MATRIXSYNTH

Thursday, May 29, 2008

via this auction

"The XD3 is a Synth Sound Module, Drum Machine & Arranger Workstation.

Live Performer with a lot of flexibility for Midi. Perfect for the Midi Accordionist, Midi Guitarist or those wishing to expand their current line-up.

The XD3 offers all you'll need in a mid-range keyboard module with exciting features like Drum Remix, Live Drums, Midifile player and the capability to create your own styles (or load in new ones). Add on the optional Pattern expansion memory card (for even more style space), vocalizer (to add human back-ground voices to what you sing), video card (to display lyrics or screen information onto an external computer monitor) and you're 'loaded' XD3 is now able to challenge some of the higher-end module of today's market. Made in Italy with pride!"

Visit www.KetronUSA.com for Ketron info.

AD Kombinat Now Available...

"rom mild tone-shaping or adding a bit of grit to full-on total waveform destruction, Kombinat is a complete toolbox of sonic warfare. This plugin is, in our opinion, the single most annihilating effect available today.

With seven different options in each of the three distortion engines (plus pass-through), Kombinat is capable of sophisticated and unique sounds. Want to add a ring mod to the low end, a mild saturation to the mids, and a bit-reduction algorithm to the high end? No problem. Want to run your signal through three sine-warps in series? This is your box.

Kombinat's signal structure allows for a fairly broad palette of sounds, as each segment of the overall effect is a versatile tool in its own right. The Isolator is a full "DJ-style" band-killer EQ; this leads to the three distortion engines, which may be used in multi-band mode for subtle surgery, or in series mode for complete signal destruction. The engines go in to a four-pole lowpass filter of our own design, and then in to a compressor which we have configured for one-knob operation.

Taken as a whole, Kombinat is a tweaker's paradise, yet designed so that it is easy to just grab one of the 64 presets and touch it up a bit to suit the source material."

More info including samples on the Audio Damage website.

The exponential converter (also known as antilog amplifier)

MusicMiK who has brought us these excellent videos on his synthesizer DIY projects wrote in to let us know that he has created a page on the exponential converter. You can find that page and more here.

"The nature often has a logarithmic or exponential behaviour, this also applies to the human reception of volume levels and frequencies. So for the human ear, musical intervals like octaves feel like linear, but in fact are exponential. One octave is the double frequency, two octaves are four times the frequency and so on. As it is easier to handle the control of pitch in a linear way (for example using a resistor divider chain in the keyboard to convert a constant current flowing through the resistors to a linear voltage depending on the key pressed), there must be something to convert the linear control to the exponential output, like the frequency of a VCO.

This is the job of the exponential converter, which is a term commonly used in electronic music instruments, whereas the term used in other technical areas usually is antilog amplifier, as it does the opposite of a logarithmic amplifier."

Prophet '08 non-SE with backlit wheels

"Here is a non-SE with backlit pitch/mod wheels, a Sequential Circuits nameplate and
special purple heart wood sides."

via synthwood

Maid in Mexico - Yosoyerica

YouTube via warlip. Maid playing her Weevil. :) via BugBrandBlog where you can find a little more info and more BugBrand posts.
"Hi i am erica and want to be a real sounding artist sonidera) plaese right to me any advice"

x0xb0x #13 Analog Synthesizer / TB-303 Clone

images via this auction

"It was purchased during the very first run of kits and is serial #13.

It has the lexan "c0nsumer" face plate overlay which is extremely durable and will not wear.

Wood paneling was done by a friend of mine who specializes in exotic hardwoods and they are beautifully finished with black wood inlays.

