Serge Modular

This beauty was sent in via Peter Grenader of Plan b on the AH list. I asked him if I could put it up and he gave me the thumbs up.

1. 24 channel comb filter
(4) Quad VCA
(4) 4 channel unity gain mixers
(4) 2 channel unity gain mixers

2. (8) Extended ADSR

3. (8) Extended ADSR

4, Touch Activated Keyboard, w/mod 16 inputs, 1 output

CLICK FOR MORE »

Modified Linn LM-1

images via this auction. via Bill.

"Extremely rare, only 500 were ever made. This is the machine that changed the way we record, and became the voice of pop music in the eighties. It’s the classic sound heard on Prince’s When Doves Cry, 1999 and others. It was used by The Human League, Art of Noise, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, and just about everybody else back then. It was the first programmable drum machine to feature samples of real drums. It retailed for $4995.00, and is the only piece of equipment that I ever paid list price for—there was a waiting list, and I was lucky to get one! Yes, I am the original owner. Auction includes the original owner’s manual.

About this particular unit, serial no. 00331: It has been sitting in its Anvil case in the garage for about twenty years. Sad, but true, how fickle we are with equipment. It worked perfectly when I put it away, and after bringing it back to life, I am happy to say that it is about 97% fully functional. Here’s what’s going on:

The batteries are possibly (probably) dead, and one of the connecting leads has come away from the battery pack. It appears that a screw is missing. Not being a tech, I don’t want to risk hooking up this lead in case I’m wrong. I don’t have a schematic for the machine, and probably couldn’t read it if I did. Therefore, the machine will not retain anything programmed into it when the power is turned off. Be that as it may, the unit still records, and functions as it did back in the day. I haven’t gone through and tested every single function such as swing, and linking up patterns, but recording a pattern works fine. The sliders on the mixer are a little bit dirty, and the upper conga will disappear from the mix sometimes because of this. It comes back from moving the fader up and down, so I assume a good cleaning will take care of that. I haven’t tested the individual outs, they need cleaning as well. After sitting in the Anvil case all that time, some of the foam from inside the case dried up and stuck to the outputs. The left and right stereo outs work fine, as do the pan switches for each individual channel.

Long ago, I had the machine modified to allow more chips to be installed, and there are three switches on the back panel that change the kick, congas and snare. There are two kicks installed, and the snare channel has a nifty fingersnap sound when one of the switches is thrown. There is also a ¼” unlabeled jack on the back that I have no idea what it’s for—it was all a long time ago.

Cosmetically, it’s not too bad; a few scratches on the top panel, most likely from other gear being set on top of it. This machine was only used in the studio, and only transported in the case, but it IS 25 years old, and shows some wear and tear that you can see in the photos."

HarriL - Electronic Tripping (Live)

video upload by HarriL

NOTE: The above is a 10 minute version of the following:

"Hey again!
No testing this time! Here's a (rather long - 14minutes!) electro-house jam/song mixed with live guitar and harmonica sounds.

Gear used:
Video here (in stereo)
Mp3 here

Gear used:
Quasimidi Rave-o-lution 309, FutureRetro Revolution fed through EMX for effects. ESX for some samples. K-station as an effects unit for the harmonica and the guitar. I had a sequence planned for KS, but actually forgot to play it."

harbinson - ohh the moonshine

YouTube via LukeHarbinson.
The onhand version of the song so you can see whats going on. mp3 available free on myspace"

Alesis A6 Andromeda: Bass sounds

YouTube via YpsilonVector.

JoMoX Sunsyn

images via this auction.

Roland SH-2000

images via this auction.




YouTubes via mavropigi.

E-MU Emulator III

via this auction.

Roland JX-8P

images via this auction.

MAM MB33 II

via this auction.

sample 1
sample 2

• 100% analog audio synthesis
• VCO : Square wave and Sawtooth
• Suboscillator
• 18 dB low-pass filter like the original TB-303
• Pulse width modulation (PWM)
• Distortion effect
• VCF IN (External audio signals can be applied to the VCF IN socket for processing by the MB 33 II.)
• MIDI In / Out / Thru
• MIDI can send/receive controls for the cutoff, resonance, ENV mod, accent, decay, distortion, and autoslide on/off
• Reso adjust
• Autoslide

Plexus Instruments CR-800

via royce on AH.

