MATRIXSYNTH


Friday, August 07, 2009

Eyedrum, 7/21/09 (Set)

flickr set by fastheadache
(click for more)

Buchla and EMS

Television Meltdown by Soso Limited


via vbs.tv. Video processing / synthesis.
"Sosolimited is a crew of MIT grads turned audio visual artists – Eric Gunther, Justin Manor and John Rothenberg – with backgrounds in physics, architecture, computer science, media arts and music. They say that TV is garbage – and they want to turn that shit into gold. So they create live remixes of broadcasts using pure information to filter and direct the look and feel of their videos: deconstructing the 2008 presidential debates by using word-count as an aesthetic variable, for example. “Essentially what we’re trying to do is like take the television studio and turn up the acid,” Rothenberg says."

Jellinghaus Musik Systeme (1985)

flickr by Neil Vance
(super size shot here)

"...'German software company Jellinghaus are moving into hardware in a big way: they've got a complete editing board for the DX7 too..'"

Again, be sure to check out Neil Vance's flickr photostream for tons more.

Note Jellinghaus made the massive knob ladden controller for the DX7 as well. Click on the Jellinghause label to the left and scroll.

ZYKLUS MIDI PERFORMANCE SYSTEM

flickr by Neil Vance
(super size shot here)

"Quite a rare & unique digital sequencer."

Update: click on the Zyklus label below for more including a pic of one in the flesh and video.

Steve Roach Setup 1987

flickr by Neil Vance
(super size shot here)

"....'To me, the Xpander is the pinnacle of the digitally-controlled analogue instrument; I can imagine spending a lifetime with it.'"


Ensoniq Stand at the British Music Fair 1987.

flickr by Neil Vance
(click for more - tons of great shots going up)

"First prize for the most unusual stand of the show went to Ensoniq for their larger that life ESQ1 and 20 Pall Mall!"

Giant ESQ1, ESQM, etc.

Fairlight feat. (1of2)

flickr by Neil Vance
(click for part 2)

MOTU Volta Review in Keyboard Magazine


Click here for the full review by Mitchell Sigman.

"Volta is so unique that it has no direct competition. Though some of its functionality can be duplicated with Native Instruments Reaktor or Cycling ’74 Max/MSP, Volta makes it far easier, and it’d be tough to replicate Volta’s oscillator calibration. Of course, to do this with other software, you’d need hardware MIDI-to-CV converters, and Volta blows that approach into the tumbleweeds. For modular synth owners, it’s like getting a great big box of new modules that sync up with your DAW in ways hardware never could, for a fraction of the cost. If you use analog synth gear and a Mac-based DAW, you need Volta. We hereby award it a Key Buy for technological innovation."

Twitter: twitter.com/mitchellsigman
Web: http://www.celebusite.com
MATRIXSYNTH: http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/search?q=mitchell+sigman

Moog Modular


"Quick jam/mess arround with the Arturia Moog modular software synth.
Note: I don't know mutch about modular synths so this is realy just me fooling arround. Very noisy [virtual] analog mess. The recordings not brilliant, there are parts where the sound goes loud and sometimes clips.

Be sure to follow me on twitter for more madness www.twitter.com/dan303

And check out my new blog http://dan303.blogspot.com/"

Peter Vogel on the New Fairlight

"The 30A will look like and perform like the original CMI, although the mainframe will be much lighter for portability. The look and feel of the user interface will also be similar to the original, with retro green on black graphics like the original. A replica of the original music keyboard will also be available as an option, or you can use your own MIDI keyboard.

The software will combine the very best of the early series II and III features, with a multitude of additional features. Sound quality of 8-bit, 16-bit, or "best quality" 36-bit floating point can be selected, and existing Fairlight users can import their entire sample libraries. Even better, non-Fairlight sounds, such as WAV files can be imported and specified to play back with the classic Fairlight sound.

Internally it will be all digital, but will use FPGA technology to provide "virtual hardware" emulation which will exactly model the original analog circuitry. There will be 16 analog outputs and a stereo sampling input. All I/O will also be available digitally through MADI.

For an idea of the performance to expect, see attached description of the Crystal Core engine which the new CMI use.

