MATRIXSYNTH


Saturday, November 03, 2007

Curtis Electromusic - CES

"Curtis Electromusic Specialties was founded in 1979 for the purpose of providing the manufacturers of electronic musical instruments and their accessories with the best possible design solutions. Initial projects included the design of custom integrated circuits for Oberheim Electronics and Arp Instruments. While continuing to consult with such companies, Curtis Electromusic developed a unique and versatile microprocessor controlled synthesizer using the first of our custom IC’s, the Lin-Log Synthesizer.

As a natural extension of these projects, Curtis Electromusic Specialties began to expand the line of music synthesizer “chips.” Much effort was spent developing novel circuit design techniques to not only overcome the deficiencies of presently available IC’s, but to do so with significantly fewer integrated components and hence in a smaller chip size. The result: a new standard of high performance available to the manufacturers of electronic musical instruments at the lowest possible cost. The first product, the CEM3310 quickly found its way into designs by Oberheim Electronics and Moog Instruments.

For applications that could not be fulfilled by the CES standard products, the company offered proprietary technology for custom IC design. Thus, the manufacturer was always assured of receiving custom devices with better performance and lower cost than available from any other source."

click here for the website. There is a list of all synths that used the CEM, a bio on Doug Curtis, Data Sheets and more.

via Dave.

Three passes


YouTube via IranContras.
"Four chords played three times on a Moog Opus 3, filtered by a Moog Rogue and mangled by a Tech 21 Comptortion."

Vermona Synthesizer

images via
this auction
click the images for full size shots.

Original MOOG Synthesizer Stickers from the 70's

via
this auction
"Original MOOG Stickers from the late 70's ~ early 80's

From a batch of stuff I bought from a guy in Buffalo NY many years ago

One of the more "rare" Big 12" x 5" Gold MOOG sticker...suitable for framing!

15ea...yes Fifteen...of the standard 2.5" x 7" black + white stickers as seen on some MiniMoog and other Moog Synthesizers and their cases back in the day

excellent unused condition."

SIEL OR 400

Images via
this auction

Yamaha CS40m

images via
this auction
'The tech also added two mods from analog.no. These mods make it possible to use control voltage with the synth, a manufacturing mistake makes it impossible for standard CS-40m to respond to CV.

My tech had to move to Munich and did'nt have time to calibrate the synth using the calibration routine in the service manual (included in this sale). It works fine as you'll see in the demo i made, and saves and recall patches, but probably needs that calibration for optimal performance.

Here's a demo, you'll notice the overall fat sound, growling basses, soundtracky cs-80 like patches, nice ring modulation and DUOPHONIC playing."


IMG_2005


flickr by Luca Capozzi.

click here
for the full size shot.

Waldorf Q+ Tracks via SCD

Tracks via Boele Gerkes of SCD.

http://www.synthmusic.info/25/2002/223/223old.mp3
http://www.synthmusic.info/25/2004/256/256old.mp3

K.L.A.C

Klingons Love Alicia Keys.

I'm left wondering if this will replace LOLCATs.

via Zamise in the comments of this post.

Friday, November 02, 2007

gear

click here for the flickr set via webbox. Be sure to click on the "All Sizes" link for each shot for the full size of each.

sphericlounge

murder of crows


Space Odyssey

YouTubes via sphericlounge (click for more). Spot the synths.

synthesizer treffen 2007


YouTube via sphericlounge. via Nusonica.

LennarDigital Sylenth1 VSTi


YouTube via LennarDigital. via Nusonica.
"All sounds in this demo video are made with Sylenth1, except for the drums."

Casio SK-1

images via
this auction. Box shot.

Pro/File: Modular Odyssey on Electronic Musician

"In this era of digitally manipulated sound, pure electronic music — that is, music based totally on analog synthesis — could be considered a lost art. But take one look around the module-packed studio of Greek composer Bakis Sirros, and you might feel thrown back to a time when spaghetti-like coils of multicolored patch cords were still in vogue, and tireless innovators in overheated sound labs were pushing huge banks of analog circuitry to their limits.

