Roland SH201 v SH101 Synth Shootout--Gearwire Crosstalk #018

YouTube via gearwire. Via Music Thing. Tom of Music Thing says Gearwire is like Wayne's World for synths. I didn't make that connection until now. Funny! : ) You can see more of their videos here. You be the judge. Regardless, good stuff. Here's the Vocoder video they refer to.

Mystery Synth

See if you can guess what this one is. ; )

via Greg.

Update: Alex got it right in the comments. It's an ornament.

Demo synth AMS-16 and drums ADS-8

"DIY synth AMS-16 and drums ADS-8 presents www.enmusic.by.ru"

YouTube via enginmusic. Sent my way via frederic.

Update: I sent an email to AH asking if anyone had more info on these. The following are the replies:
Florian

"The Drumsynth reminds to a tama TS305/306 series.
The Monosynth is according to a link in the kyrillian text an adaption of Ray Wilsons Soundlab Minisynth and the sequencer is derived from Thorsten Kloses software projects."

Synth Ollie:
"the drumsynth is based om some old e&mm diy-syndrum articles, synbal and syntom II"

PAiA 4700 and More on Music of Plexus

Remember these posts featuring Plexus and his PAiA 4700 modular? Title link takes you to a new page featuring tons more.

This one via Plexus,Tor Olav, and Cynthia.

Synergy II and Kaypro II Computer

Title link takes you to shots pulled via this auction. Note this Synergy is not working.

Details: "The Synergy II+ is famous as the synthesizer that Wendy Carlos used on the legendary recording "TRON" [actually it might have been the GDS according to this] and "Beauty in the Beast", the Synergy took place of Wendys Moog modular system on these recordings. The Synergy is a Phase Modulation/Additive synthesizer. Phase Modulation is similar to FM found on the popular synthesizers like the Synclavier and Yamaha DX instraments synths however the Synergy has FAR more settings and tones when it comes to crafting the ultimate in synthesized music.
The Phase Modulation algorithms are user defined with up to 16 oscillators available.
The envelopes have up to 16 stages/per osc, and are loopable.
Program/sounds consists of 2 'boundaries' which are 2 separate timbres.
The keyboardist can morph between these timbres via velocity and key number.
Voice allocation is highly advanced, allowing for very complex keyboard splits/layers/voice cycling.
There are many advanced features on the DK SYNERGY II that have never been equaled or surpassed in other synthesizers of the era. The DK SYNERGY II synthesizer originally retailed for around Six Thousand 6$K and the adittional kaypro II computer to accompany it around Thirteen hunderd dollars $1.3K."

Sent my way via Matt.

Yamaha CS-5

Title link takes you to shots pulled via this auction.

EMS Vocoder 1000

Title link takes you to shots pulled via this auction.

According to the auction this is serial number 1. Some Details: "The Vocoder 1000 is a 16 band model and has great intelligibility, along with a lot of cool features like adjustable and VC slew rate/shape with freeze input, pause stuffing from either input with adjustable release time, built-in oscillator, etc. In short, this is a serious big-league vocoder... not quite a Sennheiser, big Synton or EMS 5000, but definitely far beyond the Roland/Korg/MAM league.

Before listing, I did a few Google searches on this model and there's not a lot of information other than Jarre using one in 1978. The owner's manual is dated at 1984 and has a picture of an older 1000 with a disclaimer that "the photo of the Vocoder 1000 on the following page differs slightly from the unit which you have, although the two units are electronically identical." It goes on to describe the differences (added features, better HF response, jacks in different places) and then goes on to say "FOR VOCODER 2000, PLEASE READ VOCODER 1000" and then the rest of the manual refers to it as the Vocoder 2000. So my theory is that the 1000 was originally released in 1978, there was a second revision (of which this is serial #1) was released in 1984 after Robin Wood took over, and the Vocoder 1000 and 2000 are the same with minor panel differences (and added stuff on the 1000 Rev 2). Please note that I'm just guessing here, but all the info I can find seems to back that up. I can find nowhere that authoritatively discusses the differences between the 1000 and 2000 (except for a post by myself on a mailing list archive, so hardly authoritative) and the manual refers to them interchangably."

If you know more, feel free to comment.

Modding a MOOG Rogue

Title link takes you to a post with more info and images in German on Synthesizerforum.de. You can find a Google translated version in English here.