"the only trick with the triggering is the cr8000 voice boards need a downgoing (positive to negative) trigger. this can be accomplished with an inverter, such as a doepfer or analogue solutions inverter module. i wound up using an elby midi-trigger converter, with a reprogrammed pic. the upside is that THE TRIGGERING IS VELOCITY SENSITIVE. this is fantastic, and allows for subtle nuances."

More images here.

MMM JP VCF

Mattson Mini Modular JP VCF
Jim Patchell Signature
Multi-mode Filter

Jim Patchell's DIY Synthesis

Many of you might recognize the name Jim Patchell. For those of you that do not, Jim is about as respected as it gets in the Synth DIY community. He started his first synth project back in 1973:

"Well, this project was started in 1973, or there abouts. I was at Santa Barbara City College at the time. The library there had Radio Electronics magazine, and I would go there to read and do home work. When I saw the article on building your own synthesizer, I was hooked immediately. This was, of course, the legendary Paia 2700. Some of the circuits were build as is, others I didn't like. The VCO was one of those. I used the national semiconductor application notes for the LM324 to build the voltage controlled triangle oscillator. Back then, I had no money to speak of, so everything was pretty much built from salvage parts. The LM324 was a free sample. They were not cheap back then. I did buy some LM741/747/748 type opamps to make some of the modules. All of the transistors were salvaged. Pots were a very strange collection of pots salvaged from old radios (I could kick myself for that misdeed)."


Low Pass Filter pictured. He's contributed quite a bit to the synth community. You can see a bit of his work in the following three sites.

The Jim Patchell Synthesizer D.I.Y. Web Page
Jim Patchell's First Synthesizer Project
A New DIY Synthesizer Project

He is also responsible for the electronic design and PC Board layout for the MIKADO Analog Sequencing System posted here.

Plan B releases two new MMModules :)

Two new Plan B products wil begin shipping in two weeks:

1) The Model 9 Mixer/Attenuator is the forth in a series of utility modules from Plan B. A truly modular, multi-tasking 5 in, 3 output mixer, it's balanced inputs are suited for either AC signals or DC control voltages, or both simultaneously.

Along with these mixing options, each of the four main inputs channels are fitted with dedicated Attenuator Outputs which allow access to the leveled output from each channel by itself, independent of the mix. Many thanks to Plan B Norman Fay for thestellar idea of adding independent post fader outputs.

Go here for details.

2) The third in our utility module series, the Model 29 Dynamic Mult is a unique 1-to-5 signal splitter in which four of the outputs are equipped with manual level pots, allowing for both contour control and signal distribution. The perfect companion for non-attenuated VC inputs, the Model 29 requires no power supply connection to operate as it takes it's ground reference from the cables patched into it.

Go here for more details.

The 'mama massacre kein sex' project by syndrome

Click here for a number of tracks, in most cases, created by using only one synth. Warning: the title to the tracks may be offensive to some and possibly banned in Germany. I forget if that particular word is or not. I do know it was on the black list for most search engines. This one via Serge.

MMM VCO

Mattson Mini Modular VCO

MOOG Needs Help for Restoration Project

Bryan from Alka found this one on the amia-l job posting mailing list. It was forwaded and posted by:

David C. Spencer
Senior Curator / Cinema Studies Faculty
NCSA Moving Image Archives


"Hello All!

My name is Michelle Moog-Koussa. I am the Executive Director of the Bob Moog Foundation. located in Asheville, NC. For those of you who are not familiar with Dr. Moog's work, he was a synthesizer pioneer, largely credited with inventing the first synthesizer and changing the face of music forever. Dr. Moog lived and worked in Asheville for the last 25 years of his life and passed away in August of 2005. We created the Bob Moog Foundation soon after that and received our non-profit status in March 2007.