We are builing a run of only 100 units, which will be available early next year. Price is to finalised, it is not intended to be cost competitive with other samplers, but of course much cheaper than the original CMI, even adjusted for inflation!"
via Peter Vogel, via failed muso, via Sonic State. Be sure to see this post.
http://www.fairlightinstruments.com/

Jean Michel Jarre Magnetic Fields 1 cover


YouTube via albertspyker. sent my way via fischek
"Played by Albert on Eminent 310, Roland Juno 106, Roland JX-10 and Reason V4.
JARRE RULES!!"

The Eminent in Jarre's music.

"Here is an example of the use of the Eminent 310 Unique IN JMJ's music. It is the strings he uses the most and the Smallstone phaser to make the spacy sound, one channel straight to the left and the other through a delay to the right channel. This classic vintage organ is unique indeed."

more videos here

Polymoog Resonator Section


YouTube via Elhardt. follow-up to this post.

"This is an unplanned demo I threw together today of a Polymoog 3 Band Resonator that I ripped out of my Polymoog and built into a stand-alone unit for processing sounds. It consists of three filters in parallel which all be switched to lowpass, bandpass, or highpass modes. Each filter has three controls: frequency, resonance, and amplitude. It's one of the unique things about the Polymoog synthesizer which you don't find in any other polyphonic analog synth.

What happened to the rest of my Polymoog? I used the Polymoog case to built a coffee table, of which you can see a few pictures at the end of the video. That was sold off. The rest of my Polymoog was sold for parts to quite a few people. My Polymoog just had too many problems to bother putting in the time and effort to fix."

The First Digital Polyphonic Keyboard?

The project by by Michael J. Bauer began in 1972 and was published in 1976.
You can find the full story here
"A hybrid polyphonic instrument incorporating the best advantages of both the digital and analog worlds was realised. As far as I know, mine was the first digital polyphonic instrument design ever published (Electronics Australia, April 1976). Unfortunately, the instrument was not destined to be a commercial success. Apart from my lack of entrepreneurial skills, there were other factors leading to its swift obsolescence. The keyboard logic was implemented entirely from small-medium scale TTL devices. It was based on a kind of state-machine architecture. A little invention called the "micro-processor" made my TTL design obsolete. In the same year as my E.A. article was published, Motorola introduced the M6800. I bought a Motorola 6800 'D1' evaluation kit, and so began my career in embedded electronics design."

Manuel Gottsching Talks About Moog Instruments


YouTube via scootermccrae. Don't forget the upcoming Moog event!
"Wow, almost one year to the day after-the-fact, I'm finally posting this video footage of Manuel Gottsching at one of the three U.S. concerts he performed last summer (his first time performing in the United States).

As I'm a big fan of his music and his legendary group Ashra Tempel, I made contact with him just before his arrival in New York to see if I could help out by videotaping the concerts (which he was happy to have done). I also asked if I could shoot some interview footage so I could help out the Moog Foundation with a little video of his visit so they could post it on their youtube channel.

The Moog Foundation has been (happily) very busy lately with some wonderful stuff and not as interested in posting new videos with so much other work to be done, so I thought I'd finally put this on youtube so like-minded folks could enjoy a brief snippet of one of the excellent performances Herr Gottsching gave -- and also hear him reminisce a bit about his own and the Moog's wonderful legacy.

Hopefully someday the concert footage will be edited together and sold via his website. For now, please enjoy this excerpt (and if you're not already familiar with his work, please do visit www.ashra.com to find out more).

And of course, don't forget to visit the Moog Foundation at www.moogfoundation.org

Thanks as always for taking a look,

Scooter McCrae"

Roland JX-8P + Jupiter-4 + TR-606


YouTube via retrosound72

"vintage synth demo by RetroSound

'Roland Arpeggiator'

bassline: Roland Jupiter -4, arpeggiator in random-mode is triggered by the TR-606
warm pads: Roland JX-8P
drums: Roland TR-606
FX: reverb and delay"

danelectro shift daddy (circuit bent)


YouTube via Vtolus
"some more shots - http://samoletuvvp.narod.ru..."

Alien-Devices circuit bent TALKATRON

via this auction

"6 Voice Modifications including Random and Repeatable Glitches
Pitch Dial and Body Contact for Pitch Modulations
2 Loops for Smooth and Rhythmic/Chaotic Loops
Internal Speaker and Standard 1/4" line out with switch for easy audio integration"

samples at the auction while up.

x0xb0x (tb303 clone) and TR707


YouTube via se7ense7
"Just a clip I made for showing off the X0XBOX with custom design, mods and SOKKOS firmware.

