I MOTM

YouTube via JohnLRice
"I started playing around with the left over patch from my recent MOTM-485 exploration video and came up with a self running patch that sounded interesting to me, especially since there is really only one oscillator being used. (the MOTM-650 arpegiation, COTK C1680 delay and MOTM-485 weirdness really fill things out!)"

LA ROCK ELECTRO

YouTube via bluelantern320
"East LA ROCKS ELECTRO, MONTEREY PARK, ROCKS ELECTRO, THE EASTSIDE ROCKS THE BEST.
IT RAINED TODAY AND THIS IS WHAT I DID."

Massive - Tutorial - Experimental Bassline

YouTube via wwwJoJoGocom
"Heres a Tutorial how to create a strange Bassline Sequenz, think for electro or progressive Productions."

ARP AXXE

flickr by theworriedbeard
(click for more)

Monomachines SFX6 & Neuron

flickr by wetta.ch
(click for more)

full size

Buchla Ken Kesey

flickr by guiltysin
(click for more)

full size

According to the description this is at the Cantos Foundation museum in Calgary Alberta and is still working. It was designed for Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters. Note the Ken Kesey's signature.

Update via rick in the comments: "This is the "Sound System" from the bus "Further"..it is made up for 3 stock buchla modules - 190 Dual Reverb, 170 Dual Mic preamp and the 106 6 channel mixer.. the last panel appears to be custom. it was connected to the amps in the bus and allowed the occupants to broadcast their acoustic performances of music, poetry etc. there are no tubes. I assume the transformers on the 170 are what are being referred to... don used transistor based technology on the 100... some ICs were incorporated later on but not on these particular modules."

skankulator demonstration

YouTube via horchacha. via Deviant Synth.
"6 oscs(cmos), 4 ring mods(cmos), passive vca(diodes), passive vcf(vactrol), decay generator, additional passive low pass filter (via rotary), 2 watt amp - some knobs n crap - a lunetta? the vca modulation is skankulation - i have a lil fet s&h between the 6th osc and the vca - no buffer not so good
dave wright
www.notbreathing.com"

Siftables Music Sequencer

Update: Ted Talks video. via Create Digital Music




Siftables Music Sequencer from Jeevan Kalanithi on Vimeo.
"This music sequencer allows you to drop samples into a looping track, add gesture-controlled effects and alter the sequence of samples in real time."

You can find more info and videos on David Merrill's Siftables page. Below is the set from Vimeo. The videos pretty much show what these can do. The following is a brief excerpt from the site. There's no mention if these will ever become available.

"Siftables are independent, compact devices with sensing, graphical display, and wireless communication capabilities. They can be physically manipulated as a group to interact with digital information and media. Siftables can be used to implement any number of gestural interaction languages and HCI applications."

Siftables word game

Siftables word game from Jeevan Kalanithi on Vimeo.
"The Scraboggle application is really straightforward - the siftables display letters. Arrange them into words!"

Siftables Equation Editor

Siftables Equation Editor from Jeevan Kalanithi on Vimeo.
"This siftables application shows a tangible way to learn about arithmetic and solve equations. It even supports subtraction! (Wow! - not shown here)."

Siftables pouring example

Siftables pouring example from Jeevan Kalanithi on Vimeo.
"This video showcases a siftables interaction in which the user can "pour" a color from a bucket siftable to another to tint the image. You can pour the color out of an image back into a bucket as well."

A Saint Valentine's Day theme

YouTube via attorks

"Happy Valentine's Day to you all. For this occasion a somewhat romantic theme. Row 1 of the Doepfer MAQ16/3 drives the Synthesizers.com Modular, row 2 the self built Modular and row 3 the Creamware MiniMax ASB. The solo's are performed by the AKAI AX80 with the P1 piano preset and the Korg 900PS wih the Voice and Clarinet presets. The cello like bass is performed by the Clavia Nord Lead 1."

