Title link takes you to a new page on the Rhodes Chroma site featuring composer Marco Rosano. He recently finished an album featuring Bach performed completely on a Rhodes Chroma. You will find info on Marco, the album, and his thoughts on the synthesizer as a musical instrument. He asks the age old question on whether it is an instrument in the truest sense. Before I scoffed at the question even being asked, I realized what he was talking about. He wasn't talking about the fact that it produces sound, but rather the sounds you create are instruments in and of themselves. He states:
"One morning, I woke up and I decided to create a new musical instrument; I started up my synthesizer and I built a musical instrument that did not exist before, with unique and unrepeatable features, with miltiple human-machine interfaces, with original timbric properties, new sounds, new emotions never felt before."
This was exactly the epiphany I had discovering my first synth, an Oberheim Matrix-6 back in 1986. At first, like many getting into synths, I thought of it as a keyboard/piano device with a multitude of synth sounds. I went through the presets and then started going under the hood. I thought what a great instrument. Then it clicked. It's not one instrument. Each sound was technically its own instrument. Each sound depending on how it was programmed could be played with a completely different technique. I then realized a synthesizer was not just a device that could be used to synthesize sound, but it could actually create brand new instruments never heard before. That realization blew me away. The Matrix-6 has velocity, release velocity, aftertouch, RAMP generators, Tracking generators, 3 Envelopes, 3 LFOs and more, all available as sources in it's Matrix Modulation. Depending on what and how you assigned these modulators, you in effect had to learn how to play the sound. For example, I'd set the release velocity to extend the release so when releasing keys slowly, the sound would sustain, and while releasing them quickly the sound would cut off immediately. I developed different techniques for different patches - and I of course realized
it's not a piano! (I actually put up a post about this back on July 25, 2005).
Update: On the flip side, I often come back to a patch I programmed and think, "what the heck was I thinking?!" It usually takes some effort to rediscover the magic behind the patch and how it was created. Usually it's just an evolution of technique and sound as I just get lost playing something.
So, the next time you program your synth, try creating a new instrument.
The image in this post was taken from
Marco's MySpace page. It reminds me of the duality between sound and instrument. And the Rhodes Chroma? I finally got to play one. With it's modulation capabilities, the weighted wooden keyboard and its rich analog sound, it is one of the most expressive synthesizers I have ever played if not the most expressive. Listen to some of the tracks by Marco and hear some of what it is capable of. Listen for the subtleties. An instrument like that is a dream to play.
Title link takes you to a photo gallery of the Zebranalogic Oscillator ZA-1. You can find a sample here. 
Title link takes you to shots pulled via this auction.
When I previously posted on the Analogue Haven booth NAMM videos on Sonic State, the Livewire video wasn't working. I've been checking back, and it is now up. Title link takes you there.
"Midwestern Analogguers and Long Distance Synth Travellers (ie. Cary Roberts) - The Ninth annual Analogue Heaven MidWest Get Together will be Saturday March 24th 2007. As always, it will take place at Prairie Heights High School in northeast Indiana. As always, there will be a ton of cool gear to play with and a mob of cool people to hang with. More info, maps, etc: link. Feel free to spread the word to other lists!
Synths include:
Title link takes you to the video on Amateur Chemist. I'm a sucker for blinky lights. Check out the Chaos Computer's matrix of lights.
Title link takes you to a new page on the Rhodes Chroma site featuring composer Marco Rosano. He recently finished an album featuring Bach performed completely on a Rhodes Chroma. You will find info on Marco, the album, and his thoughts on the synthesizer as a musical instrument. He asks the age old question on whether it is an instrument in the truest sense. Before I scoffed at the question even being asked, I realized what he was talking about. He wasn't talking about the fact that it produces sound, but rather the sounds you create are instruments in and of themselves. He states:
Title link takes you there. Synths currently listed: Roland SC-50, Roland A-30, Yamaha TX81Z, Roland D-110, Yamaha CS-5, Roland Juno 6, Korg DSS-1, Moog Micromoog, Roland JX3P, PG-200 Programmer, Jen SX-1000, Alesis DM-5, Akai S3000XL, Line 6 Pod XT, Yamaha AN1X, Sequential Circuits SixTrak, Vox Continental Organ, Moog Minimoog, Clavia Nord Micro Modular, MAM VF11 Vocoder.
This is why I grab Ebay shots. Someone on the AH list mentioned a vocoder by Analog-Lab called the Analog-Lab X-32. I went over to the Analog-Lab website and it's under construction, no images or info on their products. I did a quick Google search, and the first result was this auction. I went to check it out and the auction is long gone along with the images. Fortunately there are images via Google images but they all appear to be stock.
Title link takes you to the video on Gearwire. That's Axel Hartmann on the left. He designed the look and feel of synths for such manufacturers as Access, Waldorf, MOOG, and of course his own Hartmann Neuron. I believe that is Stefan Stenzel on the right, but he said it so fast I'm not 100% sure. : )
cray5656 replaced the knobs on his Doepfer modular with Plan B knobs. Pretty nice. I see Livewire there as well. Title link takes you to cray5656's flickr set.
"Solid Rate Studios is proud to announce it's leap into the world of Eprom Programming! Eproms are programmed in-house from a wide range of source material including binary images taken from stock Eproms, after market Eproms and binaries made from custom samples. We provide Eproms for virtually any Eprom based drum machine including... SEQUENTIAL CIRCUITS DRUMTRAKS, LINN LM-1, LINN DRUM, OBERHEIM DMX, OBERHEIM DX, E-MU DRUMULATOR, ELEKTRON MACHINE DRUM, KORG ER-1, ROLAND MC-303, ROLAND TR-909, ROLAND TR-808, ROLAND TR-727, ROLAND TR-707, ROLAND TR-606, ROLAND DDR-30, BOSS DR-202, ALESIS SR-16, ALESIS HR-16, MPC MUSIC PERCUSSION COMPUTER, VARIOUS MODULAR ANALOG DRUM KITS, and more."
Looks like Inverse Room has a new album out titled "American Recluse," along with a completely revamped website. You'll find new studio pics, samples, and more including the less often seen Yamaha SY-2 and Casio PT-7. Title link takes you there. Enjoy.
Another TB-303 Devil Fish up for auction. Title link takes you to the shots. These are big ones, so be sure to click on the "All Sizes" link in the menu above the shots on flickr if you want to see the full image.
Title link takes you to shots pulled via this auction.
Title link takes you to shots pulled via this auction. Apparently the FAT FreeBass FB383 and MAM MB33 are the same. They are Roland TB-303 clones. You can read more about them here. This unit is the FAT FreeBass FB383.
No title link. Just the shot and details pulled via this auction.
No title link. Just these two shots pulled via this auction. I've heard of the book before, but never seen it.
Title link takes you there. Via David Rogoff in the comments of this previous CS80 post.
Title link takes you there. Pictured here are The Wag ring to MIDI controller and the Axis Natural Keyboard MIDI controller. You can find them under the Techno Geek Toys section. 
Scott Metzger sent in these shots and a link to a thread on Velvet Acid Christ documenting a Yamaha CS80 Kenton MIDI retrofit. I never realized the front panel of the CS80 was actually wood. Title link takes you to the thread, you will need to sign in, but when you do you will see a ton of shots and information on the project.
