KORG MS20

images via this auction


YouTube via deused
"Demonstration the MS-20 as a guitar Synth by using the External Signal processor note: i use a footswitch to trigger the vibrato. This was my setup"

Magic Smoke Mankato VCF / VCO

images via this auction

"MOTM Format - Magic Smoke "Mankato" Voltage Controlled Low Pass Filter / 8 Phase Sine Oscillator. There's not much that this module doesn't do. Thomas Henry and Tim Parkhurst are smarties! Check it out at Magic Smoke Electronics Front Panel from Bridechamber There are lots of possible ways to build this module, and this one was built for the Bridechamber front panel, and uses shielded cables for audio connections. Suit and Tie Guy sells his version for $395: (Two less knobs..)
Auction includes:
TH 101 Mankato Filter
MOTM Power Cable
Black Rack Mounting Screws X 4
Documentation"

MOTM 120 Sub Octave Multiplexer

images via this auction

"From the Wonderful Synthesis Technology Site:

The MOTM-120 is a Synthesis Technology exclusive design. Based on an article in Electronotes, we have updated, improved, and added features to create a truly unique module.

The MOTM-120 contains 2 4-stage sub-octave dividers, a digital mux, and 4 digital ring modulators. It operates in one of two modes, selected by the cleverly named MODE switch.

In the simplest operation (MODE is set to SUB), a single input is fed into the A IN jack. The signal passes through a level comparator, whose lower threshold is 80mv pk-pk. When the input exceeds this, a 4-bit binary counter is clocked with the input signal. This generates the lower 4 sub-octaves. These are then mixed by 4 individual pots along with the input signal. A switch selects either the original source mixed in, OR the "squared" version of the input.

The additional 4 sub-octaves (similar to pulling out lower octave drawbars on a Hammond) greatly fatten up the bottom end of any signal. Even a simple sine or triangle will punch through in the mix.

Lots of synths have a single sub-octave, but we give you FOUR!

But the real fun starts when you flip the MODE switch to CROSS. In this mode, 2 input signals are required. Each is divided into their respective 4 sub-octaves, then each sub-octave is ring modulated with each other! Since we are in the digital domain, it's easy to ring modulate (you'll have to buy one to see how we did it!). This results are simply awesome and bizarre. If A IN is audio, but B IN is from a LFO, what you hear is a 16-cycle patteren of the sub-octaves getting multiplexed in. As the B IN signal is raised into audio frequencies, the results are HUGE chordal timbres with lively beat frequencies. Electronotes used to describe this as Waveform Animation, and that's a pretty accurate description.

The MOTM-120 is a powerful addition to your studio. The wimpiest digital synth can be turned into a growling monster!

Link to Synthesis Technology MOTM 120 page.

Voice of Saturn ~Modulator Question

via Travis of voiceofsaturn.blogspot.com:

"Hi, Just a quick update, our new unit, the ~modulator should be ready to go in about a week. I've got the panel designed (attached file) and I was curious which people would prefer for interface jacks, 1/4" or 1/8"

The module contains an Attack-Release generator, LFO with tri and square outputs (and wiggle/wobble controls - kind of like pulse-width modulation), and a VCA with amplitude modulation capabilities similar to a ring modulator.

Thanks.
-Travis"

Vote via the poll below.

Livewire AFG Flux Capacitor Jumpers

via noise source where you'll find more info.

"These have to do with the resulting ANTI-MATTER waveforms. When you switch from their factory setting of 1&5 you'll obtain different (and sometimes not) versions of the anti-matter setting. 2&5 varied in portions of the cycle minus the square wave. I had little luck with 3&5 and have not yet tried any other combinations."

Monome: Polygome Drums

Monome: Polygome Drums from Agargara on Vimeo.
"Monome app "Polygomé" (by Stretta), controlling an instrument rack in Ableton Live. Sorry for the shaky camera, I was holding it in my left hand while my right hand did all the work. More info about the monome at monome.org/"

Moogfest™ 2008 Honors Bob Moog, Features The Moog Guitar

"ASHEVILLE, N.C. (August 2008) – inTouch Entertainment, in cooperation with Moog Music, Inc. presents Moogfest 2008, Monday, October 13 at the Hammerstein Grand Ballroom in New York City. A stellar lineup of top Moog users will gather for an evening of ground-shaking music to honor Bob Moog and commemorate his groundbreaking achievements.