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

circuit bent steinerphonacon: akai ewi and moon cycle delay pedal

video upload by spunkytoofers

"ewi3000m to a circuit bent delay pedal to a electro harmonix 2880 looper. moon cycle delay pedal is a new design by spunkytoofers that allows hands free control of a circuit bent delay device complete with assignable bend stomp switches and foot expression control along with lots of delay cycle locks and variations including sample and hold and synth tones. total moon cycle foot control free style"

M525 26

YouTube via moonmodular

303_bluie

YouTube via ripe909. this auction?
"303 for sale on ebay, just running through the buttons and knobs. Has blue LEDs"

Roland GR-33B

via this auction

Peter Forest's A-Z of Analogue Synthesisers

via this auction

This is just a glimpse of what's in there. An absolute must have for the synth enthusiast. My words, not the auction. Seriously the A-Z of Analogue Synthesizers is the desert island set of synth books. Highly recommended. Note they are listed in the Synth Books section.

"A complete two-volume set of the most comprehensive encyclopaedia of analogue synths and keyboards in the world - direct from the author.

The original A-M was produced in 1994, and then re-written and expanded in 1998. There are probably nearly twice as many words crammed in to the second edition as there were in the first. The second edition has 320 pages, 16 of which are full colour, while the original edition only had 240 pages. There's a whole lot of extra information about EMS, Moog, and many other manufacturers; a greatly improved index, and a new index to the musicians mentioned in the book. So if you're into, say, Tangerine Dream, you can find the 25 pages on which they're mentioned; Tim Blake, 8 pages; and even Tim Buckley on two.

The first edition was printed in a run of 2000, and 2000 copies of this revised edition were also printed. This second edition has been officially out of print for a year now, so is impossible to buy via any bookseller like Amazon. I thought I had run out of every single mint copy of the books, but today my wife was doing a bit of cleaning and pulled out a drawer, and discovered two packets of books underneath the drawer. We then looked in the other side of the chest of drawers and found two more packets, making 96 books in all. This particular book is one of the books that the printer printed as 'run-on' - when a printer is supposed to print 2000 they will always do a few more to be certain they have done enough, in case a few have blemishes. That means it has no official number in the limited edition, so I have numbered it out of 2096 and initialed the number. (But just to be more complicated.... we're disappointed to find that many of the books have some slight defects from their long time in non-perfect storage - mostly where one or two of the colour photo pages have stuck together in places - talk about synth porn..... - and you can see where they have had to be peeled apart. Usually on the page edges, not very serious, but there when you look for it. So this unblemished A-M is one of only very few still in existence - the rest will have to be sold as imperfect.)

The original N-Z was printed in 1996, in a run of 2000, and then the second revised edition (of 3000) was printed in 2003. It has 384 pages, including 16 in full colour. Please check the photos to see the sort of coverage you will get of rare, obscure instruments like the Syntons and Wavemakers or ultra-famous offerings like the Rolands and Yamahas.

The total number of words in these two books is probably over half a million. With hundreds of illustrations, charts, etc., the whole package provides a comprehensive guide to analogue synths, organs, electric pianos, theremins, etc., up to 1998 for ones beginning A-M, and 2003 for the N-Zs. The books have been well-reviewed in magazines all round the world, and enjoyed by some of the best-known names in electronic music, such as Fatboy Slim, Hans Zimmer, Herbie Hancock, and Adrian Utley of Portishead.

Who's selling: my name's Peter Forrest. I've been writing about synths, keyboards, effects and recording gear for nearly 20 years now, and I run an internet auction called VEMIA (Vintage Electric Musical Instrument Auctions) which specialises in synths, drum machines, effects, and so on. Please check my feedback to see that you can bid with confidence. Feel free to email me any questions."

CLICK FOR MORE »

Korg EXB-MOSS Modeling Synth Expansion Board for Triton

via this auction

Toy KEYTAR Vintage Rhythm Guitar

via this auction

"It has the sound of a piano only, 23 inches long., black with strap. It has 8 buttons for rhythms on the neck., but I don't know how to turn them on! maybe that section is not working

You can choose a rhythm and speed, there is a demo mode, an a jack to plug in a microphone. runs on 3 AA batteries (not included) and includes the battery cover and a permanently attached black strap."

Roland Juno-106 HS-60 Audio Board

via this auction

the seller has some other parts here.