Mods
All the audio are switched so they can be turned off returning to the original setting:

* Power Switch
* Envelope
* Cutoff Range
* Resonance Range
* Overdrive"

Dual Hot Hand Synth Demo

YouTube via rsmith601
"Bob Chidlaw from Source Audio demonstrates what can be done with 2 rings controlling synth parameters"

No.17

YouTube via midi230. Roland MC-808

Electro Harmonix Memory Man Deluxe Analog Delay + Minimoog

YouTube via retrosound72

"vintage gear demo by RetroSound

short demo with different settings of the original 80`s EHX Memory Man Deluxe analog delay/chorus/vibrato effect pedal and the Moog Minimoog

For me the best analog delay ever!"

roland juno6

YouTube via scorpiistar

audio_Output: X0XB0X meets the Atomizer

audio on trash_audio

The Tape808 and More Vintage Drum Machine Samples

This one appears to be making the rounds, so here you go. Be sure to click on products when you get there to see the other vintage synth drums listed. Samples on site.

"The Tape808

Not another 808 sample! Well actually it isn't... this is 407 samples taken from two 808's recorded into an Ampex 351 1/2" valve 2 track tape machine! That's not all... We also put the 808's through other vintage gear. Plus we recorded the 808's naked into a Metric Halo ULN-2 firewire audio card. Then we chose the best samples.

All 24 bit, and all phat analog goodness!

If you can't get a hold of a real 808 then this is as close as you can get in samples... Maybe even better than the having the real thing!"

alkopop79

YouTube via alkopop79. via Analog Suicide. "The 'Putney' aka. 'Synthi'"

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Tenori-on Meets Kyma

Tenori-on Meets Kyma from Nomad Cinema on Vimeo.
"In order to tap the real power of Yamaha's new Tenori-on, it helps to pair it with external equipment capable of producing more satisfying sounds than the somewhat lackluster soundset included with the Tenori-on itself. In this video, no internal Tenori-on sounds were used whatsoever. Tenori-on is functioning purely as a sequencer with external equipment, including advanced sound-shaping from Kyma and analog synthesis from Alesis Andromeda and Dave Smith's Prophet '08. Sequencer data coming from Tenori-on is processed in Ableton Live (utilizing midi scale and chord filters, as well as injecting some generative randomness) before reaching Kyma, Andromeda, and Prophet '08."

Acidlab Bassline 2 First Contact test

YouTube via F3D375, via nusonica
"Just arrived in my studio! This is a short demo of this acid machine. More video of complete songs will come..."

Resonant Improv - Modular Synth

YouTube via mooguphonic
"Drum machine patched thru a Synthesisers.com modular filter (Q107 State Variable filter) and swept by the keyboard envelope. The resonance is tuned so that it settles down to the same pitch as the keyboard patch, after being swept. The keyboard is patched thru 3 oscillators and the Q150 Ladder Filter. The tuned resonant drums make an interesting effect..."

To All The Nations II

YouTube via sosean. Oberheim TVS
"In The Studio with Nate Price, just messin' around."

Sequential Circuits Pro-One via Synthwood

Custom Prophet-5 knobs and backlit wheels. Click here for more images.

http://synthwood.com/

details on this particular mod

Acid tones Virus part2

YouTube via kenspocket. follow-up to this post.
"Korg Prophecy "ACIDTONES" System exclusive or SRC-512 Synth sounds programed by Kens pocket... For more info on these sounds and how to obtain them please email us or check out the websites below or see our Youtube channel and click buy !-) www.soundwavechildren.netfirms.com"

Roland MV8000 loves Korg R3

YouTube via Spokes013
"This track was build partially with the R3 as sound module, samples and again the MV for engineering the beat. It's not finished yet because it still needs some vocals. More soon :)"

glitchDS

YouTube via clone45a6
"Cellular automaton sequencer for the Nintendo DS and R4. Sorry for the quiet video. Download this at www.glitchDS.com."

glitchDS demo 2

x0xb0x #236 in White

flickr by Computer Controlled
(click for more)

Analog vs. Digital

Two flickr shots that came up, one right after the other. Funny how that happens. I thought this was an interesting contrast.

live modular 2008 via parasitk
(full size)

Yamaha TX016 via Neil Vance
(full size)

Which would you rather have? This is a bit of a trick question. :)

Cloned Again - Analogue Solutions SY02 (Korg MS-20 filter remake)

via Navs

"This one's been around for ages and I don't know why it's taken me so long to try it out, but I'm glad I now have.
Apparently a 1:1 clone of the original and much-loved Korg MS-20 High Pass/ Low Pass filter combo, it's a cracker! Have a quick listen here and here. And if that piques your interest you can download the zipped test here. The test unit was part of SchneidersBuero's JimiBox. More info here.

