'Module' based Synthesis Type - Analog Discrete analogue Polyphony - Max 7 / Typical 5(When fully loaded) Multi-timbral - Up to 7(When fully loaded) Patches - 4 per module Controllers : 1 pad trigger and 1 voltage trigger/module Dimensions - 17" x 11 1/2" x 6" Weight - 16 lbs.
"Control knob for volume, control knob for Rhythm / Tempo. Power and Stop buttons. Rhythm Selector for TROT; WALTZ; ROCK; SLOW ROCK; DISCO; CHA CHA; BOSS NOVA & RUMBA. On the back are two jacks, one for the foot switch, one that simply says Out. 9v DC plug, little paint wear on the right side of the back.
Some Specs: Type: Drum-machine/ module/ Synthesis Type: Analog ??? Polyphony: Max: 6; Typical in use: 6 Multi-timbral (number of parts): 1 Controllers : none Effects : Number of FX units: 0; Number of different effects: 0. Drum Section : # kits: 1; # sounds: 6. Inputs and Outputs : Number of Audio Outs (excluding Phones) : 1 Number of Audio Ins : 0 Number of MIDI Outs (excluding Thru) : 0 Number of MIDI Ins : 0 Comments about the sounds : Ancient analogue drums! Very "poppy" snare, high end kick bass, super sizzly hats (for a late 70's drum machine). Similar to Hammond drums."
Catsynth.com is back online and to my honor, in their 1 year anniversary post, they paid tribute to my cat JD who recently passed away. JD was THE coolest cat ever. Rock solid and my best friend. I'll miss him. Title link takes you to Catsynth.com. And to Catsynth.com, thank you. I put a comment up there on what JD meant to me.
Update via their MySpace page (the answer as to who this/"I" is, is in the comments of this post): "Well the band members vary depending on the country I'm in. FB USA is to feature Gino Robair (Electronic Musician Editor and drummer with various outfits including Tom Waits), Mike Brown (From Livewire Electronics- a CA based synth manufacturer) Eric Barbour ( A synth and effects pedal manufacturer who owns Metasonix- they do nice horrible products including The Wretch- a tube based synth, Scrotum Smasher and a fave- the yellow Butt Probe- it's yellow- has cute S&M cartoons on it, and it also has dung on it. Hat's off to Eric) Alessandro Cortini (He plays keyboards currently with Nine Inch Nails, and also is in an outfit called Modwheel Mood.) It's an interesting mix of Artists..." Their influences are also worth a look.
Click here for ISO50's TYCHOMUSIC. You will find a few synth shots in the Gallery, but of course, be sure to check out the music. This is really good stuff - great music to chill to. As for synths, it features a bit of SIEL and more.
YouTube via lmpec. Oberheim OB-X, Minimoog and Tempest.
Update: new upload by someone else:
Subdivisions - Rush
YouTube via AirbrushRocks — April 14, 2008 — "'Subdivisions' is a Rush song often considered to be describing feelings of isolation, boredom, conformity, and sadness springing up from teenage life in the suburbs. "Subdivisions" was released on the 1982 album Signals. Aside from being a perennial fan favourite and a staple of live performances, the song appears on several greatest hits compilations, was released as a single in 1982, and despite doing little serious business in the UK charts, it gained a lot of radio airplay in Britain at the time. It was also played live prior to its release. Pre-release live versions exist on the internet.
The promotional videos scenes were filmed in the Toronto area. The downtown scenes in downtown Toronto, the suburbs scenes in Scarborough, Ontario, near Warden and Finch. The high school scenes were filmed at L'Amoreaux Collegiate Institute, in the same area. The student that walks downtown in the video is Dave Glover, a student at the L'Amoreaux Collegiate Institute at the time. Near the end of the video, Glover is seen playing the video game Tempest at an arcade, which was reportedly his favourite video game at the time. Info courtesy: wikipedia.org]"
I just realized I haven't ever put up a post on VAZ, one of the first VA modular soft synths. Pictured here is VAZ Plus, the entry level system. Title link takes you to STL where you will find more info on VAZ Modular, VAZ 2010 and VAZ Plus. Does anyone know if the Sequencer can be used to control external synths or is it meant to sequence VAZ only?