Art of Noise meets Roland D50

Listen to the track on
khoral's Cafe 80.

SCHIPPMAN Ebbe und Flut

flickr by unoq41

via the forum where it and a Cwejman S1 mkII is listed for sale.

Click on the bottom image and note how the letters on top are in reverse. You can view the labels when tilting the back of the unit up. Pretty nifty.

Acidlab Miami: All Boxed Up And Nowhere To Go....

via MaD:
http://acidlab.de
"The cases of the Acidlab Miami arrived and the prototype has now achieved his final look. The serial devices will become grey and white buttons instead of the red/yellow ones."

Be sure to click on the Acidlab label below for more including video. Click the image for the full size shot.

Oberheim Ob-1

via this auction

DIYing a Roland JX-8P DCO

This came in on the SDIY list via Tom Wiltshire. I thought it would be an interesting post on how these things get started and Tom gave me the ok to put it.

"Hi All,

I've been experimenting with a DCO design based on the Roland JX8P circuit

Broadly speaking, it works, in that I can get a ramp wave out of it if I adjust the 47K pot on the left. This pot and op-amp buffer will be replaced by a DAC when I get it working better. I've got reset pulses generated by a PIC being fed into the base of the transistor at 440Hz for the purposes of the test. That part is fine.

The problem is that the output goes from 0V down to -0.5V and then seems to saturate. What's going on? How can the op-amp output be saturated at only -0.5V when it's running on +/-15V rails? Everything I've read suggests that the output from an integrator ought to carry on as far as the op-amp output can take it, so I was expecting a ramp from 0V down to -15V or thereabouts. I'm sure there's something I'm missing here...

Thanks for any clues,
Tom"

Some clues did come in from members of the list including:
"Looks to me like base-collector parasitic diode starts conducting."
and
"The ramp is negative going, so Vcb is negative. That causes the base collector junction of your reset transistor to forward bias and limit the output voltage. You'll need to rethink the way you've got that reset transistor hooked up, or reverse the direction of the ramp so it's positive going (hint - invert the input to the integrator)."

followed by:
"Thanks both, that's sorted it. I simply swapped the polarity going into the integrator and as if by magic everything became hunkydory.

What I was missing was that Roland were evidently using a negative voltage. That isn't immediately clear from the schematic.

Instant solutions on this list...great suff!"

Why post this? Again, it's and interesting insight for those not involved in the SDIY community to see how some of this happens. Who knows, we might have a very nice Roland JX-8P VCO module or the like available one day. Pretty cool...
The Juno-106 replacement chips immediately come to mind.

Bebot Robot Synth for iPhone and iPod Touch

YouTube via normalware
"Bebot - Robot Synth
Available now in the App Store for $1.99
www.normalware.com "
You can find it on iTunes here:

Synsonics Drums from Mattel Electronics - Features & Demo

YouTube via saulocisneros
"This is a short review of the features of the 1981 Synsonics Drums drummachine/drumsynth from Mattel Electronics. 100% analog"

Electrix Vocoder

YouTube via saulocisneros

NAMM: AX-Synth Shoulder Synthesizer at NAMM 09

YouTube via RolandChannel
"The stylish AX-Synth represents Rolands new generation of remote keyboards, but for the first time, this one has a sound generator onboard. Its self-contained and equipped with powerful, solo-oriented sounds from Rolands latest, greatest synths. Strap on an AX and steal the show."

NAMM: VP-770 Vocal & Ensemble Keyboard at NAMM 09

YouTube via RolandChannel
"With the latest technology onboard, the VP-770 allows a single musician to create realistic backing parts that range from futuristic electronic vocal textures to incredible emulations of large-scale gospel choirs and beyond."

NAMM: FR-1 V-Accordion at NAMM 09

YouTube via RolandChannel. Be sure to watch 1:24 on.
"The V-Accordion is the first instrument of its kind to provide powerful digital modelling technology in a traditional, immediately familiar, accordion design, and with performance functions and authentic sounds that will appeal to a wide range of players. It combines the familiar sounds and nuances of a traditional accordion with the versatility of a modern digital musical instrument. With a V-Accordion you can instantly select and switch between a wide range of sounds and /or types of accordions, or create your own unique timbres and tuning systems. You can plug directly into an external sound system or recording device, while the headphone socket is ideal for silent practice. These digital advantages are featured across the entire V-Accordion range, including on this, the latest addition for young students and stage performers: the FR-1!"

