Polivoks VCO, LFO Knob

via this auction

for those with a knob fetish

"The Polivoks synth is rare socialist moog like madness! The sound is fantastic rich and warm – 100% pure analog machine! It was made in period of 1982-1990 and sold in Russia (then USSR).

The Polyvox (Polivoks) is a duophonic analog synthesizer, with a 49-note (13F-E) keyboard. It features two VCOs, a noise generator, one LFO, a filter (low-pass and bandpass), and two ADSR envelope generators. VCO1 can be cross-modulated by VCO2. Each ADSR can be switched to auto-trigger, each with independent rates.The sound is quite rich and somewhat harsh and aggressive. This is more of a space-synth. You can be sure that you will have never heard the sounds this one can produce. It sounds like these old Yamaha CS-30's, but then fat filters like in Moogs. It is built like a rock, pure military technology, contacts will last forewer. The body is solid and the knobs feel nice. It runs on 220V AC. Polivoks (Polyvox) is the most popular vintage Russian synthesizer all over the world. It has inimitable peculiar sound and very powerful aggressive filters outperforming the famous Minimoog! A fat, lush and very analogue sound is achieved through instability and thanks to unique architecture of the Soviet-era components; in addition, highly reliable military technologies were applied in the process of production. The synthesizer may be used for hard electronic music, or for soft ambient/old school projects and for modelling various effects as well."

97170016

flickr by cl516
(click for more)

full size

MOOG Voyager

KORG DS-10 Japan Release Date

And we have a release date... for Japan.

July 24, 2008, only at Amazon Japan

Worldwide will come. via Cnet where you will find the full article. An interesting side note is that the people behind the DS-10, AQ Interactive, brought us Hatsune Miku, the "Vocaloid2 girl." Hatsune Miki is an anime character that uses the Vocaloid engine - she will sing whatever text you enter. Image below for reference - I went with the work safe one.

"Korg DS-10 is approved by Korg (I don't know what "approved" means actually!), but will not be released from this firm. A Japanese game developer, AQ Interactive Inc. of Tokyo, will distribute DS-10. Actual development has been done by Korg and Cavia, Inc., another speciality game developer in Tokyo.

The original MS-10 (price 53,500 yen in 1978; US$300 then) was a monophonic, single oscillator job. DS-10 simulator works as two synthesizers (each of them, dual-oscillator affair), since Nintendo DS has dual-screen, upper and lower.

Adding to this two tracks (or two synthesizers), four tracks of drum machine sounds have been built-in. Altogether, DS-10 can be treated as six tracks, 16-step synthesizer/sequencer. Maximum, tune of 99 phrases long can be produced.

Three ways of note entry input: Touch-control screen, keyboard screen, and X-Y matrix screen. All three of them controlled by DS stylus."

Roger O'Donnell of The Cure Plays to the Cows

YouTube via worldsfair. via Tara Busch of AnalogSuicide, where you'll find a post on a new Cure Tribute CD, Perfect as Cats. Tara will be doing a cover of "Let's Go To Bed." Hmm...

video description:
"Roger O'Donnell will soon be releasing his debut solo album, "The Truth In Me", a beautiful and profound departure from his rock & roll pedigree with The Cure and Psychedelic Furs. Here, he sets up in a cottage near his home in the UK to video a brief performance, only to find himself in the company of some rather unexpected audience members... The cows from the farm next door can't help but wonder where those sweet space sounds are coming from - music soothes the savage beast. Hear , see and read more Roger O'Donnell at www.rogerodonnell.com and myspace.com/rogerodonnell"

Candylicious 08

YouTube via Synthomania
"This is a song made for a norwegian celebration called "Russ". Vocals recorded at my studio, mixed at my studio. Im using mostly Korg Ms2000 in this song, with drums from my RX5,Mc307, DR100, and mc09. Pads by Juno2 and D-50."

M563 by night

YouTube via moonmodular
"Changing audio voices/trigger bus. The LED´s are NOT green, it´s the camera mode."

Me playing DM Everything Counts (just a check)

YouTube via DX5

"Checking some Everything Counts sounds played over an easy backtape (almost all played live). It sounds raw, as I didn't add any FX to the keyboards like reverb or delay.

