression of the keyboard yields a four-note phrase. But...it's retriggerable. If you fire another midi note before Milton reaches stage 4, it'll start over again at stage one. The gesturing is created by 'dancing' on the keyboard in that fashion - allowing the sequencer bounce as much as you wish. Sometimes allowing the entire phrase to complete, sometimes resetting before it does. Once you adapt to to the feel of the sequencer's speed, you can create this gesturing quite easily."

FAEMI Russian Poly Analog

Found this looking for more info on the FAEMI after my last post. Click here for shots pulled from this auction. For more on the FAEMI, including samples (links below), check out Ruskeys.

samples1
samples2
samples3

Some info pulled from the auction:
"It was manufactured in 1982 by 'FORMANTA', a soviet military radio plant (Kachkanarsky radiofactory) at kachkanar, near sverdlovsk. The same one wich manufactured now legendary POLYVOX synths. This is a moog-type synth with an own character (a bit like polymoog/memorymoog). The sound is rich and soft – 100% pure analog!

The FAEMI - 1M has a keyboard of 4 octaves a main generator, infralow frequency generator, lowpass filter and amplifier. The control panel is divided into 5 sections: generator, timbre, vibrato, filter, amplifier. It has one normal VCO and one LFO.

All sections have the usual knobs but the TIMBRE section is what makes it so special. There you have knobs called PIANO, STRINGS, HARPSICORD, BRASS. Using this nkobs you can shape the sound in the unique way.

It is built like a rock, pure military technology, contacts will last forewer. The body is solid and the knobs feel nice. It runs on 220V AC (US customers will need an adaptor). The synth is in excelent looking and musical condition, has been fine-tuned to specs, all parts checked less than 3 months ago. Since then it has never left my smoke free studio.

It has 5-DIN output connections (adapter to 1/4 jack included)."

Faemi in attic - New Flickr Shot

flickr by kika.

korg prophecy - New Flickr Shot

flickr by vanjus

Reverence by Audio Damage Released

Title link takes you there. Previously posted.

Selfoscillate.de

Check out this monster modular consisting of Doepfer, Analog Systems, Analog Solutions, Blacet, Wiard, Voxglitch, Metalbox, Banalogue, Plan B, Livewire, Encore Electronics, Cyndustries and DIY modules. Via selfoscillate.de, where you'll find the full module list, samples, and more.

ARP Art

ARP 2500 via PS Project.

Gorgeous.

My new wallpaper.

No title link, just this shot - click it for a bigger image.

Lightwave

Update: That's Christophe Harbonnier in this shot. He's playing an RSF Polykobol II. You can see another shot of it here and here on the RSF site. Also check out this Polykobol II page.

Remember this post on Santurios featuring a shot of Christian Wittman of Lightwave?

Frederic sent me a link to this gallery featuring more shots of Lightwave along with the following:

"The name of LIGHTWAVE conjures up images familiar to fans of new technologies in music and elsewhere. France has a great tradition of experimentation with modern musical technology — everything from the catchy, contemporary electronics of Jean-Michel Jarre to the experiments of avant-garde composers working at the world-renowned IRCAM Research Center in Paris.

Lightwave uses these innovative techniques to go beyond the purely experimental, to create and communicate sound experiences for adventurous listeners."

Links:

The Early Years
And they were three...
The delicate music of the night
When Lightwave meets Zazou
... and when Paul Haslinger meets Lightwave
The Fathom years
Music for Caves and Gasometers
And now !
The Lightwave tribe : Ethnography

Bernard Szajner's Laser Harp

"The first laser harp ever made was a framed laser harp. It was created 1981 by the frenchman Bernard Szajner and was named “Syringe” from a science fiction book."

"Technical explainations:
His harp was powered by a Spectra Physics 5 Watts argon ion laser. The beam was sent through a fibre optics conductor to a line grating, where the beam was split into the 12 “strings” of laser light"

Via Frederic
"The synth behind Bernard Szajner is a RSF Modular"

Title link takes you there.

E-Music DIY

Title link takes you to the E-Music DIY Archive, home to a number of shots and info on various DIYers.
You'll also find manuals, references, links and more on site. That's Toby Paaddock to the left.


via sequencer.de

Oberheim x 4

Two OB8s, an OBx-a and a Matrix-12.

Title link takes you to more shots on this VSE thread while it stays up. Shots saved here for posterity.

Moog - New Flickr Shot

flickr by P Villerius.

More synth grafitti.