Cheers,
Navs"

VST TAL-U-No-62

"U-No-62 is an improved and completely refactored version of U-No-60. Improvements:
* More accurate filter sound.
* More overtones in the oscillators.
* Faster LFO rate (0.1-30HZ).
* A lot faster envelopes.
* Audio Unit available.
* Presets are not compatible with U-No-60 Presets."
[link]

kopykat

YouTube via ripe909
"Another acid twister, using the monomachine for a small vocal sample "acid". Drums are all machinedrum, bass is virus TI, V-Synth pads, revolution playing the part of 303!"

LZX Monolith Synthesizer Demo

YouTube via creatorlars.

via Nusonica.
"The LZX Industries Monolith is a performance monosynth based on the MFOS (Music From Outer Space) Soundlab Plus, featuring a 37 key 1V/Oct keyboard, as well as extensive modulation controls.

This video demonstrates control via an external sequencer. Our Midibox SEQ3 controls both oscillators and gates the envelope generator.

More information will be available soon. For now, find out more about the Soundlab at www.musicfromouterspace.com."

Acid tones Prophecy

YouTube via kenspocket

Roland Jupiter-4 + Juno-106 + TR-606 by RetroSound

YouTube via retrosound72

"vintage synth demo by RetroSound

bassline: Roland Jupiter-4, arpeggiator triggered by the TR-606
pads and fx sounds: Roland Juno-106
drums: Roland TR-606"

AtomoSynth Abyssal Demo (raw sound)

YouTube via atomolab

"Abyssal photo-noise-machine & oscillating-filter Demo, (raw sound)
www.atomolabs.blogspot.com"

Abyssal demo + delay effect

"AtomoSynth Abyssal noise machine + delay effect pedal.
www.atomolabs.blogspot.com"

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

MicroKorg Scratchin'

YouTube via kleskxyz. "Setting Korg for DJ Scratchin'"

Inside the V-Synth, part 1

You can find the full post on Sequence 15.

"Roots of the V-Synth

Considering that the V is a bit out in left field compared to most of Roland's other offerings over the last decade, the question can fairly be asked: where did this idea come from? The roots of it can be seen in the JD-800/990 offering from the early '90s. That was Roland's first serious attempt to design a digital synth that would be attractive to synth programmers and sound designers. However, at the time it was introduced, it did not sell well. Part of this was the timeframe in which it was introduced (the synth market had turned heavily to romplers at the time). However, the attempt at building a knob-per-parameter digital synth turned out to be intimidating to some customers, as well as making the unit physically large. And, in the end they still had to put the effects, MIDI, and system parameters in menus. It helped that the 800 had two displays which were fairly generous for their time, and the 990 had an even better multi-line text and graphics display (derived somewhat from the S-series of samplers). Despite the flaws, it was state-of-the-art for a digital synth user interface at the time."

MFOS Sound Lab Mini-Synth

flickr by glacial23
(click for more)

"MFOS Sound Lab Mini-Synth in progress... Detail of one of the easier kludges on the PLUS."

Multitouch and Windows 7

via Gizmodo

Update: new post with feature list and video below.

Video: Multi-Touch in Windows 7

First Mochika Jam

YouTube via shadowfac
"Electronic music jam with synthesizers.com modular, Atomo Mochika sequencer synth, and Ensoniq ESQ-1."

Jomox Sunsyn

images via this auction

Korg MS02

images via this auction
"# Designed for the purpose of connecting Korg MS-Series synthesizers with other synthesizers throughout the world.
# This sophisticated signal processor greatly enhances the performance possibilities of the MS-Series.

