MATRIXSYNTH

Friday, July 20, 2007

The Music 4000

via this auction.
"This is the Music 4000 , it is a 4 octave keyboard add-on that allows the user to play the sounds, and to record sequences directly into the Hybrid Music System. The Hybrid Music system is a range of musical add-ons for the BBC Micro. The first to appear was an 8 voice digital synthesizer called Music 500. This uses a music composition language called AMPLE to control its sound generation and playback of musical parts.

Music 2000 Manual (PDF Format, 143k)
A bit of Bach (540k)
More of the Bach (3.7M)
Oscillator sync fx (320k)

Below is the address to a very useful page on the system also.
http://www.colinfraser.com/m5000/m5-eti.htm"

via Nelson

Synton Syrinx

Title link takes you to three shots via this thread on synthforum.nl. It is for sale. This was sent my way via David of DVDBorn, but note that he is not the one selling it.

Red Army

flickr by tnerm.

click here for the full size shot.

A little blurry but cool.

Dark Sun

via mono-poly:
"What happens when mono goes to the Dour festival and listens to Sun O))) live? Yeah he starts to worship satan and after a good recover starts to noodle. Here is a dark drone i did today inspired by the guys from Sun O)))

Ooow gear used:
RSF Kobol
Zero VCO
Bunch of clock dividers
Gate sequencer
Wiard VCO to control the zereo vco
Sub Mux Deluxe
Noise Ring
Plate reverb and Chorus from my Ensoniq Paris

Cheers,
Dennis

Oberheim 2 Voice Sequencer Demo

YouTube via Hobbs360.
"demo of the sequencer function on the oberheim 2 voice"

Adding illuminated wheels to a Minimoog Model D

flickr by info_dump.

click here for the full size shot.

Title link takes you to more shots of how it was done.

Update: you can also read more about this project on Hobby Synth.

Roland VP330 Samples

Title link takes you to the samples. The samples were originally sent into AH via Norman Fay and Mark Pulver broke them apart for sampling and hosted them.

Tr-808

YouTube via losme. via AudioLemon.

Custom Oberheim SEM

In case you missed it, there were some very interesting items pictured in this post, particularly a blue Sidstation and this custom Oberheim SEM. The title link of this post takes you to jesper's page on the SEM with more info.

The following are some comments from jesper in the previous post:
"The other "weird stuff" in the pic is my modified SEM; A "butchered" MS-10 which was wrecked when I bought it and the keys has saved dozens of other machines... ...and yes, the blue Sid is one of two existing AFAIK. The blue panel was a test version produced when Elektron was about to launch the SidStation Ninja (which is black). The former owner picked this up at Elektron in Gothenburg, saw the empty blue body on a shelf and asked if he could have that instead of the stock silver one... I wasn't late to get it when it was up for a trade."

BTW, don't miss the other cute shot of jesper's kids with an EDP Gnat and Wasp on electronic obsession.

Juno 60, controlled via Ableton Live

YouTube via RedRoomNW.
"Running through the abilities and sounds of the Juno 60, connecting to it via the DCB port with a MIDI adaptor and then sequencing with Ableton Live. From Live I am looping a simple Bobby O style rif and running the Juno through its ADSR settings, waveforms, noise filters, chorus, up/down octave, etc..."

U-MAX

Another shot of the U-MAX via JMCO.

MIDM

Title link takes you to a video of the Elektron Machinedrum via Rui on AH.

CONDOR SAXOPHONE SYNTHESIZER by HAMMOND

via this auction.
"For sale here is an ULTRA rare synthesizer (the VERY FIRST) for any wind instrument. It was made in the very early seventies buy Hammond (the organ folks). The synth unit is stored in it's own locking carrying case...the key is included. The power cord also stores in it's own locking compartment...the same key locks this too. When performing, the synth unit is locked to the top of the extended carying handle. The synth unit has slider controls for intensity and rate of vibrato, control of treble and bass, tone and volume, sensitivity, mono or stereo signal. It also has organ type switches for Repeat, attack, tremolo/vibrato,sub octave, dyna mute, fuzz, bass sax, tuba, bass clarinet, basson, English Horn, cello, natural amplify, horn, oboe and soprano sax. The front of the unit has a stop bar to cut signal and two micro inputs from the horn's contact mic . It does not include a contact mic. The

only missing part is one of the pulls at the side of the unit that release the handle so it can be raised to withdraw the synth unit."

Davis Development Analog Sequencer

Note: links to listings are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

"Up for auction is an analog sequencer made by "Davis Development" for use with analog synthesisers that have cv/gate inputs. This unit appears to be either A: a prototype, B: a one-off someone made in the late seventies or C: from a kit. Not sure which, but, have you seen another? I can't find anything online about it, but it seems to have been built by a serious pro. The main board is all point-to-point wiring, but very nicely done (this definitely was not an amateurs work). It has been in fine working condition since I've owned it, although it does show its age here and there (see pics).