NAMM: VB-99 V-Bass System at NAMM 09

YouTube via RolandChannel
"http://media.roland.com/en/IT/VB-99_IT/
When Roland first introduced the original V-Bass System, serious bass players worldwide took note. This system was like nothing before: it accurately modeled the worlds most popular basses — from classic electrics to upright acoustic bass, fretless bass and more — and combined them with a range of killer bass amps, synth sounds, and polyphonic effects. With COSM® Bass technology and the special GK-3B Divided Pickup for Bass, the V-Bass opened up a world of new sonic possibilities."

On The Road: Howard Jones - The Setup

via Sonic State where you'll find the write-up including tour dates. Also see the other videos in the set here.

RED SH-101

flickr by Neil Vance

Pink Floyd - On the Run (MKS50 and Electribe SX) - Muzik 4 Machines

YouTube via muzik4machines
MP3
"gear used
Korg ESX1: All Sequences/Drums
Yamaha TX81z: Reverby/Pumpy Sawtooth Bass (chain:TX81z-Boss V-Wha-Akai MFC42-Alesis Nanoverb-DBX266 ch1 (pump)-ch2 (Compression)-Mixer)
Roland MKS50: Hoover/Saw/Lead/Pumpy Synth (Chain MKS50-Boss SL20-DBX266-Zoom RFX2200-Mixer)
Redsound SoundBite Pro: Vocals/looping
Korg Kaoss pad 2: Tempo Delay
Korg Kaoss Pad 3: Loops, Looper(snare rolls), Grainshifter
Korg Kaossilator: Noise Sweeps (path: K01-Mini KP(Delay)-Mixer)
Korg ER1: Beatbox AND sidechain signal (Chain: left out-ProCo Turbo Rat-Boss V-Wha-Mixer)
DX200: Fm E-piano, pads, 303-esque sequences, etc (Chain: Left Out-Boss DD5 delay-Mixer)
Motu Midi Mixer 7s: My mixer, controlled by the BCF2000)
Kawai Midi Patchbay:Guess
DBX MC 6: Output Compressor

NOT used:
a computer, besides recording it; no edition, no mastering, What you hear is what I send out of the main outs "

Rumors: TETRIS on the Waldorf Blofeld

This one came in on the Waldorf list:

"I thought Georg was maybe meaning there was a lunar lander game built into the mq just like the secrete game of TETRIS in the blofeld."

Hmm... :)

Update via Qwave in the comments: "There was never a Tetris on the microQ. See a list and how-to-find of the Waldorf easter eggs in synths here:
http://faq.waldorfian.info/faqausgabe.php?search=easter+egg

And there is no Blofeld easter egg yet found."

Landlines by Takla Makan - New Album from Oakley Sound

via Tony of Oakley Sound Systems on the AH list:
"I finally got my act together and have produced a new album. More details here:

http://www.oakleysound.com/landlines.htm

Its rather different to my last effort, Contour, and more like my older stuff I think. And talking of which...

I have also made my first two CD albums available for free download.

More details here:

http://www.oakleysound.com/arcsin.htm
http://www.oakleysound.com/drumlin.htm

Lots of analogue stuff abounds on all three albums, as you'd expect from me. More details on each of the album pages. Sadly due to lack of space in my new house, almost all of it has gone now.

Tony

http://www.oakleysound.com/music.htm"

Moog Tribute at the Museum of Making Music

via the Museum of Making Music
"Beginning in September 2009, the Museum of Making Music—in collaboration with The Bob Moog Foundation—will present the first retrospective exhibition focusing on the life and vision of Dr. Robert Moog.

Featuring unpublished documents, archival photographs and correspondence, as well as key synthesizer prototypes, the exhibition will explore Dr. Moog’s vision and philosophy, as well as the creation and legacy of the Moog synthesizer. The exhibition will be supported by interactive audiovisual demonstrations and a “Concert and Conversation” series with Moog players and experts."