In January of this year, we went through Dr. Moog's extensive archives, which include 50 years of prototype instruments, photos, schematics, articles, notes, correspondence, vintage recording equipment, reel to reel tapes and other historic ephemera. Unfortunately, Dr. Moog stored this unique, historic and fascinating collection in a hot, humid buidling out in the country and everything is covered with mold. Additionally, time has taken its toll on just about every item. With the help of a core group of dedicated volunteers, we have moved the most important materials into a climate controlled storage space in Asheville. We have begun to seek help in preserving this important collection.

We are presently in the midst of applying for a grant from the Grammy Foundation to help us retore the reel to reel tapes and the vintage recording equipment. The Grammy Foundation requires that we find a qualified archivist to help us with this project. If you are an interested archivist with knowledge of reel to reel tape preservation, please contact me immediately.

The grant application is due on October 1st, so time is of the essence. Please respond at your earliest possible convenience.

Thanks so much for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,
Michelle Moog-Koussa
Executive Director
The Bob Moog Foundation
(c) 828.215.8414
www.moogfoundation.org"

Limited Edition Akai MPC 4000 via Guitar Center

"GUITAR CENTER INTRODUCES HI-TECH CUSTOM SHOP FEATURING UNIQUE ELECTRONIC MUSIC ITEMS ESPECIALLY DESIGNED FOR TODAY’S ARTISTS
Limited Edition Akai MPC 4000—Exclusively Designed By Master Customizer Bruce Forat—Is Premiere Offering

Westlake Village, CA: Guitar Center, the nation's leading musical instrument retailer, announced today the introduction of its exclusive Hi-Tech Custom Shop. A new model for the retail chain, the Hi-Tech Custom Shop gives musicians unique access to rare and specialized items designed to break the homogeny of mass-market gear. The planned inventory for the Shop includes limited custom editions, exclusive product and artist-endorsed items. These will be conceived and designed by industry experts to celebrate the legacy of genre-defying pieces as well as appeal to musicians with a desire to own a piece of history.
These exclusive collaborations will be on display at select locations but can be special ordered at any Guitar Center nationwide.

To launch the Hi-Tech Custom Shop, Guitar Center purchased the last eleven Akai MPC 4000s ever made and partnered with Bruce Forat, who has been at the forefront of music electronics for the last 25 years. Forat, who has personally customized drum machines and keyboards for top musicians including Prince, Dr. Dre, Jermaine Dupree and Madonna, customized the eleven to create one-of-a-kind MPC 4000s, of which only six remain for sale exclusively through the Guitar Center Hi-Tech Custom Shop. The Akai MPC series, used by influential musicians and producers such as Kanye West, Just Blaze, and Pete Rock, has been instrumental in the development of hip-hop music and is widely regarded as the industry’s gold standard. Additional information can be found at www.guitarcenter.com/forat.

“For the launch of Guitar Center’s Hi-Tech Custom Shop, we wanted to offer something incredibly special,” said Tony Baraz, assistant buyer for Guitar Center. “The Akai MPC is iconic in and of itself, but when customized by a monster talent like Bruce Forat it is a work of art.”

“To make each of the remaining Akai MPC 4000s truly unique we headed to the Caribbean for inspiration,” says Forat. “There’s something about the atmosphere and cool breeze that gets the creative juices going—I count these Hi-Tech Custom Shop MPCs among my best work.”

About Guitar Center
Guitar Center is the leading United States retailer of guitars, amplifiers, percussion instruments, keyboards and pro-audio and recording equipment. Our retail store subsidiary presently operates 214 Guitar Center stores across the U.S. In addition, our Music & Arts division operates more than 100 stores specializing in band instruments for sale and rental, serving teachers, band directors, college professors and students. We are also the largest direct response retailer of musical instruments in the United States through our wholly owned subsidiary, Musician's Friend, Inc., and its catalog and Web site, www.musiciansfriend.com. More information on Guitar Center can be found by visiting the Company's Web site at www.guitarcenter.com.

The Guitar Center logo is a registered trademark of Guitar Center, Inc. Other brand or product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated."

BTW, the first person to comment with the correct number of remaining MPC 4000s, and WITH a registered account gets a $100 GC gift certificate courtesy of GC. : ) Sorry anons, but there is no way to confirm who you are for this one.

More images here.