Specs:
* Log Amplifier: Tuning, Width, Hz/v Input (0~+15v), OCT/v Output (-12~+12v).
* Antilog Amplifier: Tuning, Width, OCT/v Input (-4~+4v), Hz/v Output (-12~+12v).
* Adding Amplifier: Channel 1 Level Control, Channel 2 Level Control, Input Channel 1, Input Channel 2, Output.
* Trigger Processors x2: Trigger Indicator, Reverse Switch, Input (Vth=+2.5v), Output (Ov+15v).
* Others: Power Switch, Pilot Lamp.
* Junctions: 4x2, 3x1.
* Dimensions: 11 1/8" W x 7 5/8" D x 4 1/4""

MULTIVOX MX-2000 DUOSONIC MX-880

images via this auction

"37 KEYBOARD, 2 VCOs, 30 PRESETS. The sound production is through and through analog, which is measured by year of publication and price also not surprising. He is both monophonic and duophon playable, with a total of two VCOs are available. The full 37 keys keyboard is capable of monophonic aftertouch to produce.There are in the oscillator section a controller to adjust the sensitivity. MULTIVOX MX-2000 DUO IS A CLONE OF THE ROLAND SH-2000. Multivox were an American based synthesizer company from the mid 1970's. They specialized in delivering Japanese designed and built equipment to the American market. MEASURES:36-1/2" X 11" X 5" 30 LBS"

The Who , Won't Get Fooled Again TOTPs

YouTube via RugbyDemon6789. From 1971. ARP 2500. See this post for how they did it.
via Analog Suicide.

Blip...

Funny thing is I almost put this shot up when I saw it on flickr a few minutes ago. Something told me to hold off and sure enough a post went up on Analog Industries. It turns out this is a side project of Chris Randall's (Chris of Analog Industries and Audio Damage).

"One of the roughly 8,000 projects I'm currently working on is a small synthesizer built almost entirely on an Arduino. The only external chips are the DAC and the opto-isolator for the MIDI input. It remains to be seen whether the Arduino will be fast enough to pull this off. I would like to make it a normal 1-osc subtractive synth, but Adam (who has far more experience with microcontrollers than I) says that the Atmega 16 (the Arduino's brain) isn't fast enough to do the real-time math necessary for a resonant filter." You can read about the project here.

Acid tones Virus

YouTube via kenspocket
"Access virus "ACIDTONES" System exclusive, Synth sounds programed by Kens pocket... For more info on these sounds and how to obtain them please email us or check out the websites below !-) www.soundwavechildren.netfirms.com www.cdbaby.com/Kenspocket"

ElectroKraft.com NES Clone with Super Synth Drums Cartrdige

YouTube via orphiusflux
"I'm using the Yobo NES clone system along with the Super Synth Drums Cartridge. Using only the gamepad controllers o create true 8 bit NES percussion."

Setting up the disco loop patch on the Korg MS-20

YouTube via zioguido
"It's all explained in the video... have fun! The MS-20 is a freaky funny synth, you can do nothing and anything with it, it's just a matter of creativity :)"

Kamoni - Live on Daily Session

YouTube via kamoni. Click here for more.
"Kamoni plays a set on Daily Session (www.dailysession.com) with a drumKat and Elektron Monomachine and Machinedrum. Watch the full set at www.dailysession.com"

HardSID 4U playing a Lotus theme

YouTube via Ogrim88. via Nusonica

"I am giving my brand new HardSID 4U a go, with the main theme from one of the Lotus games. The HardSID takes up to four SID-chips from the Commodore 64. Sounds freaking awesome! Audio is recorded directly from the HardSID 4U to my recording soundcard, E-MU 1820. There is two 6581-type SIDs and two 6582 (which sounds like the 8580)."

Update via Ogrim in the comments: "The pictures I used in the video, are avalible at my site www.ogrim.net"