“This is our fifth year presenting this tribute to Bob and we’re excited about moving to The Hammerstein, which is more than twice as large as our previous venue,” said Mike Adams, Moog Music President. “Every year the artists who play at Moogfest tell us what a fun event it is, and as a result we have been privy to many fine performances. This year’s lineup and our annual “Bob Tribute” award will make for another fantastic evening for music fans.”

Moogfest 2008 will also feature Moog Music’s transforming new instrument, The Moog Guitar.

Performers scheduled to participate include Umphrey's McGee, Eric McFadden Trio, Bernie Worrell (P-Funk), Aron Magner (Disco Biscuits), Jamie Shields (The New Deal),
Joe Russo (Benevuto/Russo) and others.

Bob Moog's namesake analog synthesizers helped catapult the careers of such diverse artists as rockers Todd Rundgren, Edgar Winter, Gary Numan and Devo; funksters Parliament-Funkadelic and Zapp; disco producer Giorgio Moroder with disco diva Donna Summer; fusioneers Chick Corea with Return To Forever, Herbie Hancock with The Headhunters, Jan Hammer with the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Klaus Doldinger with Passport and Joe Zawinul with Weather Report; New Age icon Tomita and classical performer Wendy Carlos.

Moogfest 2008 offers an opportunity for artists to play alongside the world's leading Moog players. Entry submissions should be made by September 10; artists selected will be compensated an amount to be determined based on draw, experience, etc. For more information visit www.sonicbids.com/Moogfest.

Tickets for Moogfest 2008 are available through Ticketmaster. For more information on Moogfest 2008, visit moogfest.com. For more information on The Moog Guitar visit moogmusic.com."

Teleport - Hartmann Neuron Track

via Lord Avon in the comments of this Hartmann Neuron post.

"I owned a neuron for a while, it was the first synth in YEARS to get my interest (and to date, also the last one)... I made a track purely with the Neuron called 'Teleport', multi-tracked and mixed in ProTools (reverb is protools, everything else is Neuron).

excerpt (900Kb)

Full version (6.1Mb)

I had to sell it due to financial reasons, if I had the money, I'd buy another tomorrow."

Retro Sampler SK-1

flickr by Lara May

full size

"got my music gear today, Clavia Nord 2X, Streetbox Drum machine and this cute psychotic sounding Casio SK-1 :D"

Serge Patch for r2m playtime 2

Here's an image of the Serge patch used in this post.

via vgermuse

Yet Another Assy Modular Patch

YouTube via dkimcg
"One of the first "drones" I've patched together that I liked enough to record and use my camera phone for your viewing pleasure. The drone is heavily influenced by the M38 Wavesplicer, and ring modulation. Randomness is the M24 controlling triggering and the length of the M10 notes. Longer notes drone, shorter ones don't. I also got a Doepfer VCADSR in there helping out in the drone. BTW, the M10 is using the inverted output (-, not +), and is being used more for timing than with a VCA. Envelopes are the ADSR and the Triple timer going through the CV Processor and mixed with the M10's inverted (to be positive) envelope, and the ADSR, and a new Doepfer LFO. More modulation sources, yay. I have a Cyclotron, a Dalek Modulator, and another Wavesplicer on the way too."

Roland SH 201 - On the run "feedback"!

YouTube via semdedo
"Improvisation based on the Pink Floyd's bridge song 'On the run' Made on the Roland SH 201 Synthesizer with feedback delay effect, causing that LOOP felling. Sounds like a Pink Floyd / Emerson, Lake and Palmer reunion heheheh"

Y!2PC 28 SX-150 sound demo

YouTube via yumyumentertainment
"YUM!YUM!PLANETCHANNEL 28
gakken analog synthesizer SX-150
It's my first pure analog synth.
SX-150
1 VCO(saw only)
LFO(triangle or square)
pitch envelope
cutoff
resonance
attack & decay
external source & output jack
simple synth. This video used SX-150 sound. "

diamond skeleton fx sub-octave synthesizer demo

YouTube via diamondskeletonfx
"http://www.diamondskeleton.com/ psychedelic hand made effects
the first half is with the filter on and im just kind of going a bit crazy and making noise and twisting knobs on the guitar (sorry it went for so long. i like making noise) and the second half is with the filter switch off with 1 octave down. the cameras memory filled up before i got to show much with 2 octaves down. at 2:20 im playing 2 notes at once with plain octave down setting to get that wobbly tremolo sound."