VAZ Plus Synthesizer The synthesizer architecture, which is much more advanced than its simple appearance suggests, allows unique sounds to be crafted easily and quickly, essential for making your music stand out from the crowd. The quality and diverse range of analogue sounds will surprise you, and there are hundreds of preset sounds included. The synthesizer can be played over MIDI, or using the high resolution timing provided by the VSTi and DXi plugin standards. There is also a handy QWERTY keyboard option for auditioning sounds when no external MIDI keyboard is available. VAZ Plus Sequencer The polyphonic VAZ Plus Sequencer combines the best of classic analogue and digital pattern sequencers. In addition to note sequencing it can be used for patterned modulation of parameters such as Filter Cutoff and Resonance. The sequencer can also synchronize with the host directly when used as a VSTi or DXi plugin or via MIDI Clock for the standalone version.
via this auction. "This is a 100% original functional art piece, by New York outsider artist Bent-It, which is one from his new Sound Thrasher series. It has two oscillators that modulate eachother making for some tripped out droning, 80's video game-ish, spacey, ring modish, psychedelic analog noise all by itself. But when you plug in anything that's loud enough, like the drum machine i uded in the sound clips, the Sound Thrasher 2.0 will more then live up to it's name and Thrash any incoming sound waves creating really harsh, or beautiful depending on your taste, noise/music. Also you can flip the on-off switch rhythmically for some cool sounds. This piece also comes with a 1/4" input and output. The 1/4" out allows you to plug this thing into all your favorite effects pedals and boards or directly into your amp (but using effects is way cooler and broadens your sound making capabilities astronomically). It runs on a standard boss style 9 volt DC wall-wart adapter"
These samples were made with a roland tr-505 drum machine plugged into the Sound Thrasher 2.0's input. The Sound Thrasher 2.0 is plugged into the same amp used to make the clips above. SOUND SAMPLE 1 SOUND SAMPLE 2"
"Comes with the original 3 manuals – casio cz101 manual, the sound data bank maual that has 50 pages of block diagrams that show parameters for many sounds, the sound synthesis handbook that explains these types of syths and sound concepts, and the synth cue chart page. These manuals are very hard to find and are rare to find all bundled. Has cool features such as pitch bender and midi control over channels. Has a ¼” inch output and I will include the power adapter as well. This is a cool little instrument controller that has some great vintage tones, noise mod, ring mod, envelope staging and the best part is that it has guitar strap holders that allow a whole new level of interaction for a keyboard player to get right up there and jam with the rest of the band out front."
Remember the blue Elektron SidStation in this post? Title link takes you to more pics. via jesper of electronic-obsession:
"The guy I traded with was the original owner and he had ordered his Sid directly from Elektron in Gothenburg since he lived nearby. Who went over to pick it up and pay and when in their small office he saw an empty blue "shell" on a shelf he asked about it and wondered if he could have that instead. He could... :) Almost the entire batch of Sid's are silver metallic. The exception being ten or so being made for the crew themselves and these are red metallic. (Yes, I've seen one once for sale on a swedish auction site. Not too expensive but not very good looking either. Red was never my colour... anyway...) The other big exception is certainly the batch of 50 (?) of the limited edition series Sid Station Ninja's being black (metallic I think?). It was when these were planned that Elektron asked the maker of the shells to come up with a few examples of alternative colouring that the blue Sid was born. (Maybe because of the swedish origin?) Since these alternative shells were shelved I've seen another Sid being blue and that was also for sale here in Sweden. I don't know where it ended up... I've talked to Elektron about this and they confirmed the above story with the words; -there sure can't be many blue ones around... Need I say I consider this blue Sid the best I've seen? ;)
YouTube via dosle. "messing with the FM3, releasing audio ghosts"
Update via Matt: FM3 Buddha Machine website. "I bought mine off Turntablelab.com a few months ago. It's a fun ambient machine to get creative juice going. It gets me doing some abstract beats playing it and noodling with the MPC ;)."