Download my album (that sounds nothing like this video) for free here: http://www.4shared.com/file/120115238...

Or visit my page at
http://www.myspace.com/simonderycke - http://www.facebook.com/alienrobotdance - www.vi.be/alienrobotdance

Be sure to check out my other videos!"

SoCold (molten rubber rmx)

"Original song by dodoka (myspace.com/dodokaspace).

For more stuf of mine, check out myspace/com/simonderycke, facebook.com/alienrobotdance or download my full album for free at http://www.4shared.com/file/120115238..."

Roland TR-727 for sale on ebay


YouTube via Thirstmonkey
"The machine is in flawless cosmetically and in operation. The audio is merged between my phone/camera and the audio output."
Note sure which one this is, so here's a list of TR-707s on Ebay.

Velvet Acid Christ Futile Roland SH2 Synth Demo.


YouTube via hexfix93
"VAC's First hit in 1996 in europe, this is the synth line, I recreated it demoing my roland sh2, one of my favorite mono synths."

Future Retro Revolution sequencing my Custom Doepfer Modular Rack!


YouTube via hexfix93
"VAC messing around with my modular sequencing it with my hardware future retro sequencer."

Velvet Acid Christ plays around with the Polivoks filter and some moog oscillators.


YouTube via hexfix93
"VAC messing around with synths in the studio. Modular."

EDT Studios in 2007. weird. Playstation and music Gear! home of VAC


YouTube via hexfix93. What site is that at :55?

VAC working on the Nine Inch Nails Remix in the studio.

Guide: Learning the Alesis Micron


YouTube via Gtechture
"Hi Guys,

I made a quick video of that will teach you how learn the Micron. I left a lot out and I did not get into specifics but I will when I have time. Hope this is helpful for now!"

Pulsemonger :: Guitar Demo :: SYNTHMONGER :: 2009


YouTube via synthmonger
"The Pulsemonger takes an input signal and converts it to a pulsewave that also has a mixable sub-octave pulsewave. Both pulse octaves pulsewidth/duty cycle are variable from about 5% to 50%. There is an on-board variable shape triangular LFO that can modulate both pulses simultaneously. Chorus/vibrato/tremelo/synth fuzz and other crazy noises can be had with this pedal.
Thanks to Danny of 'The Jameses' for playing guitar while I fiddled with the knobs.

Limited amounts of pulsemongers will be available here http://synthmonger.etsy.com"

SunVox on iPhone: FM synth


YouTube via NightRadio2007
"Very simple tutorial: FM synth creation (with multitouch).
Sorry for bad video quality...

SunVox is multi-platform modular music creation studio for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, PalmOS, Windows Mobile and iPhone."

on iTunes here:
SunVox

Thursday, August 06, 2009

LEARNING MUSIC WITH SYNTHESIZERS '74


via this auction

"Vintage LEARNING MUSIC With SYNTHESIZERS Book 1st Edition 1974 David Friend - Alan R. Pearlman - Thomas D. Piggott Note! ARP=Alan R. Pearlman! Great 1974 Softcover Instructional book. Learn about Synthesizers the way they did in the 70's, old school!! Seems to focus mostly on the ARP Odyssey but talks about other synths as well. 213 Pages and lots of diagrams, book measures 9" x 6"... This book is even recommended on the ArpOdessy Information resource page: 'Part I of this book is a theoretical introduction to the the science of synthesizers. Part II is a hands-on guide that walks you through principles learned in Part I on the actual ARP Odyssey. Part III gets into experimentation and studio techniques (admittedly of the 1970's). 213 Pages. Recommended for the true Odyssey aficionado!'" via Justin

Waldorf Microwave Analog Wavetable Synthesizer

via this auction



Vintage EMU EMAX

via this auction

"classic EMAX sampler/synth made by EMU in the early 1980's. These units use analog filter chips for all voices, which gives the samples a very warm/silky sound. The EMAX is a 12 bit sampler and gets a similar sound to an SP-1200."