Atmel Project AVR Full Color Game Console (Only two chips used!)

YouTube via uze6666. Click on the AvrX label below for more. via ladyada's ranting where you'll find a pic and some more info. ladyada is the woman behind the x0xb0x.
"The Uzebox is a home made game console based on an Atmel AVR microcontroller. The design goal was to be simple to assemble for any hobbyist and great sound and graphics with absolute minimum hardware: an AtMega644 microcontroller, an AD725 RGB-to-NTSC converter...and a bunch of resistors!

You get 256 simultaneous colors, 240x224 (40x28 tiles) graphics, a 4 channels sound engine with MIDI driver, NES joysticks ports and a MIDI IN input to compose your own songs straight on the console. The kernel is fully interrupt driven to generates video sync, mix music, read joypads, etc. so games can be written in plain C, no insane cycle counting required :D !

Considering this a 8-bit general purpose microcontroller with only 4K of RAM and 64k of ROM (and no external RAM or frame buffer), it was quite a challenge to cram all that stuff in there. The site will soon have the schematic. All code will be open source and the hardware well...open hardware!

For now, I've completed a Tetris DS clone for the console.

Enjoy!

http://belogic.com/uzebox"

Elijah B Torn New Album Preview

Elijah B Torn New Album Preview from Elijah B Torn on Vimeo.
"Elijah B Torn introduces and demonstrates some of the bizarre techniques used to create his new album 'You are Lucky I am not a Vigilante'"

iDrum - Make Beats on your iPhone or iPod Touch!

YouTube via izotopeinc
"iDrum(R) is the addictive app that lets you create your own beats, even if you have no musical experience! Start with iDrum's selection of amazing kits and patterns, then customize them to make them your own. Build beats layer by layer by tapping the touch screen or create music with simple shapes and color combinations that let you visualize the rhythm.

When you've got the beat just the way you want it, you can export to iTunes to sync with your phone and use the beat as a ringtone!

There are two editions of iDrum for the iPhone/iPod touch now available on the App Store: iDrum Hip-Hop Edition and iDrum Club Edition. This video shows content from both Editions. Each Edition contains 20 unique kits with dozens of original sounds and patterns that you can use to build or customize beats!

http://www.izotope.com/idrumiphone"

You can get iDrum Hip Hop Edition here:

You can get iDrum Club Edition here:

BtBx Jam

YouTube via rconlives
"Just doing a live jam on BtBx for the iPhone and iPod Touch. This really shows off the two synthesizers and how well you can control them in realtime."

BtBx Demo

"BtBx Demonstration. Watch how to use BtBx for the iPhone or iPod Touch."
You can get BtBx here:

Moog Multiple Touch Keyboard

flickr by Loscha
(click for the set)

Be sure to check these out full size by clicking on the 'All Sizes' link at the top of each individual shot.

"Article from America Keyboard Magazine 1992"

John Eaton and Robert Moog

You can find some prior posts mentioning John Eaton and the Multiple Touch Keyboard here.

Another Crappy Modular Video

YouTube via dkimcg
"This was from a patch yesterday. Using the Harvestman VCF to generate a tone, which is then F'ed up in the Tyme Sefari, which adds a really nice fatness to the original tone. So, all audio by the Harvestman, All control by PlanB M28, M17, M10,M24, etc. Not a musical thing, just figuring out the Tyme Sefari for shaping tone."

Roland Jupiter 6 Europa Demo

YouTube via b3nsf
"This Roland Jupiter 6 was bought by my dad in NYC, years later the battery died making it a horrendous chore to use.. I bought the Europa mod and my buddy Judah did the soldering... it turned out great! Then I added Synth Wood side panels...Love them! Here is me (filming) and my buddy Aaron (playing) testing out the restored "factory presets" ... I know presets are usually terrible, I enjoy these because when the battery died, the synth was very hard to work with... I still have a dead battery in my jupiter, but the Europa mod stores its patches in flash.. later, ben"

Sequential Circuits Six-Trak

images via this auction
"The Six-Trak is a 6-voice, Polyphonic, Multi-timbral, programmable Analog Synthesizer with a very powerful MIDI implementation, a sequencer, an arpeggiator, and a 4-octave, 49-note (C-C) keyboard.

Its built-in 800 note 6-track sequencer is very easy to use and allows one the record 2 multi-timbral sequences with individual volume controls on each track.