Also see these posts on the Moogseum.

Moog Prodigy + Roland Jupiter-4 + TR-606

YouTube via retrosound72

"vintage synth demo by RetroSound

bassline: Moog Prodigy, through the EHX Small Stone phase shifter and triggered by the TR-606 drum-machine
lead/pads: Roland Jupiter-4;
drums: Roland TR-606"

2009 Remastered Vako Orchestron Disc - SAXOPHONE

YouTube via peahix. Details including ordering info at this post.
Comments disabled here to keep them in the prior post.

Update: better quality on Vimeo:

2009 Remastered Vako Orchestron Disc - SAXOPHONE from Pea Hicks on Vimeo.

TB 303 x0xb0x WASP Overdrive partie1

YouTube via BIM0X. Be sure to watch the second and third vids if you like Daft Punk.
"Demo of the disto i've developed for TB303/x0xb0x.

This module use an Op Amp and LEDs. Remove capacitor C38 and put inside circuit. A potentiometer allows you to control the distorsion amount. Led blinks harder when sound is "arsch".
I had developed an "arscher" overdrive at first but there was no more expressivness with the knobs : it was fully overdriven all the time.
This one allows you to modulate the tone using Env Decay and Accent.

Find more exciting stuff at : http://4colors.free.fr"

TB 303 x0xb0x WASP Overdrive partie2

A little Daft Punk

TB 303 x0xb0x WASP Overdrive partie3

deadmau5's sample cd demo 1

YouTube via feelda303. follow up to this post.
"deadmau5 is broke... he sold me his loops for 99 bucks... it's true!"

Circuit Bent Laser gun Sound FX Glitch Synth Alien Noise

YouTube via BentElectronics
"This is the new model Laser Blaster Circuit Bent By SkinSink of Bentronic Studios"
Available on ebay

Korg NanoKEY Controller Demonstration

YouTube via gearwire
"You might think that Bill Holland's hands only look giant in comparison to the Korg nanoKEY controller, but did you know he could palm a basketball? He's still working on his windmill jam, but this Korg nanoKEY walkthrough sure is a slam dunk!
See more on Gearwire.com."

Buchla Easel Card

flickr by PatchArena
(click for more)

full size

"This is used to store presets..."

Bottom shot for perspective. Note the small patch point connectors.

Update: Chad made an interesting point in the comments. "You can also brush your finger across the board while playing for cool little blips of sound as new connections are made between your finger and the board. :)"

Circuit bending a Buchla? A bit blasphemous but this would be one way to do it.

Update: if you haven't already, be sure to see these two videos of Charles Cohen for this technique [thanks to Wavedeform for the reminder in the comments]:
CHARLES COHEN AT THE BUCHLA MUSIC EASEL
Charles Cohen Vs. Chrome Genie - 1/3/09 - Philadelphia

Update via Christian in the comments: "charles told me that alex, the guy who filmed the video asked if such a thing was possiable. charles had a blank card, whetted his fingers and voila. it had never occored to him before. charles uses both this technique and programed cards during performances: such as the one him and i will be giving on 3/4 at the rotunda (in phila). i'm playing the big buchla :)"

MOOG Little Phatty and MicroKORG

flickr by Micah Wood
(click for more)

I love how small the microKORG looks in these shots.

full size top
full size bottom

Wall of KORGS and Two Buchla 200e

flickr by guiltysin
(click for a ton more including captions)

These are from the Cantos Foundation

Newly Remastered Vako Orchestron Disc - SAXOPHONE

"Newly Remastered Vako Orchestron Disc - SAXOPHONE

As soon as we have 15 pre-orders, we'll go to press and start shipping. It's unlikely that there will be sufficient demand to do a second run of 25 of these discs, so your best bet is to buy as many of these as you need while you can! Any future additional copies will most likely be done as one-offs, which are twice as expensive to produce, and thus will cost twice as much.