Keyboards:
Top: E-MU Emax
Mid: Yamaha DX7 IIFD
(same setup on Music For The Masses Tour -the DX7II was boxed-)

Below: Yamaha DX7

Backtape running on Pro Tools"

Emu Emulator II Sampler

flickr by Yotsuba&!
(click for more)

full size

And a MOOG Minimoog

MooCowMusic: Band

YouTube via MysteryAardvark. via Synthtopia.
"Record tunes on your iPhone or iPod Touch . For more information see- http://moocowmusic.com"
You can get MooCowMusic Guitarist here:

You can get MooCowMusic Pianist here:

You can get MooCowMusic Band here:

One in a Million

one more flickr by Neil Vance

full size

"Chris Jenkins purses his lips around the Millioniser 2000, a harmonica type mouthpiece interfaced to a programmable analogue monosynth."

Update: video below via rock in the comments


video upload by millioniser2000

"Rock Erickson -The first American called to Europe to play and record with Walter Mueller's Millioniser 2000. Harmonica like in principal giving the end user complete control over synthesizer and midi functions with the sensitivity of your own breath. This instrument is a one of a kind powerhouse. The video starts off by showing the functions of Millioniser 2000 and then merges into the on stage video which was shot in London. Rick Fenn of "Lie For A Lie" Sony Music was the music director and lead guitarist along with Charlie Barret from The FIXX on bass. The Millioniser Breath Controller units that I'm currently using in the studio are breathing new life (literally) thru their capability to dynamically control some of the most popular software and rack synths ( Garritan Personal Orchestra, Roland Sound Canvas, Yamaha VL70 ect ) and samplers like SampleTank & Tascam Giga Studio ) in both the mono and polyphonic arena. If you have comments or questions please post here or email"

The Digisound 80 Modular Synthesizer - Synth Scans via Neil Vance

flickr by Neil Vance

full size

You can find the set of scans this is part of here. Cocteau Twins fans might want to click through.

FLAME Clockwork: review pt.1

You can find the full review on Noise Source.

"I'm not a musician, I'm a drummer (ha, beat you all to it), and as such I tend to instinctually think in measurements of time rather than notes, chords, scales, what-have-you. A lot of my modular programming is based on creating intricate time driven triggers that fire off in interesting patterns to make up what eventually spills out of the VCAs and into Logic. This piece of gear has made that endeavor much more playable (and in sync to boot!) letting me quickly try out different rhythmic mixtures and variations without a lot of re-setting and re-patching. Everyone will use a particular module or unit in their own way eventually, I'm not saying my way is the best, I'm only going to tell you how I've started using it myself and take from it what you will."

Bent Fest 2008 Minneapolis Round Up Pt 1.

on GetLoFi

Peter Vogel's Fairlight Audio Archives

"Here is a collection of audio material including Fairlight demos, radio interviews and CMI pieces from the eighties. There are even a couple of recordings from the Fairlight CMI's predecessor, the Qasar M8, designed by Tony Furse. The M8 did not use sampling, the sounds were generated by additive Fourier synthesis."

via DVDBorn and Failed Muso.

Prophet64

A couple videos via this auction.

Prophet64

YouTube via jackusfatus

Prophet 64: Sequencer Demo Song

YouTube via skrenos
"This is the Prophet 64 cartridge running on a Commodore 64c with dual SIDs. SID1 is a 8580 and SID2 is a 6581R2. I have lowered the frame rate to 1 FPS as the audio is the most important part.

This is just to show you what kind of sounds you can get out of the Commodore 64 with the P64 program."

Tropical Dudes

http://www.tropicaldudes.com/

Spot the Synths (do not click the above link until you are ready for the answers) as...

"The inside of the case has an accompanying labeled line drawing of the photo ala the Herbie Hancock Sunlight album. It further breaks down specifically which synths are used on each song... as every synth pictured was utilized. Album is physically released on 4/29/08, and available on iTunes on 5/6/08."

The Virtual Rheem Kee Bass

This is actually a follow-up to the previous post. I took a look at the online virtual instruments on keyboardmuseum.org's (Audio Playground Synthesizer Museum) Virtual Playground and saw the Rheem Kee Bass. I hadn't played with it before, so I thought I'd take a look. What I was presented with is the image on the left with functional keys. The switches in the image do not work, however there is a switch above the image that lets you chose between Mellow and Fuzz mode. It should give you an idea of what the Rheem Kee Bass can sound like. Be sure to check out the rest of the Virtual Playground while there. You will find a ton of classic drum machines and more.

The Sounds of EML Synthesizers

Click here for the Virtual EML Sound Sheet. You can find more Sound Sheets on the Audio Playground Synthesizer Museum. Below are some direct links to the interactive content on keyboardmuseum.org.

Virtual Sound Sheets
Virtual Teaching Tools
Virtual Drum Machines and Keyboards (includes the Rheem Kee Bass and more)

SOLINA MIDIKIT

It appears this kit is no longer available, however, you can find images and steps on installing it here, if you are interested in the process.