Its arpeggiator is really very cool – it can be switched to up, down, or assignable, which arpeggiates notes in the order they were played!

The Six-Trak can be operated in polyphonic, unison mode, and "stack" mode. In Unison mode, all six oscillators play at once, giving it a very fat and rich sound. In Stack mode, each voice can be set to a different sound patch and played as one complex monophonic sound.

It also features a pitch wheel, a modulation wheel that controls the LFO amount, MIDI IN, MIDI OUT, a stereo audio out jack which doubles as a headphone jack, and a footswitch jack."

simulacreant

via cebec's live modular improvs

"6 x STS Serge panels in shallow chassis"

Paia 4700 and Doepfer MAQ 16/3

YouTube via lesingemonotone
"Testing out the Doepfer MAQ 16/3 with the Paia 4700-system. Not very musical, but quite interesting. The best thing about the 4700-system is the springreverb...:)"

Dubbio Nil at Apartment Music show #2 improv

YouTube via halmcgeevideo. Drones on the MicroKorg. See the thumbnails for more at the end of this video.
"The first performance at Apartment Music show #2. Solo minimalist free improvisational performance by Dubbio Nil (Loren Knack). Recorded 2:05 PM, Saturday, August 23, 2008, Gainesville, Florida"

Dj Skyline br - Accident Electro

YouTube via kamitnick. A little Brazil love...

vostokkitty

via robert

tranformer_substation

via cebec

Voltage Controlled Electro-Optical Mixer

"A simple and inexpensive device is described which allows selecting and mixing audio channels by control voltage. The circuit takes advantage of the low self-noise of analog photocouplers. The slow response time of the phosphour is used to integrate the pulse width modulated LED drive. Channel crossfading is accomplished by adding a "dither" signal to the comparator string, producing apparent linear crossfades between audio channels."

via Music Synthesizer where you will find more Synth DIY. VCEOM page.

Night Tiger Attack

YouTube via zotan. Roland SH-101, Moog Liberation. via zonkout.
"Words and music by Renee Robin Riddle. From the album "My Modern Life". Directed by Renee Riddle, Stephen Floyd, and Christopher Petkus."

x0xb0x for sale

YouTube via accenter. Not sure where it's for sale... x0xb0x on Ebay

Bette Davis Eyes

YouTube via anacolangelo. Synare at 2:16. SCI Prophet-5 at 2:27. Via AH.
Never realized they had the New Romantic thing going.
"Bette Davis Eyes Video Kim Carnes"

Electrocomp-101

flickr by thingstocomerecords

full size

"My father works at a Professor (and now President) at Fairleigh Dickinson University and in the 80s they closed their music department so he took some stuff home including this synth. Neither of us really knew how cool it was at the time. It goes without saying it's sentimental worth is more than it's great sound."

Bleep

flickr by thingstocomerecords

full size

The Voice of Saturn
Vermona DRM-1

Moog Synthesizer 35 and Synthesizer 55

Two more via the flickr set by E_sus. Be sure to click for more.

Moog Synthesizer 35
Moog Synthesizer 55

Moog Synthesizer - Roger Powell and Keith Emerson

flickr set by E_sus

"Roger Powell as the Moog Music Artist in Residence. Photo c. 1974"

"Keith Emerson, ELP tour c. 1970. Photo by Rudy Koppl"

CLICK FOR MORE »

Mellotron

flickr set by E_sus
(click for more)

Buchla Electro Middle

via Peake's public channel
"Rough sketch only, missing parts, unfinished, unmixed, for example purposes only. 100% Buchla 200 with computer editing/FX."

Hartmann Neuron

YouTube via testheld
http://www.myspace.com/klangforscherch

Hartmann Neuron & Elektron machinedrum sps1

PEARL DRUM-X ANALOG DRUM SYNTHESIZER

via this auction

"PEARL DRUM-X analog programmable electronic drum synth module internal memory contains 8 kits each 5 pads=total 40sounds! made in Japan 1980's.

PEARL DRUM-X is early programmable analog electronic drums module in 80's internal memory contains 8 kits each 5 pads=total 40sounds! each kit has SNARE, BASS, TOM1, TOM2, TOM3 parameter has PITCH,BEND,OSC/NOISE,OVERTONE,ATTACK,FILTER,DECAY,LEVEL IN&OUT is 5 pad trigger in,5 separate out and mix out,stereo line in,kit select in, ext trigger in this one has no MIDI(it came from before MIDI era), so you need drum pad with trigger or drum machine that has trigger out(TR-606,TR-808 etc..)