Genoqs Octopus Basic Demonstration 5

YouTube via DayflightTrok.
"A short demonstration about how to program chords up to 7 notes and how to strumm this chord up- or downwards (also called "the Chris Franke" effect). Have Fun!"
click here for all demonstrations. genoQs website

Roland TR-808

click here for more.

MMM Dual LFO

Mattson Mini Modular Dual LFO

HarriL - Revolution Acid Testing (live)

video upload by HarriL

Hey, I got the Future Retro Revolution today. Revolution is synced to-and fed through EMXs' effects. The overdrive is from the revolution."

Sequential Circuits Prophet VS Vector Synthesizer

YouTube via retrosound72.
"short demo of the legendary SCI Prophet VS Vector Synthesizer

used by: Brian Eno, Ice House, Apollo 440, Depeche Mode, Vince Clarke, Kraftwerk, Erasure, John Carpenter and many more

more info: www.retrosound.de"

MacBeth M5

images via this auction

via Boris.

Create Digital Music, ETSY & MAKE - Handmade music night 9/27 8pm! NYC

It looks like our buddies, Peter Kirn of CDM and Richard Lainhart will be at Handmade Music at Etsy Labs in Brooklyn. Richard will be playing a solo set with his Buchla and Continuum on Thursday, September 27 at 8PM. The cool part? It will be free! Just RSVP. If you are in the area, don't miss this! Check out the videos on Richard's site for a sample. Also see these previous posts for some of Richard's contributions to this site.

"Handmade Music is an evening of original creations for music making, open to the creative minds of the New York area. It's equal parts party, show-and-tell, performance, and science fair, open to whatever oddball software and hardware people want to bring, complete or not. Some come with projects, others just to hear and see unusual new instruments, from software to game systems to homemade electronic instruments.

Each installment brings plenty of surprises, but appearances confirmed
for this one include:

* A featured performance by Richard Lainhart, a renowned electronic improviser and innovator
* Seven-foot tall "Suburbanite" aka "60 Switches of Fury", a music controller by Eric Johnson
* The Monome, a minimalist open-source hardware controller with grids of buttons
* A fluid musical instrument controller entirely by webcam, by Peter Kirn
* Lots of other things that may just appear"

click here for more info.

Synthwood SCI Pro-One Wood Case - LAST CALL!!!

via this auction.

via Stephen Jones:
"We're down to the last 19 conversion kits. We're now offering to do the install for our customers for free if they ship their Pro-One to us. Also, we've reduced the price by $26. We're doing this so we can focus on the MMM cases."

Oberheim OB-12

images via this auction.

Not the sharpest images, but they should give you a feel for the presence of the synth.

DSI PEK

images via this auction.

Sequential Circuits Prophet-600

images via this auction.

"The Prophet-600 is a 6-voice polyphonic analog synthesizer with a 5-octave, 61-note (C-C) keyboard. Each voice consists of two VCOs, two VCFs, and two VCAs. Each of these components has its own independent ADSR envelope. Each Prophet-600 voice uses 2 sets of Curtis Chips for its architecture. The sound originates in a pair of Curtis 3340 VCOs, each with independent on/off switches for sawtooth, triangle, and pulse waveforms. VCO1 can be synced to VCO2. Both oscillators are set with a frequency knob that is notched in semi-tones, with a separate fine tune knob for VCO2. Portamento is adjusted by a single knob. The sound then passes through a pair of Curtis 3372 chips. Each 3372 contains a VCF, a VCA, and a separate volume control for mixing. The VCF is a resonant 24dB/octave filter, with its own ADSR and knob for frequency. The frequency knob is quantized into steps, not allowing you to change it smoothly. Key follow can be set to full, half or off. The LFO can modulate the oscillators (both at the same time), the filter frequency, and the pulse width on the oscillator. The Prophet-600 has mono mode with chord memory as well as two one-track sequencers and an arpeggiator. The sequencers are programmed in real-time and cannot be edited. The arpeggiator can be set to the normal up or down modes or can cycle through the keys in the order that they were played"

Roland SH-2000

images via this auction.