Features:
- Saw <-> pulse cross fade
- manual PW-attitude
- PWM over Env.
- PWM over key Tracking
- PWM over specially LFO
- LFO with trichloroethylene, Sin, pulse
- LFO speed of approx. 0,5Hz until far into the audio range possible (do not have I yet completely exactly fixed)
- LFO symmetry automatic controllers (Saw e.g. makes from trichloroethylene)
- Connection with the Rogue over parallel haven cable (no parallel interface Sign )

Via sequencer.de.

Yamaha CS1x

flickr by Failed Muso.

Click here for Failed Muso's first flickr album.

via Failed Muso

a visitor

flickr by fuzzpedal.

Don't press that button...

Moog

flickr by Bethany B.

crumar performer

YouTube via jumpstartz. Via benthack.

jen sx1000 - analogue synth

YouTube via jumpstartz. Via Benthack.

Jen SX1000 Modded

Title link takes you to more info on the mods, samples and images on Benthack.

Spectral Audio Protone

via this auction.

Details:

"The ProTone is a monophonic Analog Synthesizer with an internal MIDI Interface. Because of the full analog design, the ProTone is perfect for creating powerful, special and never before heard sounds. And with its deep red front panel, it will look great in your rack. Features 2 true VCO makes Sawtooth and Pulse Waves White Noise Generator True Ringmodulator Slide (Portamento) High and Lowpass Filter with Resonance Selectable 12 or 24 dB per Octave Accent (Decay Envelope for the Filter) Keyfollow Wide LFO Range: 0.005 ... 3800 Hz LFO Waves: Rectangle, Impuls, Triangle, Sawtooth, Sinus, Noise and Random LFO Targets: VC01, VC02, Pulse Width of VC01, Cutoff and Panaroma ADSR Envelope Stereo Output with Stereo Panning 5 Octaves MIDI Interface MIDI controlled Volume and Cutoff frequency Velocity sensitive CV and Gate In/Output to control vintage Synthesizer External VCO and LFO Inputs"

CLICK FOR MORE »

Roland Jupiter 6

Title link takes you to shots pulled via this auction.

Voyetra 8

Title link takes you to shots pulled via this auction.

Snuff Box - Empty Room

YouTube via Exulus. Sent my way via Mike of Mystery Circuits.

A Directory of Synth Resources

Title link takes you to a directory of a ton of synth resources including images, samples, and more. The list is tool long for me to put here, so just hop over and see for yourself.

Update: be sure to check out the comments. Apparently much of the share is a rip off of Bluesynths and possibly other sites. Credit when credit is due...

The Brief Sound of Replicant

Title link takes you to some words and a sample on SIGHUP.

BTW, I might be slow to respond to email and in my blogging due to a nasty wind storm that left many without power in the Pacific Northwest. I'm blogging at the Bellevue Library until power comes back. Hurrah for the public library system and free wi-fi! A couple of my neighbors have trees through their houses, so I am very, very lucky. It was pretty bad folks. Winds at 105 miles per hour and one million without power. I see that Chris, author of this plug-in is without power as well: link. Anyway, please bear with me over the next few days. Hopefully power will be back on soon. They are saying it'll be anywhere from 3 days to 3 weeks to get everything back up. Kwazy...

Hohner Bass 2

via this auction.

Details: "This funky little vintage keyboard will delivery a cool bass tone to your music. There are 3 sounds - bass, guitar and, yes, tuba. Theyre all variations of the same sound. There's also adjustable decay. This is a very simple device. We heard Stevie Wonder used one of these back in the day and maybe even appeared in the original ad, but havent verified this."

CLICK FOR MORE »

Bit Crusher

Found this circuit bending site via my last post and figured I'd put up a new post. Title link takes you to the root of the site. You can find the circuit bent list of gear on this page.



Currently listed:
ALESIS HR 16 aka THE DIRTY BOX
ROLAND TR 505
ROLAND TB 303
SPEAK & SPELL
SPEAK & READ
MEGA ASPIRATOR 2600
SUPER LASER BLASTER
CASIO SK1

Bent Roland TR-505

Title link takes you to shots pulled via this auction.