It should be noted that this sequencer apparently puts out a "volts per hertz" output at the "pitch out", and a "gate" at the "trig out" (both 1/4"). This explains why it works fine with the EML-101. The EML, Korg MS-series, and a few others use this type of interfacing. ARP, Roland, Moog, etc. use a "volts per octave" system, which seems to be the more common. It works with that type as well, but adds a (sort of) "ring-mod" effect to the oscillator(s) its driving. Just thought you should know, to avoid future issues (don't want any unhappy customers...) :~)

O.K., back to the details. It has a momentary button under each of the 8 steps (handy for "tuning in" your sequence), as well as a "random" on/off button, "clock" on/off, and a "range" thumbwheel switch (for making it 4-step, 2-step, 5-step, etc.). The CV output is not quantized."

CLICK FOR MORE »

Vermona Synthesizer

Title link takes you to shots via this auction.

"This auction is for vintage analog synth VERMONA “SYNTHESIZER”. It’s made in DDR (Germany) in 80s. This 2-VCO monophonic analog synthesizer (like Moog Prodigy, Oberheim OB-1 etc.) have VCF with 24 dB/oct filter, single LFO and classic ADSR VCA envelope. Sound is really original, warm, deep, analog!

Condition is very good and full working. All keys and knobs work fine. Photos are actual. Instrument has original configuration: without midi or CV. Power - 110/220V. Out - 1/4 Jack."

As always be careful. This one is a bank wire transfer.

Casio MT-600 Filter Mods

YouTube via rolandsh1000.
"This is a demo of the effect of some circuit modifications to my Casio MT-600. Taking control of the onboard analog filter turns this thing into an altogether different keyboard. I've documented some of these mods here"

Kurzweil 250 RMX

via this auction.

"When the Kurzweil K-250 was 1983, the music industry was astounded by its ability to emulate acoustic instruments with extraordinary accuracy. The K250RMX is a rack mount version of the K250 keyboard. The instrument features very high quality sounds utilizing Kurzweil's exclusive Sound Contoured Modeling technique."

Sequential Circuits Pro-One Modded

Title link takes you to shots via this auction.

"It has a little modification on it, it's got mod Ext CV Amt nob on top right above the wheels, MOD CV INPUT, VCO A switch, PB CV INPUT, PB CVIN OFFSET switch on the back."

Synthesizer von gestern vol.2

via this auction. Vol 1 here.
Update: check out the comments if you are interested in this book.
"Synthesizer von gestern vol.2 (in German)
Matthias Becker, 1995. 148 pages, A4, high quality full colour pictures by Dieter Stork.

Matthias Becker, born in 1955, has been involved in the world of synthesizers for more than two decades. During the eightes he ran a school in Koeln concentrating its activity on the theory and practise of the synthesizer. Matthias Becker is considered beeing an expert on Vintage synthesizers. His large collection of synthesizers have been publicly exhibited Osnabruck, Leipzig, Hamburg and Frankfurt.

This is Matthias Becker´s second book with historical synthesizers. One of the best book ever!"

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Happy 1st Anniversary to Catsynth.com!

Today was Catsynth.com's 1st year anniversary. Unfortunately the site is down, but I'm sure it will be back up soon enough. Personally I really enjoy catsynth.com so, cheers catsynth!

BTW, cool hat! :) Weee!

via Synthwire.

the birth of acid house

Update via HarriL in the comments:
From the "pump up the volume" documentary. You can find the three 50 minute parts here:

Pump Up The Volume - Part 1 - The History Of House Music

Pump Up The Volume - Part 2 - The History Of House Music

Pump Up The Volume (The History Of House Music) 3/3 (Eng)

my last roland mc303 jam

YouTube via spooloops.
"I decided to sell my old roland mc303 so I fired it up and made this pattern to test it out. Then I drank a little to much beer and decided to video it. My wife thinks I'm hilarious and she is probably the only girl who will ever see this. The video stops short of the audio.
+ this mc303 has a gold tooth & custom knobs
+ this is a fast tempo for me"

Acid hoedown sans TB-303

YouTube via darenager, aka fierce fish.
"Very rough mix of a track from my forthcoming album. I got a new synth yesterday (an MFB SynthII, if you are interested) and thought I'd try it out instead of my tb-303 on this track, to see if it had acid potential. It is being sequenced by my korg emx, which is also providing the drums and the synth parts.

The finished track will sound much better as I rushed this mix and some parts are a bit loud. If you like it check out my other tracks and look out for some more coming soon."

HEM - Home electronic modular

YouTube via dnnny.
"synth made of home electronics. the osc's are just tape deck's that are making feedback noise and then there is also a clock radio theremin..."

Cyndustries Price Increases Coming Soon.

via the Cyndustries list:

"Howdy!