JEN SX2000

images via this auction

"* Polyphony - Monophonic
* Oscillators - One VCO (sawtooth, square, 2 rectangular waveforms); 4-octave range (32', 16', 8', 4')
* LFO - Square or triangle waveforms; intensity and speed; can modulate VCO or VCF
* Filter - 1 VCF Filter with cut-off, emphasis; 3 preset envelope settings: Repeat, ASR, and AD.
* VCA - 3 preset envelope settings: Repeat, ASR, and AD
* Keyboard - 44 keys"

New NIN - The Slip - Free

And NIN is doing it again. You can get the new album, The Slip, for FREE at NIN.com. Happy Cinco De Mayo folks. Below are a couple of videos. The second one is funny on the surface, but man, I can't even imagine...





Nine Inch Nails - Me, I'm Not live in Europe Aug 2007
YouTube via ninofficial. All soft synths in this performance.
"Recorded in Stockholm, Sweden on 7 Aug 2007, with additional footage from Bratislava, Slovakia and Prague, Czech Republic on 12-13 Aug 2007."

Spend the day with us: Watch this 2500 times.

abre ojos

schuser kea effrunta - abre ojos from abre ojos on Vimeo.

"-literally straight way i can see the difference, it covers and hides perfectly, totally risk free-

first in an ongoing series of live sound & visual improvisations using a modular synthesizer, dave smith evolver, nord micro modular and quartz composer on a macbook pro.

for more info visit abreojos.net"

Second video:

soronde mi madre - abre ojos from abre ojos on Vimeo.

"-she would tell everyone the same story, how i had saved up $20 to take her to lunch and as i pulled it out of my pocket the wind took it and blew it away, i was only 10-

second in an ongoing series of live sound & visual improvisations using a modular synthesizer, dave smith evolver, nord micro modular and quartz composer on a macbook pro.

for more info visit abreojos.net" You'll find some nice studio shots there and more.

Gear list:
• Euro rack modular with Plan B, Doepfer, CGS/ELBY and Livewire modules + Frostwave Resonator & Sonic Alienator
• Dave Smith Instruments Desktop Evolver controlled with Novation X-Station
• Vocals thru Nord MicroModular, effects pedals & X-Station effects
• Korg 770 Synth

A good mix of old & new synths. The visuals are done in Quartz Composer and manipulated live with an Evolution X-Session controller.

Everything is improvised, sound & visuals, with a bit of post polishing.

Folkchord Folktek modified omnichord

YouTube via benpumpkin. Bent Suzuki Omnichord.
"Modified musical instrument by Ben Houston of Folktek"

more M563

YouTube via moonmodular

YAVA - Yet Another Virtual Analog - InDev Demo

YouTube via zioaxiom
"Quick demo of my new Reaktor 5 synthesizer in development. It is a very early version and needs improvments."

MC-202 mod

YouTube via lesingemonotone
"Showcasing a MC-202 modification enabling direct CV and Gate in and VCF CV in. For different variations of the pattern I'm patching in CV and Gate from channel 2. The drums are provided by a TR-808 and a modded TR-606."

Roland JX-8P

images via this auction

Rheem Kee Bass

via this auction

"late 60's Rheem kee bass suitcase piano."

Update: check out the online Virtual Rheem Kee Bass on the Audio Playground Synthesizer Museum.

NoiseBug Update

"In House production of Plan B Modules is beginning. Detailed information, pricing and direct worldwide ordering will begin through this website by the end of May."

NoiseBug

GT Theremin Demo

YouTube via matthewmichaelbritt
"Demonstration of the Theremin we designed and built. The design is original and entirely vacuum tube based. It was developed over the course of a semester and served as our senior design project in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech.

WARNING! DO NOT OPEN VACUUM TUBE EQUIPMENT CHASSIS WITH THE POWER APPLIED. The high voltage used in vacuum tube circuits is hazardous and should only be approached by someone who thoroughly understands the circuitry."

TR606 PC2 HC2

YouTube via fabulous23s
"A Roland Tr606 triggering Boss PC2 Percussion Synthesizer and a Boss HC2 Hand Clapper"

Waldorf Blofeld Editor

via BrunetteModels on Korg Forums.

"Fader for OSC volume doesn't work yet. It's a problem of Waldorf, not the script of this editor. Should be fixed later. After edit, new name of patches you have to save in the Blofeld, not by the editor.

Author: Wojciech Chabinka.

Download:
Waldorf Blofeld Editor.zip [ca. 600 kB]"

via swissdoc on the Walorf forum:
"It is done with the Extreme Midi Mixer. Time to brush up your Polish skills..."