"Great Looking 1970's Vintage Roland SH-2000 Analog Synthesizer Keyboard. It was found packed away in storage at a local Estate Sale. I doubt the previous owner has played it within the past few years. Its in Very Good/Excellent condition cosmetically, all knobs & controls are original & intact. Its been well cared for by the previous owner. I've tested all the functions, playing it through my amp, and it works fine. You may choose to have it cleaned, since it sat unplayed for so long."

Polivoks

via this auction.

MMM Sample & Hold

Mattson Mini Modular Sample & Hold

The Microkorg

flickr by rockistani..

click here for the full size shot

Inside the Poly-800

click here for more.

flickr by tflinck.

Arduino Punk Console - programmable 8 step tone sequencer

More info on the Arduino Punk Console here. via fotosis.

"This is my first build using an arduino microcontroller. I wanted to create a simple tone output device along the lines of the 555-based atari punk console, but using solely the mcu as the tone generator. Unfortunately, that was just too simple a task with a microcontroller to play with--it was done in about five minutes and my mind was already forging ahead with a bunch of stupid ideas."

Fairlight Xynergi Videos

Xynergi from Fairlight


Xynergi Demo 1


The Magic of Xynergi's self-labelling keys

YouTubes via cyber4nic. Via DVDBorn.

JoMoX Serial #1 "Dr. Walker" xBase09

via this craislist post, via shagghie

MMM Envelope Generator

Mattson Mini Modular Envelope Generator

SIEL Mono

via Giorgio. Click here for more.

ZEIT Desktop Retro

click here for more.

MOOG Tatoo

via Till "Qwave" Kopper in the comments of this post:

There is a female german Moog synth player named Christa with a Minimoog tatoo on her right arm near the shoulder. Here is a picture shot during the Kufstein BlueSynth meeting two weeks ago."

Voyager+M5 Vergleich

A comparison of the MOOG Voyager and MacBeth M5.



via sequencer.de

Studio 35d's Analogy

"The Analogy sampler CDs are compilations of tracks sent in by various artists with music made with analog electronic music instruments only. Use of any digital instruments, such as samplers and digital synthesizers are not allowed. Because of the succes of both volumes 1 and 2, it was a logical step for Groove Unlimited to continue the series with Analogy Volume 3."

The track Probe One (original version here), by Studio 35D features only the Pro-One according to My Synthesis Technology.

click here for more info.

Ursa Major Recording Studio

click here for more. Via Analog Industries HCGP.

Spot the synths.

Update via the comments:
"This is David Morley's studio (he has also produced stuff with Andrea Parker). He uses the ARP 2600 on just about everything, and it sounds wonderful. He also has a nice collection of reverbs (couple real EMT plates, Roland R-8, etc) that he really knows how to use.

His new CD is one of my favorite electronic releases of the year. The sounds and moods he creates are very inspiring. Very much worth picking up, I think you have to order it directly from him.

http://www.davidmorley.com/"

MMM Glide

Mattson Mini Modular Glide

Roland SH-1 Synth OVER LORD

via Larry, aka Computer Controlled on the AH list. He found this one on his SH-1.

Bingoboys Studio for Sale

This one in via burnie:
"the studio in the first district of vienna of the producer collective bingo boys is for sale or rent now. as far as i know they had some massive chart success in europe with lets say kind of commercial productions, and with their single "show me how to dance" i think they even reached us top 5. also georg luksch and peter rauhofer did remix jobs for madonna and got an emmy for this...

but maybe more interesting for you and other synthheadz, there was a nice feature of georg lukschs gear and him talking about the difference of touching real gear or doing it virtually , like making an instant soup or do real cooking, on the dvd of in the german magazine sound&recording (formerly "keyboards"), issue 4/2007 [unfortunately the article is not available online, just an abstract] also hes showing his huge gear park, including mostly all improtant synthesizers of the last two and a half decades, even switching on the emulator 2 and the fairlight... today i came across the website of the studio, and that it is going to be sold or rented."

Note the Achtung! at the bottom of the page states that the equipment is not for sale by itself.

How To Open a Waldorf Synth

Via Chris on the Waldorf list. Photos originally courtesy of Achim Lenzgen.

"This works for either a yellow Q or an XTk, which I have personally verified. Other Q's are probably similar, though not identical. Keep track of the screws - there are seemingly millions of them."