We're about to do price increases on
the following modular items...

Staircase Comparators,
Mix Six Mixers,
Logipacs, and our
SixPac Aluminum Enclosures and
Combo Distro Cards

They're presently In-Stock, so you can
beat Price Increases by ordering now!

Hope you're having a fine summer!

Cynthia

http://www.cyndustries.com/modules_prices.cfm"

Squarepusher 1996 interview part 1

YouTube via pmcd.
"Interview in home studio from Dutch TV"
Also check out these: one, two

Programming the Rhodes Chroma

via jesper

Note she is using the Doepfer Drehbank to program the Chroma with the CC+ processor upgrade. You can't do that with a stock Chroma.

Note the blue Sidstation

Update: and here she is again! I thought she looked familiar. BTW, if you tried to click on the jesper link earlier and it did not work, I just corrected it. Apologies for that. Also there's more info on the blue Sidstaion and other interesting bits from jesper in the comments.

Emu SP-12 / I Love It More Than Myself*

flickr by totally pixelated.

"Emu SP-12 as played by Novamen, Monox, 14th July 2007."

click here for the full size shot.

ms2k1.JPG

flickr by anthroid.

KORG MS2000BR
Alesis QS6.1

click here for the full size shot.

Casiotone CT-410V little old Analogsynthesizer

YouTube via jopachelbel.

"a short Rhytm Sequence through the real Analogfilter.This Casio Keyboard is very rare to find,and it is better then Casio MT 68,Casio MT68 because there are only Preset Sounds. Many other Parts will follow..."
Update: Part 2 here.

Blade Runner END TITLES theme

YouTube via gattobus. Follow up to this post.
"Here's another piece from the Blade Runner OST,
the most famous: End Titles.
All performed in REAL TIME with my synthesizers!"

Plan B Model 25

Via the Plan B list.
"The first lot of Model 25's will be delivered in about a week to ten days time. I've added a photograph of the finished unit to the EAR site product page.

The M25 is one of the most versitile and useful products we've released. The Ring is silent - well over 60 dB of input cancellation, and the final waveshaper we ended up using sounds great. it's an analog noise source, an attenuator, a linear two-VC VCA, a high-quality Ring Modulator, Waveshaper...a lot of stuff here, all of it good.

The final price for the Model 25 is $225 - (there's a lot of stuff in this guy)."

Yamaha's First FM Synth - The GS2 Preset FM Synth

via this auction. via Loscha.
Not the greatest shot but I've never seen or posted one before. Anyone know more about this one? I do have it on the Yamaha Gear List and Timeline as having come out in 1981. The DX7 did not come out until 1983. According to the auction details, this was Yamaha's first FM synth.

Details Google translated to English from German:
Manufacturer: Yamaha, Japan
Concept: Preset FM Synthesizer
Toner generation: 4 operators, 16stimmig polyp-hone
Sound memory: 16 sounds, loadable by magnetic cards
Keyboard: 73 weighted wood keys, notice-dynamically
Play assistance: 3 pedals (Sustain, Vibrato and Tremolo)
Effects: Ensemble, Detune (3 stages), Vibrato, Tremolo
Characteristics: The GS2 is the first FM-Synthesizer, an Midi interface can be re-tooled, it was Voice LIBRARies with in each case 48 sounds on magnetic cards available of which I 2 pieces possesses. (price at that time: S 3000, - = approx. € 220,-- per piece)
The price of the GS2 amounted to at the time of the acquisition (1984): S 116.200,-- = DM 16.600,-- = euro 8.445,--
All functions are intact, only belonged to the preservation of the sound memory changed the memory cell, can let accomplish I when desired gladly. The Yamaha GS2 is a genuine rare piece, since there are only very few copies of it. The possession for collecting tank an absolute “must”. This concerns a private auction, therefore no warranty and warranty claims can be placed! For information and questions I stand gladly under the telephone number: 0043/664/4445990 for the order!"

BugBrand Flickr Set

"Tom from Bug Brands in his studio in Bristol. Tom creates bespoke analogue electronic systems musicians and bands, as well as art pieces like the "sonic dress". He is also an accomplished musician in his own right. Shot for Dazed and Confused magazine."

Title link takes you to more shots on the Bug Brands flickr set. via Music Thing and Sendling.

Note that the flickr set has Bug Brands isntead of BugBrand, but according the the BugBrand Blog it is BugBrand. I'll drop a comment in one of the flickr shots.

Saratronics Complex Sound Generator

"The new Complex Stereo Sound Generator for Sound Effects and Music Synthesis Module KIT model SARA-001 is now available. Measures only 5.1 x 5.1cm (2" x 2") and work with a single +5VDC power supply.