Synths on The Cure's Disintigration

Title link takes you to an interview with Roger Odonnell on the classic Cure ablum, Disintigration.

Image via Roger Odonnell's website. Speaking of, I need to pick up his latest album which was apparently entirely done with a Minimoog Voyager. Talk about a Voyager showcase.


A few excerpts from the intreview:
"his concern for sounds that are appropriate, rather than trendy, reflects in O'Donnell's stage setup. One of his two onstage keyboards is a vintage Roland JX-8P. "It wasn't really my choice to play the Roland," O'Donnell admits. 'But it has a lot of sounds from the old albums, so it made sense to use them, rather then to go through a lot of new stuff. We used it on the album as well. And now I'm quite happy with it. The high string patch is especially nice.'

Other venerable units lend an eerie timelessness to the textures on Disintegration. 'The characteristic sound of the album is the orchestral string sample I got from Doctor Sounds in New York for my [Sequential] Prophet 2000,' O'Donnell reports. 'But we often mixed it with a classic instrument from the Cure's old days--a Solina String Ensemble, which is still in the Cure cave. Robert actually likes to try to get it into every song. I sampled that into the 2000 for our tour.'"

"Some of the distinctive keyboard sounds on Disintegration also made it into the final mix with only minimal adjustment. For instance, Simon Gallup used the Universe Of Sounds organ sample on his demo for 'Lovesong'; it worked so well that O'Donnell kept it in the arrangement. And the massive textured synth on the opening cut,'Plainsong,' was originally created by Smith on his demo. 'We worked together on that, but it's mainly Robert,' O'Donnell acknowledges. 'I played the guide keyboard, with Boris [Williams, drummer] in the studio, because it's difficult to play to a click. For the guide keyboard part, I played a solo violin line. Then I added the bass keyboard line, which was a very heavy MIDIed texture with about four sounds, including a Minimoog, which I was determined to get onto the album somewhere, a very deep cello, and lots of Solina. Robert held down one chord all the way through--a kind of block C thing that he's fond of, with all five fingers very close together. It always works, which constantly amazes me. There's also a single high C held down all the way through, which we brought in and out of the mix.'"

I absolutely love the intro to Plainsong. Pure synth magic.

Analog Modular Synthesizers Group on YouTube

Set up by morbius. So far only one video which I previously posted here. Hopefully more will come. Feel free to join and add your own.

Divine Intervention

Who needs a sequencer...

EML Electrocomp-101

via Oliver

Buchla 200e Demos

In case you missed it, there are a couple of new demos up on this post.

Impressive

Via Failed Muso.

Elka Synthex

Title link takes you to more shots pulled from this auction.

via Failed Muso

The Bob Moog Foundation

Title link takes you there. Don't forget to play a Moogy tune for him on the 21st, and be sure to drop by Caring Bridge.

Plan B in Analogue Haven

A few more shots here (unfortuantely a bit blurry). This other shot is pretty cool.

exercizer - New Flickr Shot

flickr by devowski.

I so need one of these.

Theis Modular With Korg MS10 on YouTube

"korg ms 10 controlled whit lfo of theis modular TMSS (moog filter)"

YouTube by mikbj. via sequencer.de. More on the Theis Modular.

Yamaha CS-30 Page

Click here for a Yamaha CS-30 page with images, info and samples.

On a Bike - New Flickr Shot

flickr vi airpark

"As seen in Berlin near Alexanderplatz. This is a snapshot I took while riding my own bike when suddenly this transport vehicle appeared in front of me..."

Anyone know what keyboard that is?

Update via adrian in the comments: "It's an Bontempi, don't know the modell, but I have the smaller version of that keyboard. It's pretty crapy. The blue pads on the left beside the speaker are drums, or chords. It might be an Bontempi KS5400, but it seems like there was many models with this design (Ungly 90's). They are all labeled System 5, I guess that the sound chippy thinngy."

Teamwork - New Flickr Shot

flickr by zonkout.

Moment of MOOG

Moog Urges ''Moment of Moog'' Throughout the World; In Addition, Foundation Launches Web Site to Continue the Moog Legacy

"Moment of Moog" audio file ASHEVILLE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 17, 2006--August 21st, 2006 is a difficult date for lovers of the synthesizer. It was one year ago on August 21st that Bob Moog, inventor of the synthesizer, passed away. This year, Moog Music is rallying the media world to honor the memory of Bob Moog with a special, 20-second "Moment of Moog." During the Moog moment, Moog requests that radio stations play a short musical piece, recorded on one of Moog's most famous inventions, the Minimoog(R) Voyager(R). (See MULTIMEDIA AVAILABLE links or download from www.moogmusic.com.) [Here's the mp3] In doing this, the world of music will be paying tribute to one of the greatest legends in electronic musical instruments.