FEATURES :

-all original sound of the tr 505 are preserved of courses ( you can play the tr 505 simlpy without the external controle box )
_all originals features are preserved like MIDI implementation and the famous groovy sekencer of the tr 505
-8 knob for controling volume voice
-36 point matrix patchbay for infinity bending!!!
-6 togle switch for controlled the matrix patchbay+ 6 interupt for controle the matrix
-1 rotary switch for control musicaly the bent!!!!
-1 toggle switch for choose between the two mode of rotary switch! ( 2x12 bent choice musicaly )

Samples on Bitcrusher. via Subtlenoisemaker

Aries System Modular

No title link. Just a nice shot of the Aries system modular and a Jupiter 8.

via vgermuse

KORG Kaoss Pad KP3 Demo on SoNiCbRaT

This is a good one. Title link takes you there.

New Bananas

flickr by cray5656.

serge
Plan b
Livewire
doepfer

Update via Cray:
"Forgot to mention the brilliance of Mr Stones work, all you see there is bananafied! Even then modules that look like normal 1/8 inch jacks are banana plugs!"

More shots.

Gearwire Explores the Moog Little Phatty

YouTube via gearwire. Sent my way via frederic. Gearwire.

Update: video re-uploaded 6/7/2010

MEGA RAM

No title link. Two scans via Andrea TONI.


RAM card for the Korg M1, M1R, M1REX, M3R, S3, A3, DRM1, T1, T2 and T3.

Apparently it also works on the Waldorf Microwave 1 and Korg WS SR.

Thanks Andrea!

Roland System 700 Page on OG

Title link takes you to the just completed Roland System 700 page on Olivier Grail's new website. There are individual images of each module. Absolutely fantastic. As always, be sure to track back to the root of the site and check out the rest. This is one particularly great site considering how much it has to offer on these rare gems of the synth world.

via yusynth.

Donna Summer - Giorgio Moroder

YouTube via parlypangi. Be sure to also check out these two prior videos of Giorgio Morodor. Great stuff.

Arp 2600 cries with pain

YouTube via cretin4321. Via alex in the comments of this post. See cretin4321's previous video of an EMU Modular here.

Roland TR-808 Service Manual

Title link takes you to the Roland TR-808 Service Manual courtesy of synth and electronnic music equipment repairer in South East UK, Andy Collins (beng hons).

Antech Systems
Unit 3A
Hackhurst Lane industrial estate
Lower Dicker
East Sussex
BN27 4BW
www.antech-systems.com
tel. 01323 442035 /07833313251
fax. 01323 840003

Reactable Videos

Remember Reactable? Title link takes you to more videos on YouTube via marcosalonso. This one sent my way via Mark.

Doris Norton NORTON COMPUTER FOR PEACE

Remember Doris Norton? Title link takes you to a couple of samples pulled via this auction. for one of here albums titled "NORTON COMPUTER FOR PEACE"

via Oli.

Freebies on Sweetwater

Click here for a number of free software tools currently including the following:

- Ultimate Sound Bank Retro Organs
- Native Instruments Drum Loops
- Chord Reference
- A-NO-NE MIDI CC Finder
- ittyBittyMIDI
- Music Calculator Widget
- Digidesign Search Widget
- Dual Delay
- koZong
- Multiband RingMod
- StringZ
- Sample Delay
- VSTNotes
- My First Step Sequencer
- Tripp Lead
- ThreeOsc
- Luna
- IIEQ
- Aquallegro
- Cheeze Machine

and more.

Rhodes Chroma

Title link takes you to shots pulled via this auction. Note the auction has ended. Not sure why this one didn't come up in my synth auction feed for me to pick up earlier.

Acid.ch Custom TB-303 Cases

Title link takes you there.

Electrocomp EML-101 - No Gloves!

For those of you that have a thing against Mini's latext gloves... YouTube via 123synthland.

HCGP AH Edition

Title link takes you to some Hard Core Gear P*rn of Analogue Haven on Analog Industries. Check out this MacBeth M5 with grey instead of orange.

Also, congrats to Chris for winning a 2007 Remix Technology Award for "Best Software Value" from Remix Magazine for Audio Damage's 914 Fixed Filter Bank.

Starplugs MegaMatrix

-1060-routing-point matrix + 256-mixing matrix + totally free assignable + control every parameter of this synthesizer
-14 synthesis algorithms(all classics !) + + additive synthesis + subtractive synthesis + ring modulation + AM / FM + cross modulation AM / FM + oscillator sync + Filter / Filtermod / Wave / Time modulations + Phase and ReMod synthesis
-1 voice monophone + + classic old school modular architecture + use the MegaMatriX as Instrument or as insert effect (DemoVersion = Instrument only)
-12 Amplifier + + 10 integrated AMPs + 2 free AMP / exponentializer
-9 Ringmodulators + high precision routines
-6 Oscillators + 4 infinite variable waveform setting between Triangle and Saw + 1 infinite variable wave shaping between sine and rectified sine
-2 Envelope Generators + ADSR + with auto run and hold function
-2 Delays + midi syncable + phaser mode + freeze function
-1 Sample and Hold + integrated LFO + integrated noise source
-1 Quantum Filter
-Joystick controller

Title link takes you there.