"i love the drum fire, very unique and crunchy sound, and lots of fun to chain the channels together on the DF-500. The 2-channel rack DF-2000 is a bit more flexible with a noise filter and waveshape control. I just dug up a demo I did from 2001 and put it up temporarily on virb.com: the only encoding I found of it was a 160kbps, which isn't great but here it is anyway. I think this was only the Drumfire and Metasonix Hellfire just live tweaking."
YouTube via Denkitribe. "Who said "Everybody needs a 303"? Now ReBirth is free, so everyone can have two 303s. Let's make an acid music (in only three minutes)."
Remember the GypsiMIDI? The following are some words from someone that has actually used one. Note that it is for sale. Contact info below.
Via Matt: "General info: It's the right arm. I have all of the software and manuals that came with it (these things can also be downloaded from the sonalog webpage). I purchased it about 4 months ago and have used it about 10 times. The project that I was getting together to use it with ended up falling apart and now I have this really cool motion to midi controller that I never use. As for what it does, it translates your right arm's entire range of motion into midi CC's which can then be used to manipulate synthesizers and the like. I was using it with a davesmith mono-evolver and getting amazing results out of it. I was able to play the keyboard with my left hand and manipulate the synth with my right arm in real-time. Because there is so much information being recorded from your arm's movement you can really control alot more parameters than you can with just simple knob tweaking alone. Furthermore, this technology has the potential to revolutionize electronic music (and music in general) if placed in capable hands. Imagine dance music being created live and in realtime by dancers. I think the best way to understand how it works is just to watch the demonstration video's provided on Sonalog's website. I am asking $900 for it. I paid $1300 for it including S/H when I purchased it. Please direct emails to this email address paisleyartmachine AT gmail.com"
"Classic Roland resonant filter, compression, vibrato, pitch-shifting and awesome hex-distortion. You can plug in a CV pedal (not included) for hands-free controlled filter sweeps. LIghtning-fast, responsive analog synth circuitry with no lag-time! Requires a Roland G-808, G-505, G-303, G-202 guitar controller and cable (original G-500 guitar may work also, not sure). This unit is not designed to work with the later Roland GK MIDI pickups, it uses a 24 pin cable which is NOT included.
"Early 1980's Roland GR-100 polyphonic guitar synthesizer unit, excellent condition, all functions work as they should. Sounds great!! Classic Roland filter, vibrato, chorus, and features an even more sophisticated hex-distortion circuit than the GR-300 model. The hex-fuzz offers incredible clarity for each string, you can acheive that 'clear distortion' reminiscent of Brian May or Robert Fripp. And there is also a separate VCF circuit for each string! You can plug in a CV pedal (not included) for hands-free controlled filter sweeps. Very inspiring to play and harder to find than the GR300. LIghtning-fast, responsive analog synth circuitry with no lag-time! Requires a Roland G-808, G-505, G-303, G-202 guitar controller and cable. Please note: this unit will not work with the later Roland GK-series MIDI pickups, it uses a 24 pin cable which is NOT included.
Title link takes you to the studio page for technik. The two shots to show the diversity of what you will find there.
Above is tph (Thomas P. Heckmann) and the machines.
Below is the PPG Realizer - this was in essence going to be the first synth to specifically model other synths. An image of the synth to be modeled would appear on the screen with lines connecting the knobs you see to the parameters in the image. A Minimoog was frequently shown.
via this auction. "Freak Machine! This is a weird little sound effects box which dub dj`s used to use to toast with - has a little speaker built in and two screws at the back to wire an output to (I can do that for a coupla quid if you need). You`ll have heard the sounds on this thing used on various and nefarious rekkids from back in the day - generally manipulated in some way. True analogue & sounds it - get some Moorish Madess in the mix Bwana! Runs on 2 x walkman batteries (not supplied unless I can find a pair) all the way to Revolutionary Dub Heaven!"
Anyone know more about this piece, specifically who made it and the actual name of the model?