DRUM-X has many tweakable parameters so it's very easy to create various unique sounds DRUM-X's sound character is very fat & warm analog synth sound! sound character is totally different from SIMMONS's sound(I feel more soft character) I specially recommend it's noisy dark tone character"

Univox MiniKorg K2 700s

images via this auction

Tube Theremin -- www.electricwestern.com

YouTube via sheepslinky
"All tube theremin. Playing an improvisation. www.electricwestern.com"

Phantastron Under Test

YouTube via sheepslinky. Audio comes in around :26.
"The phantastron is an Electric Western instrument available as a kit or complete instrument. It is all vacuum tube, and inspired by electronic music and cybernetic computer designs of the 1930s-1960s. www.electricwestern.com"

Arduino Noise Maker

Arduino Noise Maker from James Taylor on Vimeo.
"First running complete circuit - similar to that of Little - scale on Blog Spot. This is actually the second version because we had massive problems sourcing the components needed, and we tried using a second Arduino board to clone the missing chips.

In this one however, the main noise is being outputted to the Breadboard via 6 lines into a 6 bit R2R DAC.

The schmitt triggers are mounted on a nuelectronics arduino board, which controls the vibrato and the wave selector units. The two extra pots on the breadboard are the pitch and speed selection pots.

Stay tuned for more - next version promises to have some midi integration!

Info:
* R2R info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resistor_Ladder
* Original Design: little-scale.blogspot.com/2008/01/arduino-noise-maker-info.html"

speakingObject

YouTube via ffoitl. via Music Thing.
"during my 11 days at STEIM i did a working prototype of the second incarnation of the "speakingObject" (no better title still). it's basically a vocal synthesizer controlled by two buttons and a three axis accelerometer. it works without a computer. the two wires are just power and sound out. the finished object will work on batteries and include an amp plus speaker so there will be no wires at all.

links:
http://joerg.piringer.net
http://www.steim.nl"

Funky March

YouTube via nelsonext. Gotta mix it up now and then... Yamaha EX5/EX7
"This is Easy Listening Music. Composed by SHIN(nelsonext). Imagene　diving into the dark sky."

ECE4893A: Electronics for Music Synthesis, Spring 2008 Projects

"Billy Kihei showing off his diode-ladder filter

The two Sallen-Key projects (by Thomas and Fojas) allow relatively conservative amounts of feedback. This could be relaxed to allow higher Q values by putting some sort of clipping in the feedback loop, as is done in the various variants of the Korg MS-20 filter. (Without such clipping, the filter goes insane with high amounts of feedback.)"

You can find more here.

cassiel's Gearhead Space

I was talking to drew of drewtoothpaste (see some of his synth videos previously posted here) about MIDI boxes with preferably two MIDI inputs that allowed you to input MIDI Clock and note ON/OFF, that could then output a MIDI or CV stream of arpeggiated notes. We talked about using MIDI mergers, the Oberheim Perf series came to mind, and specifically the Oberheim Cyclone. I did a quick search on it and found cassiel's Gearhead Space. I realized I hadn't put up a post on cassiel yet, so here it is. Do check it out. It's an excellent resource with quite a few synths listed. You can read about the Cyclone here. If anyone has any suggestions on a synth or MIDI box that can do the above, feel free to comment.

Synth Secrets by Gordon Reid

"'Synth Secrets' was a series of articles written by Gordon Reid and published in Sound On Sound between 1999 and 2004. The articles are freely accessible on SOS' web site. For your convenience, here is a chronological index."

via André Majorel on AH

WALDORF BLOFELD (AMBIENT)

YouTube via thekilon

"The track is called "The Silence before the Storm" and it is from my album TALOS , it is made 100% on WALDORF BLOFELD , triggered by YAMAHA MOTIF ES6 and recorded and mixed in Ableton Live 6. Beside a sample of a water drop and some effects added by Ableton Live, everything else is 100% Waldorf Blofeld.

As I promised this is my third and probably my last video for Waldorf Blofeld , I hope it demonstrates its sonic capabilities.

The photos are from PYLOS (PYLOS,SFAKTIRIA,GIALOVA,VOIDOKILIA) a part of Southern Pelloponissos , Greece and are taken from me during my 2008 summer vacations. Hope you enjoy it."