Main Features :
6 Frequency Generators (8 octaves per generator, 256 tones per octave)
2 Noise Generators (entirely programmable)
6 Noise/Frequency Mixers
12 Amplitude Controllers
2 Envelope Controllers"

Saratronics is based out of Switzerland and the kit goes for 35 euros shipped. You can read more about it on GetLoFi who has one and plans to build it soon.

U-MAX

"Based on UF7 and Doepfer kits, U-MAX is a master control keyboard designed by JMCO and CMa to pilot VSTi plug ins. It’s a non commercial unit."

Update: another shot here.

CMS Modded ARP 2600

Title link takes you to shots via this auction.

"it has been serviced and modified by Arp guru Phil Cirocco of CMS in 2004. Phil is arguably the top 2600 technician in the world and anyone that has heard a CMS modded 2600 knows that they are far superior to a stock unit. Phil went through it and fixed any problems, rebuilt the power supply, did his audio path upgrade (the best thing that can happen to a 2600 in my opinion) and replaced the original filter with a CMS 4012, which is identical sonically but has greatly improved stability. In short, this is a screamer that works and sounds amazing."

Axis 64 Midi Controller

YouTube via drbrainwork.
"Designer Peter Davies threw out preconceptions of what a music keyboard should be and designed a layout based on the Harmonic Table. According to C-Thru Musiic, the arrangement of notes helps you understand note relationships and create as you never have before."

multitouch general midi

YouTube via cladclad.
"multitouch surface as a MIDI controller" Anyone know more about this particular one?

Justice Dance

Title link takes you to a pretty cool video posted on one of my favorite blogs, Apollo Pony. There's an interesting bit about 3/4 into it that features this T shirt. What happens only happens with the keyboard. Before you watch it and get disappointed with the payoff, it isn't that big - just thought it was interesting (cool) that it only happens with the "synth."

Note: In the middle of this post I thought I'd see if it was on YouTube and it is. Below is the video. Note the video you will find via the title link on Apollo Pony is much larger and higher res so I recommend that version, but if you are not too concerned with the quality, the video is below. Note that you can also save the version linked on Apolly Pony once it is fully loaded.

Justice - D.A.N.C.E (Version Finale)

YouTuve via Antho05.

Formant Modular Brochures

Remember the Formant Modular? Swissdoc scanned two brochures and sent them my way.

"I spent some quality time in scanning and editing to pdf two Formant Brochure from the company ICA which was selling those kits back in the late 70s till early 80s"

First Brochure
Title as JPG
Second Brochure
Big Formant from the Brochure
mirrored here

ALTAIR-231

via this auction.

Formanta EMS-01

Title link takes you to shots via this auction.

Synthesizer has:
- 3 oct keyboard
- modulator, freq modulator, width pulse mod, filter, amplitude modulator (amplifier)
- osc1, osc2 - width-range oscillators with 4 waveforms each
- mixer, noise generator, external input, ring modulator
- filter with resonance and adr (like on polivoks)
- amplifier with mod and adsr

organ has:
- 5 oct keys
- 6 waveshape registers
- freq vibrato with - rate, depth and delay
- stereo phazer (for both organ and synth) with rez level
- sustain level

connections: phones, mono out, stereo l/r, pedal in, osc's tuning, sync contr in/out, ext input."
There are samples linked in the auction from ruskeys were you can find more info.

Oberheim 4 Voice FVS-1

Title link takes you to shots via this auction.

Roland Paraphonic 505

Title link takes you to shots via this auction.

"A great classic symphonic synthesizer like the type of thing Vangelis used to make the score for Bladerunner. This analog synth has three tone generator sections: bass, strings and synth. Other features include: LFO, Ensemble (chorus), VCF jack (for a pedal-controlled filter), Vibrato and keyboard splitting."

Modern Analog Modular Synthesizer

Click here for additional shots via this auction
.
Blacet Quad VCA - customized to 5v operation for compatiblilty with the MOTM Envelope Generators.
Blacet Micro LFO
Metalbox Wave Multiplier
Synthesis Technology Envelope Generators - quantity 2
Doepfer A-176 Control Voltage Source
Doepfer A-138 Linear Mixer
Plan B Model 15 VCO
Doepfer A-138 Exponential Mixer
Doepfer A-111 High End VCO
Doepfer A-118 Noise/Randon Voltage
Bananalogue 3P Mixer
Doepfer A-174 Joystick Control
Doepfer A-180 Multiple
Doepfer A-143-3 Quad LFO
Doepfer A-127 Trile Voltage Controlled Resonance Filter
Doepfer A-105 SSM Filter
Doepfer A-135 Voltage Controlled Mixer
Doepfer A-175 Voltage Inverter
Doepfer A-180 Multiple
Other items Included:
Doepfer A-100G6 Case with the newer PSU2 power supply.
Blacet Case with Power supply and distribution card.
34 Mogami Patch Cables
Kenton Electronics Pro Solo Midi to CV Converter