MOOG Polymoog Keyboard - Images and Samples

Suit & Tie Guy has a Polymoog for sale. You can find a link to images and a sample in the following:

"i've got here a damn fine specimen of Gary Numan's second-favourite keyboard. i made a post about it a month ago but with no real documentation and no firm price. so here goes ...

this Polymoog Keyboard is fully operational and good cosmetic shape. it has all four legs and two braces, the Polypedals, and an original service manual.

here are the photos. (the Rheem, Minimoog, and Taurus 1 are not included. obviously) [be sure to check these out full size - these are nice shots - inside shots as well - mirrored here].


Here is a 320 kbps VBR MP3 for demonstration and analysis [player above]. 55 minutes of me fiddling with every preset and available parameters on the front panel and the polypedal. you can hear me completely insult everything from Bach to Emerson, and including The Addams Family and jazz itself. i hope you're amused.

the nice thing about the 55 minute demo is that the first quarter or so of it is 8-10 seconds of every key of the Vox Humana preset ... so not only do i demonstrate that every key works, but if you just want this thing for that preset you can say "eff off STG" and just load it into your sampler. or giga sampler. or whatever.

so now it's time for price and location. location is easy, i'm in central Illinois, USA. i'm half-way between St Louis and Chicago, and will deliver this thing within a reasonable radius ... Indianapolis IN, Iowa City IA, Rolla MO, the House on the Rock WI, etc. i would prefer if you pick it up, but if you have the enormous cash outlay for shipping i can deal with that. we're talking 3 digits here, guys.

i really just want a Jupiter-6. i'm not interested in cash. however i seem to have to put a dollar amount on this. according to Mini Me, a Jupiter-6 is worth 3000 USD. according to ebay, a Polymoog Synthesizer with Polypedals, rust, and no legs is worth 1800 USD. so i guess that means the price of this thing is 1800 USD, a Jupiter-6, or something in between. delivery within a 4 hour radius is included for these prices.
---
Suit & Tie Guy
suitandtieguy.com"
If you are interested, you can find his contact info at the bottom of his site.

Ran Kirlian - Lumina Frontier

Ran Kirlian - Lumina Frontier from Ran Kirlian on Vimeo.
"Improvisation with a Korg TR61 and no post edition.
All images from NASA.
Video edition & effects done with Sony Vegas."
via Celiar Structures.

klee

flickr by mirzaa

full size

D16's Drumazon and Devastor.

D16's Drumazon and Devastor. from wiretotheear on Vimeo.
"Oliver Chesler (The Horrorist) takes a look at D16's Drumazon (software Roland TR-909) and Devastor (distortion unit) for his blog Wire to the Ear.

d16.pl
wiretotheear.com
myspace.com/oliverchesler"
click here for the write-up for this video.

Sancor Animorphic Lens vs. The Studio

Sancor Animorphic Lens vs. The Studio from Ben Cameron on Vimeo.
"Playing around with my new camera and and old animorphic lens that I had sitting around.

The soundtrack is 3 passes of doepfer using midi synched LFOs to trigger envelopes and transpose the oscillators. All of the other usual suspects are used as well. Korg EX 800, DSI Evolver, Yamaha TX81Z."

Aliens Project Toy of the Month - Tenori-On

click here for more images and audio.

8xSID Synth PCB

flickr by fibra
(click for mouse-over notes and more)

Crumar DS-2 and Dynacord tape delay = JOY !

YouTube via joyoussound. via Nusonica.
"It's my beloved Crumar DS-2 italian "moog" synth from the 70's with the great Dynacord EC-504 tape delay. Together they're a joy to play!"

FLAME Clockwork... the first 10 minutes.

You can find the audio and write-up on Noise Source.

MOTM Sale

via My Synthesis Technology MOTM Anlog Modular Synth:

"For those thinking about getting an MOTM module, either in kit or fully build , synthtech is currently holding a 10% off sale!

Check out the 'shopping cart' on the synthtech website for more details.
The sale is on unitl Thursday, and will be your very last chance to order a complete kit. After thursday, only partial kits will be available, and of course the ready build modules too. (as Paul writes: 'Thursday AM, I will 'take down' the sale (and remove any unsold kits from the cart).'"

Hobnox

follow-up to this post. The sound is Hobnox, the cubes are Percussa's Audio Cubes.

Some notes on Hobnox (be sure to see the What's Next section at the end):
"Hobnox is an international online entertainment platform that unites broadcast quality media with social networking and cutting edge technology. With a focus on an enriched new open media experience, it is the space where today’s entertainment market meets the technical possibilities of the web.