"Sometimes it feels as if he is still here; other times, he is sorely missed. One year ago his fate was sealed and the finality of his death certainly gave all of us pause. The 'Moment of Moog' is our way of honoring the tens of thousands of musicians who carry Bob's legacy forward," reflected Mike Adams, President, Moog Music.

Another organization is also set to honor and continue the Bob Moog legacy. The Bob Moog Foundation for Electronic Music will launch its Web presence on August 21st, 2006. The foundation will be online at www.moogfoundation.org. The objectives of the Foundation are to create: endowed scholarships at University of North Carolina-Asheville, Berklee School of Music and Cornell University; a Memorial Museum in Moog's name; an outreach/mentoring program that brings electronic music into disadvantaged schools; and to sponsor electronic music competitions and concerts that would foster innovation in the field.

Ken Soper, composer of the "Moment of Moog" piece, said, "These sounds remind me that Bob, like the Minimoog Voyager, is alive."

Moog Music and our customers carry on the legacy of Bob Moog, the inventor of the synthesizer. We design and manufacture electronic musical instruments with unlimited sonic possibilities, including Etherwave(R) theremins, Moogerfooger(R) effects modules, Minimoog(R) Voyager(R), Little Phatty(TM) synthesizers, and the Moog PianoBar(R). Founded by Robert Moog, Moog Music is located in Asheville, NC."

We all know he didn't invent the synthsizer. It's just annoying when they state that.
Some history on the synthesizer on wikipedia.

Wood For Your Casio

via GetLoFi

Moog Source - New Flickr Shots

flickr by gentle bakemono.

Title link takes you to more.

Trent, Peter, Twiggy, and Atticus on YouTube

Warm Leatherette


Night Clubbing


Voyager provides the classic lead on Warm Leatherette.

via sequencer.de

My momma was a walkman - New Flickr Shot

flickr by Dr. Bleep.

Oberheim OB1

Nice shot via synthesizer-magazin.de - there's a nice Oberheim Eight Voice currently up as of this post. You might recognize the site from sequencer.de.

Synthi Bindi on YouTube

YouTube by maxtundra. Sent my way via Brian Comnes.

Sonomarinos

Via Brian Comnes: "Here's a link to some tracks I made with daddio, a fan of yours, a synth buddy of mine and sometimes AH contributor...you even did 3 posts on him (aka tapewarm) . Anyway he lives about an hour up the road from me and we try to get together every 5 or 6 weeks and do something. Last night we got 2 tracks in 81506a and b. These are one take affairs, mistakes and all, with only a little EQ post recording. Last night I was using Live's Operator and Big Tick Angelina soft synths with my MIDI guitar, drums courtesy of Microtonic and Gene was peppering it up with a Kaoss Pad and Nord Rack 2.

The other 2 tracks (Daddio1A and 4) were from May and were our first collaboration we recorded - somewhere in there is an OB1, UltraProteus , Kaoss pad and miscellanea, again both are one takes.

I am definitely not looking for a post here.....I mean you do have standards....I just thought I'd grant your wish to hear something.... maybe next time Gene and I will snap some photos .... ..and be warned these are nothing like Stefan Trippler puts out, just a couple of old synth guys making up something on the spot.

Peace Brian

PS the handle sonomarinos is because I live in Marin County and Gene lives in Sonoma County"

Don't sell yourself short Brian. I like it. : ) BTW, I think you just made a bit of Matrixsynth history with the smallest image in a post ever, unless of course, you count my favicon post.

Buchla 200e Demo

Sample via Todd on the Yahoo! 200e users group. Sent my way via Chris who got permission from Todd to let me post this and later sent my way via Reed. Enjoy. Also mirrored here. Image via the 200e group.

Update via the comments: "the drawing of the 200e is buy Jason Butcher"

Update: looks like a couple more demos have been added.

CLUB OF THE KNOBS c960 Sequencer Demo on YouTube

YouTube by ibzred. Via the comments of this post. More videos on http://www.cluboftheknobs.com/.

Dual Cyclotron Demo on YouTube

via rtopia.

Lost Signal

Charles of Lost Signal sent me some links to his MySpace site and studio shots. Check out that setup.