'I'd always wanted the real hardware,' says Sirros, who acquired his first Doepfer A-100 modular synth (and founded the first online Doepfer users group — with Dieter Doepfer himself as a member) about eight years ago, 'because I liked the open architecture. Whenever I was working with monosynths, I was always thinking, ‘What if I had one more LFO and could modulate this?’ No hardwired synthesizer could give me that capability, so it was very important for me to get the real thing, with all the knobs to touch and cables to plug in.'" click here for the full article. Bakis Sirros/Parallel Worlds

Alicia Keys and Her... Yamaha Jupiter-8?

This one in via Xavier. Look closely.... at the synth.

These things are scary together...

via daddio of www.tapewarm.com

"2 Kaoss pads, several passes layered in Wavelab, Holloween eve:

iiii.mp3
ee.mp3

no added fx, no other instruments, some noise reduction and eq"

Alesis Andromeda A6 with Modded Case

Two pics of an Andromeda A6 with titled control panel sent my way via Xavier. Note this one is different than the Alesis Aurora.

"The owner found a picture on the internet and wanted to modify his Andromeda to look like the picture. He had probably stumbled upon a pic of the Aurora. He said that the modification was both very easy and very cheap to perform, using a 1mm thick aluminium sheet and pieces of oak wood. Some other guys thought that it might have been a lot of work to have all the connection separated from the main panel but the owner explained that the Andromeda is indeed split already. When you crack the lid open, connections are at the bottom and all that was needed is to have pieces of aluminium to have the front panel stay at the correct angle, a 10x15mm square section wood stick to fit between the keyboard and the front panel and an angled 1mm aluminium sheet to fill the gap at the back. No need to have the logos redone at the back. Then, the wooden ends were prepared, varnished and attached to the synth."

Synthyaro Plays The Unknown Man - Vangelis


YouTube via synthyaro. KORG R3.

Juno Still Life

flickr by barjack.

full size

Roland Juno-6

Computer Music Top 10 virtual synths episode 1


YouTube via CMSpecial. via TY Floyd on the Matrixsynth Forum.
"We countdown the best virtual synthesizers in the world, as voted for by Computer Music readers and forum users. Episode 1 features positions 10 to 5."

Workspace and Environment: Jeswa

"Regardless of the space, I've always been one to keep it minimal. My setup for the last 10+ years has been more or less the same - A bunch of computers, out of sight & earshot and as clean & minimal a setup as possible. I've always had one modular or semi-modular (Roland System 100, Arp 2600, Doepfer A100) through the years to get out of the box with. There are a very few VSTi synths I love, IMHO there are no mediocre ones, sorry."

click here for the full article on trash_audio.
Spotted: Cyndustries Zeroscillator, Plan B, Doepfer, Analog Systems.

Modular Formats


In case you missed the update to this post, Click the pic to the left for a super sized shot of the image. It was sent my way via John Loffink, author of the article linked to in the prior post and host of The Microtonal Synthesis and The Wavemakers Synthesizer web sites. He also mentioned there was a typo in the article. Via John: "Article has a typo, mentions Analogue Solutions as having Bode FS and Putney tribute modules, should be Analogue Systems. That will be corrected in an errata." Modular formats chart.

Synton 3000 Analog Modular Synthesizer

currently up for auction on VEMIA.

Synton Syntovox 221 Vocoder



currently up for auction on VEMIA. Click the image for the full size shot and check out the note from Felix Vissor of Synton to Wendy Carlos.

Steiner Master Touch

currently up for auction on VEMIA.

76 - spookz


YouTube via atishmeh. KORG Electribe EMX.
"playing with my synths instead of trick-or-treating"

MOOG 1125 Sample & Hold

click here for the full size shot on Aliens-Project.

via sequencer.de.

MOCHIKA


YouTube via drybredda.
"Documental sobre Alfredo Aliaga, él vive en Perú, hace música synth pop y fabrica sintetizadores analógicos."
"Documentary about Alfredo Aliaga, he lives in Peru, makes synth pop music and manufactures analog synthesizers."
You might recognize his synths from these previous posts:
Mochika Sequencer Synth (includes another video)
Atomo Labs Mochika Sequencer

Update via psylux:
"There were a couple of words that hard to make out but here is what was said

'Well the complete story is the following:

Before graduating university I wanted a sythesizer, to play, but I was broke. I tried to find money, find work, find a used one, I tried everything but it was too expensive. A MicoKorg was $700, and there were no used ones - well it was a disaster. So I said to hell with it, and built my own.