We developed flashbased software to produce music online and in the browser. A demo version is available now.

The key differentiator to other browser based tools is a dynamic audio engine that allows real time audio composition. From our perspective this is unique software that is ahead of its time. We currently use Flash 9 and Java, although Java will be replaced as soon as Flash 10 is available.

As you will experience, use of the tool is very intuitive and fun and we think that the tool could be of interest for you.

Access the Audiotool directly by clicking on following link (please make sure to have Java installed as it will ask you to trust the certificate):
http://www.hobnox.com/index.1056.en.html

The Audiotool:
The Hobnox Audiotool is like an endless virtual sound desk and lets you easily connect the different devices through cables – like the software ‚Reason’. You’ll find virtual replicas of the legendary Roland 909 drum computer, two 303 bass synthesizers, a mixer and a series of effect pedals.

You will hear that the sound is practically identical with its originals - Roland also confirmed this.

Effect pedals include: D-Tune, Delay, Pitch Delay, Reverb, Equaliser and Flanger. You can easily choose your set-up by connecting the devices by dragging and dropping cables.

What’s next:
We will update the tool in a couple of days by adding the 808 drum computer and a Compressor. Also we improved the handling of the different devices. The next release scheduled for Summer 08 will include a timeline to enable precise arrangement and composition as well as a save function for files and set-ups. We will add more instruments along the way and hope to make multiuser-production a reality soon."

Spooky Polysix MIDI demo

YouTube via SSM2044. "MIDI out from Ableton Live 7 to Korg Polysix"

Dorkbot's Beat-Bike Makes Beats While You Ride

YouTube via gearwire
"There's a level in the new Wii game, Mario Galaxy, where Mario rides on a ball and the music changes tempo depending on how fast Mario is riding. The real life equivalent to this is Michael Una's Beat-Bike, which he shows off through Dorkbot. The Beat-Bike is connected to a drum machine and Casio keyboard and can be tweaked to make sound that changes tempo depending on your riding speed. If you're coordinated enough to operate it while not getting hit by a car, this would be a fun ride. See more on gearwire.com."

Cicalone - Short groove

YouTube via lasercicalone
"short groove done with Monomachine and Machinedrum, Genelec 8040 pumping the sound"

02 part II in stereo

YouTube via rfoshaug
"This is another attempt at uploading my cover of Jean Michel Jarre's 0xygene part II.

Jarre has kindly given permission to upload cover versions of his music (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=BhO7ZFxME N8) so I hope that this video will stay up this time.

:-)"

ALEXEY RYBNIKOV Humanoid Woman Search 1981 USSR CCCP Score

YouTube via PlastikOD. If anyone knows what synths Alexey Rybnikov used for this piece and/or in general, feel free to comment.
"Search (Поиск) is another track from Alexey Rybnikov (its from the soundtrack of the russian sci-fi movie "Через тернии к звездам" - Humanoid Woman / To the Stars by Hard Ways from 1981).

The film is like the score absolute great. (despite the fact that i doesn't understand no word of the whole film, because i saw only the restaured russian version ;).

Plot:
A anthropoid woman named niya found barely alive in an abandoned space craft. Brought to earth, she is nursed back to health and memory of her planet Dessa and its ecological collapse. When Niya's benefactor Stepan joins the crew of an environmental rescue mission, she sneaks on board and convinces Stepan to change course. Once they have landed on the planet of Dessa, they begin improving the atmosphere and water while simultaneously struggling against the supporters of an evil dwarf Turan and a creepy biomass that has escaped the laboratory.

A good mix of darker electronic/synth sounds and an harpsichord!

Enjoy!"

Love my synth

YouTube via ownzorz610. "Jam session, Bear with me, its a bit groovy.."

Korg Poly 800 with filter-control-knobs

YouTube via moogfreak. I'm guessing this is the MOOG Slayer Mod.
"Hello. In this video I will show you my selfmodified Korg Poly 800. I have added two knobs for filter-control - one for the cutoff and the other one for the resonance. On the back of the synth you can see a switch, which activates the new knobs. In this video you can see and most important hear how it works. The sequence in the beginning and at the end I have programmed on the Poly 800`s build-in sequencer. In the middle I`ve tried to play "Emerson, Lake & Palmer`s" "Aquatarkus", which Keith Emerson has played on his large Moog Modular. For this sound you need three oscillators per note, so I have done this with the Poly 800`s "chord memory"-function. As you can hear - it works very well. But I`m not as good as Keith. :-) Please excuse the pumping compressor/limiter from my videocam."