PLEASE NOTE: This disc WILL NOT play properly in an Optigan! They WILL play, but the sounds will NOT be mapped correctly to the keyboard- they will be mapped mostly haphazardly across the chord buttons. Please don't order this disc expecting to easily use it in an Optigan. In the future we will be porting the Orchestron sounds to the Optigan- please be patient! :)

This is not a simple photocopy of an original vintage Orchestron disc, it's completely re-mastered and re-created from scratch, using the original sounds from the Orchestron master tapes. In other words, this disc won't sound 100% exactly like the original discs in every tiny detail. Specifically:

-Since there's usually no way to precisely identify the exact 2-second excerpt that was originally used from each sustained note on the master tapes (some of which can be 8-10 seconds long), we've simply chosen 2-second excerpts that sounded good in our editing situation.

-Our Saxophone disc has a little less low-end and a bit more high-end than the original. These can both be easily adjusted with EQ if you're trying to precisely duplicate the overall tonality of the original discs.

-The loop joints on our disc are very smooth and for the most part don't pop/thud the way the originals do.

-We've staggered the loop joints evenly across the disc (instead of placing them all at 12 o'clock), so that no two notes hit their loop joint at the same time.

-Some of our discs may have very slight periodic crosstalk on some notes (mostly noticeable on higher notes), owing to miniscule variations in the center hole punching tolerance. Said crosstalk should be well within the acceptable limits that Orchestron users are accustomed to.

So, will our disc satisfy the absolute purist? Probably not, and we won't attempt to argue otherwise. But despite the differences, to the more casual player our disc sounds very much like the original. We're confident that you'll love the sound and quality of this disc, but if you're not totally satisfied, we're happy to offer a 100% money-back guarantee. This is a labor of love for us, and we want to make sure you feel the love too!

Since the original discs came in plain white jackets, so will ours. We will be replicating the original printed paper sleeves- spelling/grammar errors and all.

Soon we will have all eight of the original Orchestron discs remastered, as well as a few brand new titles. Stay tuned!

Also, don't miss our new Optigan disc - MOD ROCK!
http://shoptigan.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=3876420

For more information, please visit http://www.blogtigan.wordpress.com or http://www.optigan.com"

Update:

2009 Remastered Vako Orchestron Disc - SAXOPHONE

2009 Remastered Vako Orchestron Disc - SAXOPHONE from Pea Hicks on Vimeo.

Chain0 - KORG DS10 Track

Chain0 by Ascdi

"Written February 2009 for the RPM Challenge. Korg DS-10."

more details
"Stuff you can listen for in this song are a lot of FM (both filter FM and oscillator FM), a very short delay effect (used kind of like a spatial comb filter), 4 custom percussion sounds (my Nord Lead percussion programming experience pays off big time with DS-10, by the way), and a good amount of filter and FM modulation via the Kaoss sequencer tracks."

You can find another track by Ascdi featuring the DS10 here.

Freeclyde Swag Featuring MOTM

link

via Paul Schreiber on the AH list:
"If you watch the sci-fi series Stargate SG-1 Joel Goldsmith is the composer. He has a pretty nice modular system here"

MOTM Sound Examples

Find the link on the My Synthesis Technology MOTM Analog Modular Synth blog.

LEL' PSR - soviet drum machine with MIDI

be sure to see the update below if you are thinking of bidding on this one.
via this auction via the forum.
"Lel' PSR is the digital drum machine that has a built-in sequencer for 8 songs, 32 patterns of the factory (64 of user), 16 styles, each of them contains 2 variations. Maximum duration of the composition - 255 bars. Minimum tempo value from 40 to 250. It contains 12 internal sounds of percussion instruments: bass drum, bongo, clap, gong, rim, snare, tom1, tom2, tom3.

Functional buttons: song, time, pattern, +/-, copy, clean 4/4, (3), Midi, step mode, metronome, forward, backward, stop, pause, accent, sounds (12 drums).

Display: # song, # pattern, bar, step, duration of step, value.

Back panel: midi input/output, audio output right/left, input for a tape recoder, headphones."

Update via vtol in the comments: "there is no midi!!!!!!!! i have one! the input midi jacks are not connected to the board!! they was made for special expansion board witch was never produced "

TipTop Audio Z3000

Nice TipTop Audio Z300 image via Modular Synthesis From A (100) to Z (3000) on isotopic.