[I communicated with one person, more than any other] and he couldn't believe they were made in Peru. When he invited me to join his band/group, I started [making synths again] because I'd actually quit. I made the first one, and it didn't sound good so I had quit building.

The "Eclipse". I made it in a day. Sometimes I have an idea, and like an obsession I keep thinking of it and it gets to where I disregard other things so I must finish it to be calm again.

Q: What is that?
A: Its a photo-synthsezier. It has an oscillator but its controlled with a photocell and you can alter the sound by varying the light on the cell.

I made 3 version of the sequencer. The first was the Medusa, of which I sold and its gone. This is the second Medusa thats a bit bigger but its all on one board. And the third one is called "Mochika" and its optimized. Its got ins and outs and can be synced to other gear, other Mochikas or drum machines with analog signals not digitally.

The song we made with [Dante?] was a Mochika connected to a TR-606 Drumatix.

Everything I tell you is a lie. [context?]

I never make plans or drawings, or few. I do it mentally - I think out the structure in blocks in my mind, When its clear what Im going to do I go to the computer and I begin to draw the circuits. Sometimes I just sit there , just like that, like I'm doing nothing, but I'm just thinking.'"

Moog little phatty in Hi-Fi BASIC SOUNDS


YouTube via shaft9000.

Gary Numan - Are 'Friends' Electric ? (1979)


YouTube via orestes988.
"Gary Numan performs Are Friends Electric from the Replica album. 1979."
Note Billy Currie of Ultravox and Visage on ARP Odyssey. Video also features the MOOG Polymoog and Minimoog and I'm guessing a Yamaha CS80.

BTW, I couldn't find the original video for Are Friends Electric, only the following clip. If anyone can find it, let me know.

GARY NUMAN- INTERVIEW 1979

YouTube via spaceboots5. "Countdown special on the artists of the the 70's"

and an interesting interview on Gary's other hobby:

Leo Sayer Interviews Gary Numan, October 1983

YouTube via smileyartproductions.
"Interview with Gary Numan from the Leo Sayer Show in 1983 in which Gary discusses his love of flying."

Moog Little Phatty and Jordan Rudess - Moog Bass!


YouTube via MoogMusicInc.
"Jordan shows some great Moog Bass techniques. Visit www.moogmusic.com for more info."

OBERHEIM OBXa + JUNO 60 + SH 101 + TR 606 Part 3


YouTube via magevers.
"The fat "jump" Oberheim OBXa, the JUNO 60 and the small but also great sounding SH 101 together. I have used the sequencer of the SH 101 and the arpeggio of the JUNO 60. They were triggered by the TR 606. The OBXa was played in unison(mono) mode. This recording was made with a small pocket camera."

Access Indigo Redback


images via
this auction

"limited edition of the popular Access Virus Indigo 2, which sold out very quickly when it was released in 2003... The redback sports a black front panel with bright red leds and it is hand signed by the engineers at Access music in Germany. It features the operating system version 5.5"

Crumar BIT 01 Rack Expander Schematic Diagram

via
this auction. Note the seller appears to have a ton of other documentation up for auction as well.

Wersi EX20 MIDI Expander Synth



via this auction

"After 10 years as an organ manufacturer, Wersi enters the synthesizer field with the MK1 (or EX20 module), a digital 20 note polyphonic synthesizer.

Its sounds are based on a configuration of sounds modules such as wave, pitch-envelope, amplitude envelopes and analog effects to produce fourier, waveform sample, and modular synthesis. The front panel features a 32 slider 'wavemaker' module used for each synthesis mode.

A 61 note velocity & pressure keyboard can split and provide up to 8 timbres simultaneously per side. The EX20 is a rack mount version of the MK1. Both instruments can 'see' up to 16 midi channels for multi-timbral operation, and transmits on up to 8 channels at one time."

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Heavy Metal - Taarna (1981)


YouTube via laggos. Follow up to this post.
This is from the Spanish version of Heavy Metal. The English version is up but the audio quality wasn't as good. BTW, if you haven't seen Heavy Metal, see it.

Moog Touch Plates

via Peter Forrest:

"Three interesting Bob Moog touch plates from Felix Visser via the VEMIA auction - showing how Bob moved from a very Moog-like box to a much more Big Briar thing in three stages. Almost certainly all his own handiwork."

Matrixsynth by Gattobus

flickr by gattobus

Korg AM8000R

Access Virus Ti Desktop

click here for more shots including some of the inside, via Gattobus.