Waldorf Ships the Nano Synth Card

Remember the Nano? Looks like it is finally shipping.

"The Waldorf Synthesizer Company has announced the release of the Waldorf Nano SynCard, a plug-in sound expansion module designed for use with the CME line of MIDI keyboard controllers.

The new card, which provides 24-note polyphony and contains over 1000 classic Waldorf MicroQ synth sounds, easily installs into the back panel of CME's UF-series keyboards. It is unique in that it is the only product on the market that allows a controller keyboard to be turned into a full-on synthesizer, complete with real-time control.

Up to two Nano SynCards can be installed in each keyboard and independently controlled via the CME's front panel knobs and sliders. When two cards are present, splits and layers can also be created. The cards feature left, right, and stereo (headphone) audio outputs; power is supplied by the CME controller. The 1000 sounds include a wide assortment of trademark Waldorf basses, solo tones, pads, percussion, and effects."

This is their second official release since coming back. The Waldorf Edition was the first.
It's great to see Waldorf products out there again.

Via Harmony Central

Bad Synth Video Thursday on Chip Collecton News

Looks like Chip Collection News might be starting something most excellent. Bad Synth Video Thursday. There are currently three videos up including this one above. I decided to pick the most annoying one just for you. Title link takes you to the rest. BTW, if anyone knows what the white device that looks like an Electrocomp sequencer on steroids, let me know. YouTube via KidVulcan. The description states, "Song from the 80s,by Video Kids.A lot of people of that generation should remember this!" The lead singer looks exactly like Limahl of Kajagoogoo to me. "HEH HEH, HEH, HEH HEH!!!"

TR808 PUT THROUGH MS20 ESP

YouTube via weatherkop. See previous video by wetherkop here.

blurt

YouTube via cirtcele.

Synths, goannas and choppers. What else could you ask for?
Semi disturbing voices at the end? Yeah, that's it.

ARP 2600 Patch

Patch 1 - I think there's a little birdy trapped in there.


Patch 2 - Birdy's gone.

YouTube via 123synthland. You can see more of Mini's videos here. Also previously posted here.

EMS SYNTHI A/AKS VCS3 MIDI to SYNTHI Interface

No title link. Just this shot and details pulled via this auction.

Details:
THE MIDI INTERFACE CONTROLS OVER INPUT CH. 1
THE VCO 1+2, VCF OR OTHER PARAMETERS.
IMPORTANT! : THIS INTERFACE IS FOR USE WITHOUT THE KS-CABLE!!!
YOU JUST HAVE TO PLUG IT INTO THE 8-WAY SOCKET"

sent my way via Sandro.

Sequential Circuits Prophet 600

Title link takes you to shots pulled via this auction.

Sequential Circuits Prelude

via this auction.

Details:
"# Functional controls on the front panel for:
* Equalizer:
o Off/ Max: 250, 500, 1000, 2000, 4000.
o Balance: Dry/ Mix.
* Effect select:
o Equalizer.
o Octave.
o Chorus.
o LFO.

CLICK FOR MORE »

Buchla 100 PCBs

flickr by verbos2002. 

Caption: "My friend Reed has a giant Buchla system. He told me he was interested in a 242 programmable Pulser. That thing uses an EMS style patch matrix to program 3 channels of patterns up to 12 steps long. I suggested that it may be beter for me to design a double wide module that has toggle switches for 6 channels of 16 steps. It is almost finished now. The panel is from Front Panel Express. Reed said he was only interested if I called it the 243 Programmable Pulser and printed "Verbos & Associates Brooklyn, New York" a the bottom, like a Buchla module. I'm making one for him and one for my Buchla."

Korg Legacy MS-20

flickr by sushiluv.

I'm beginning to want one of these. I wonder how playable the hardware is and if it's the sort of thing that's fun the first ten times and then you put it away for your main controller. Would have been cool if it were a self contained unit like the Creamware ASB boxes.