Title link takes you to Synthesizer-Magazin a German Synth magazine in traditional print via sequencer.de. There is a 20 page mini issue for download under "Leseprobe".
via Navs: "Navs' Clockbox: a compact 8-Step analogue sequencer featuring clock divide, odd step, random reset and speed settings. Oh, and loads of pretty LEDs.
Obviously inspired by Schneider's Jimibox and Doepfer's Vanity Cases - I know, I could have saved myself the grief, and calloused hands, but the A_Sol SQ8 is just too damn deep (10cm) to fit in one of those boxes!
Modules used: A_Sol SQ8, Doepfer A-160 + A-161 Clk Div/ Seq, A-147 VCLFO, MNT Mini PSU. Random function provided by A_Sol SH-NZ (in main suitcase).
Oh, the legending is obviously Photoshopped. I'll make a real sticker as soon as I fix my printer ;)
Cheers, Navs
PS More modular tests coming in the first week of August. Meantime, be sure to check out the rest of the site and forum!
Well, not really. Just a great mock-up via crystalmsc on VSE
Imaginary Specs: - 2 parts of full G2 engine - 16 voices of polyphony - thousands of patch storage - NEW! real stereo analog: filter, chorus and distortion/fuzz/overdrive - List price $699
the keyboard version with all the MMG2 features, plus: - X-Y pad - Built in audio looper - 16 mb of non volatile sampler - Exclusive link mode with other micro modular, using the midi in for up to 8 part/layer multi mode. - a DVD rom containing: * 2 gigs of waveform, loops, single cycle digital and spectral waveform. * Patches/banks using those waveform materials * complete Nord Wave Factory banks
via Music Thing where you can find a little more info on the originals.
YouTube via christinag856. "Having Fun with a Moog Taurus II Synth and Ace Tone Rhythm Ace. Looking to join a synth/pop electronic/goth group in NJ or Philly. Also check out manual demo at: Moog Taurus II Synthesizer (Part 1)
When either of these videos end, mouse over the bottom of the player for more. Title link also takes you to more via christinag856.
"After a long delay, due to an equipment malfunction, RadioModular is back up (hopefully stays up). Right now, it's pretty much all ZeroOscillator.
Modules used: Two Modcan 01a's modulating Zero Oscillator, A Dual LFO, Modcan Super Delay. (No Filters). It's then sent through some light digital processing for ambiance and out through the Internet.
I tried to get some 'buchla-200esque' Chris Muir-ian Timbers out of it.
Title link takes you to shots via this auction. "The model is 2353 and the serial number is 2353599. I received this keyboard on trade and I do not think it was played very much. It still has the protective clear cover on the controls and on the back plate serial number. I left it so when you receive it you can peel it off and it will look excellent."
Remember the Oberheim 2 Voice Sequencer Demo posted here? Apparently it's up for auction. Title link takes you to a couple more shots and the following is one more video followed by a couple of links listed in the auction.
Covers the Kurzweil 250 (K250, K250X and RMX Models). Includes a whole bunch of schematics, drawings, exploded views, PC board wiring diagrams, repair procedures, etc. The manual is over 1 inch thick and comes in a 3 ring binder. Sorry, no returns or refunds on books and manuals."
"It's 5 channels each one with a trigger in and direct out gives you some pretty nice 80's electronic drum sounds kraftwerk, new order kind of sounds come to mind as well as techno, trance, dance style sounds from the roland tr909. each of the 5 channels has a nob control for sensitivity, oscillator decay, noise decay, sweep, pitch with a cilck button on/off, balance (osc - noise), volume, and pan l-r. Unit also has a main left and right out each with a volume nob. The trigger cords are in new shape. I have never used them they still have the velcro tape on them. (i used roland trigger pads with the drumfire). All 5 triggers work. I just tested them by plugging them in and tapping on them . They are more sensitive than my roland pads. Comes with original box and some stickers, the five 1/4 inch trigger cords, and the unit itself."
Remember this Minimoog Model D from earlier today? Murray, the person doing the project dropped by to comment. Title link takes you to his blog, Hobby Synth, which covers his project of pimping his minimoog. Pretty cool stuff.