Yamaha DX7 Voice ROMs

Follow up to this post. I commented that I was curious to know what the others looked like, and DC, who has the complete collection, was kind enough to send in a shot of all of them. Thanks DC!

Update: SoundSets 107 and 108 below via Eric.

So that makes:
- VRC-101 Keyboard Plucked & Tuned Percussion Group
- VRC-102 Wind Instrument Group
- VRC-103 Sustain Group
- VRC-104 Percussion Group
- VRC-105 Sound Effect Group
- VRC-106 Synthesizer Group
- VRC-107 Special Selection "David Bristow"
- VRC-108 Special Selection "Larry Leuenberger"

7hz-studio-big

flickr by Nik K.

full size

"Akai mpc, Roland Jupiter 6, Technics 1210, Sequential Pro One, Arp Axxe, Korg MS10, Yamaha 01v96."

Bert Smorenburg - Motif XS


YouTube via DaiLafing. via Nusonica.

"Bert from Yamaha playing the Motif XS7... Alss Demonstrating the connectivity to Cubase AI4"

SEAMUS Goes Retro & Modular Format Chart

The October 2007 SEAMUS newsletter goes retro. click here for the pdf. It includes a full analog modular round up written by John Loffink of The Microtonal Synthesis and The Wavemakers Synthesizer web sites. Pictured in the article: Modular formats, left to right: Mattson Mini Modular, Eurorack (Plan B), FracRack (Blacet), Serge, Buchla 200e, MOTM, Moog (Synthesizers.com), Modcan A, CMS, Wiard 300. Be sure to click the image for the full size shot.

From the Editor, Kurt Stallmann:
"As we celebrate 50 years of musical computing we can’t help but notice that the analog technology that many predicted would be outmoded and replaced still hasn’t died! Not only that, in recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in analog instruments in popular music and among many young instrument builders. New designs of analog modular synths have been released, some of which hybrid sophisticated digital control with analog sound engines (like Buchla’s recent release of the 200e). It is along these lines that we asked Chapman Welch to conduct an interview with German improviser/composer, Thomas Lehn, whose sole setup consists of a classic analog Synthi. We also asked the Austin-based Wavemaker specialist and analog enthusiast John Loffink to give us a quick overview of a few current analog synth makers. Going even farther back, and in response to our July interview with Max Mathews, David Mooney contributes an article tracing the history and influence of Henry Cowell’s Rhythmicon on a current generation."

via Grant Richter of Wiard on the Wiard list.
Update via John Loffink: "Article has a typo, mentions Analogue Solutions as having Bode FS and Putney tribute modules, should be Analogue Systems. That will be corrected in an errata."

Visual Tour of Native Instruments KORE 2

Create Digital Music has an extensive look at KORE 2.

"Native Instruments says KORE 2 is a ground-up recode of the first KORE, with a new development team in place. It also involves a substantially redesigned hardware interface, minus the audio features but with some important improvements. It’s too early to judge the full outcome of these moves without more hands-on time, but we can at least show you what the results look like and some of the new features." Click here for the full article on CDM.

Rhodes Chroma Voice Board Test Controller

"This is a preliminary description of a Rhodes™ Chroma™ voice card test and repair fixture that I have built. It is a hand wired prototype; no circuit boards have been designed, and there are currently no plans for production, although that may change. Meanwhile, if you work on lots of Chromas, you can build your own from these schematics." [link]. Note this device was built by Dave Wilson of the New England Synthesizer Museum.

synthesizer

flickr by davesneakers

full size

EMS Synthi with external touch keyboard. Anyone know more about the keyboard? I couldn't find it on the EMS site.

Update: it's the EMS TKS. See the comments of this post for more info. You can see some images of it here (do a find for TKS). Link sent my way via PIN.

New England Synth Museum

click here for more shots. This is a photo set taken during this visit. You can see previous posts on the museum here.

DEVO Live On Fridays


YouTube via FurionHazard. Sent my way via LDT. Spot the synths.
"-1981- (Adventures of the Smart Patrol/New Traditionalists era)
Devo Live, performing Theme From Adventures of The Smart Patrol and Jerkin' Back 'n' Forth."

KORG via VEMIA

More items currently up on VEMIA.

KORG Interface
KORG VCF
KORG MS50

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