Title link takes you to lostsignal.com.

Mark Demos His JOMOX XBase09SE on YouTube

Mark gave me the ok to post this video. It was originally on rapidshare which I can't stand, so I asked him if I could put it up elsewhere. I went with YouTube so I can embed it in this post and so others out there can check it out.

via Mark:
"I was wondering what any of you all thought of this drum machine. I just got one and I like it a lot, particularly the highly editable sequencer (you can store different sounds for each step in a pattern). Not really too concerned about the comparisons to old x0x drum synths, more if anyone else has used this and your +'s and -'s. For me, so far, so cool. I also made a small demo quicktime of me using it, where I just play stock sounds and patterns and screw around with the parameters... Seemed like there isn't too much demo stuff out there for this box, so I might start putting more videos up."

Definitely welcome here. Thanks Mark!

The Moog Cookbook - Blackhole Sun Video on Dailymotion

The Moog Cookbook - Blackhole Sun
Uploaded by fhouste

Moog Cookbook on MySpace
Moog Cookbook Homepage

COTK Modular Video on Dailymotion

Moog Modular
Uploaded by deb76

Found a new video source, Dailymotion. This video was uploaded by deb76. I'm wondering if this is our good friend deb7680 of Chroniques De La Mao. Deb, if you are out there, let us know.

Update via the comments:
"That's not a moog, it's a Club of the knobs modular.

You can sort of see it on this clip too."

"I second that - it is COTK-modular. There are plenty more videos on their page"

Thanks, title updated. I can't change the video name as I didn't put it up.

Sonicprojects OP-X

Remember the OP-X? The site's been updated a bit. Title link takes you to some samples and more info. And yes, there is a sample of Van Halen's Jump.

Moog Little Phatty Samples by Eric Frampton

Title link takes you to a 1.4M mp3 of Eric Frampton strolling through the Little Phatty presets.

"This is me very quickly going through some of the presets. No sequencers, no production, just a line out of the LP into ProTools, editing for time, normalized, and nuttin' else."

Thanks Eric!

EKO PONY Synth

via this auction.

If you know more about this piece, please comment, but it just looks like one of those combo string/brass/organ keyboards with preset rhythms. The auction details compares it to a Juno 60. Yeah right. Buyer beware. Interesting piece though. I'm putting this up for the archives...

via dmxkrew

CLICK FOR MORE »

Handmade Electronic Music

"Early electronic music (& the recording of music itself) was born of experimenting artists & engineers, patiently listening to the bleeps, swoops and crackles of electricity as it flowed through components loving soldered together by hand. The early pioneers of electronic music had to build their own instruments from scratch, finding new sounds as they went, inventing entirely new musical languages & forms, pulling new sounds from the ether.

In Nicolas Collins’ book ‘Handmade Electronic Music: The Art of Hardware Hacking we shake off the bounds of mass produced software, of expensive consumer electronics and re-enter the exploratory worlds of early electronic experimentalists such as David Tudor & Alvin Lucier, riding the pulsating waves of sonic history through to contemporary hardware hackers & instrument builders such as Xentos ‘Fray’ Bentos, Phil Archer, John Bowers & of course Nicolas Collins himself."

via PS. On Amazon

Update: consensus in the comments is that this is a good book.

BTW, If you are into handmade electronic music also check out the NORCAL Noisefest. via Brian Comnes.

Livewire Electronics Breaks off from EAR Group

It's official. Livewire goes solo.

"INTRODUCING LIVEWIRE ELECTRONICS

Livewire Electronics announced today that it has set out on its own and is no longer associated with The EAR Group.

"Demand for Livewire products has grown dramatically over the past six months and I feel we have outgrown the benefit of being part of a collective.", says Livewire owner and EAR Group co-founder, Mike Brown.

'I'm sure that the other companies still associated with EAR will continue to put out excellent products.'

More information about Livewire Electronics and their products can be found on their new website at: http://www.livewire-synthesizers.com.

Inquiries can be sent to:

info[]livewire-synthesizers.com."

Reverence by Audio Damage

Another by Chris of Analog Industries. Title link takes you to images, samples and more info.

Audio Damage makes top notch products.






» Simple-to-use reverb settings, with pre-delay, time, and size, plus an extensive filtering section to shape the reverb tail

» Fluid and logical vintage-style user interface

» Optimized reverb algorithm for low CPU load

» MIDI Learn feature for full hardware control of all parameters (VST only; handled by host in AudioUnits version)