Plugiator Fully Loaded Desktop Synth Module

via this auction
"Plugiator Table Top Synth ( fully loaded with 8 plugins = 800 factory editable sounds)

The Minimax
MiniMax is the highly acclaimed replica of the famous legend. Incredibly fat and responsive sound, intuitive control... tweaking its knobs is pure fun, a real performance synth!

The Lightwave
While the oscillators of the LightWave are based on wavetables, the aftermath is virtual analog - giving you wide control of the sound. From complex pads to powerful leads, LightWave offers a vast range of sonic possibilities.
The B4000
The B4000 turns your keyboard into the Queen of Organs. The genuine sound of a real living electromechanical 400 pound monster. Lively, authentic, emotional...


The Vocodizer
That's what the microphone input of the Plugiator is for :) Plug in your microphone and modulate sounds with our voice ...

The Prodyssey
The Prodyssey is modeled after the historic counterpart and rival of the Minimax. Featuring a distinctively different character, more control possibilites and an amazingly intuitive interface, the Prodyssey is still as exciting today as it was "in the days"...

The Pro-12
The first polyphonic and programmable synth to become popular also became an instant legend. The Pro-12 has all of its smooth analog sound and plenty of presets which were heard everywhere throughout the 80ies...

The FMagia
A new synth creation and a journey into great sounding FM synthesis. Thanks to its easy-to-use interface, sound design for FM is more fun than ever before.

The Drums'n'Bass
Just released! An amazingly fat and punchy analog drum machine along with a great bass section - turns your Plugiator into a super groovy beat box!

Giving you a total of 800 easily tweakable and fully editable killer sounds.

Manual, Power Adapter, USB Cable, Plugiator Manager Software on CD for PC only."

PAiA Synthesizer


via this auction





SEQUENTIAL CIRCUITS SIX-TRAK

via this auction


MATRIXSYNTH-C Updates

Good stuff going up on MATRIXSYNTH-C. Be sure to check it out.

Dave Smith Instruments Tetra

The promo/press shots of the Tetra. Be sure to click on them for the full size.


previous post

FARFISA SYNTORCHESTRA (Frequently misspelled Synthorchestra)

via this auction
"The Syntorchestra has four polyphonic (Poli) voices and nine monophonic (Mono) voices. The issues are as follows:
* Poli Piano voice: some notes don’t sound.
* Switches for three of the nine solo voices (Trumpet, Trombone and Tuba) don’t engage their respective voices.
* Poli Voice Cancel functions, but Mono Voice Cancel does not, though you can still cut the voice by lowering its volume control.
* Mono voice can be heard faintly even after keys are released.

In addition, the AC cable sheath is pulling back at the plug (covered for now with electrical tape).

If you’d like to learn more about the Syntorchestra and its functions, as well as better understand this particular example of the synth, read on.

Basic Layout
The Syntorchestra (hereafter the Synt) has a Poli (poly) section and a Mono section. Both can be played individually or simultaneously, and the sounds of each can be layered. The Synt’s back panel has an output jack for the Poli section and another jack that outputs the Poli and the Mono sections together. Other back-panel controls include a DIN jack for a foot pedal (obviously an old foot pedal), a high/low-output switch, a trim control for the Poli pitch and a track control for the Mono synth to adjust the intervals between notes over the range of the keyboard. (The tracking is fine but not great.)

Top Panel Controls
Most of the Synt’s controls are for the Mono synth. The control panel (to the left of the keyboard) has individual Volume and Brilliance controls for the Poli and Mono sections. Next to these is the Vibrato section, which consists of a rate slider and pushbuttons to engage the effect on the Poli and/or Mono voices, plus a Delay button to delay the effect by a preset amount of time. The Vibrato is subtle, not aggressive, which seems to work best considering that the effect’s depth is preset.

The next two sections are entirely for the Mono. The first section includes two Envelope controls – Soffiato (attack) and Decay. By design these cannot be used simultaneously; a switch to the far right on the panel below the keyboard lets you choose which of the two you want to use. It’s an odd thing, since most envelope controls let you use attack and decay together to shape the envelope. Farfisa decided otherwise.

To the right of the Envelope’s controls is the Pitch section, which consists of Portamento, Pitch and a nifty control that lets you set the Monosynth’s interval to the root, or minor 3rd, 5th or 6th. For example, if you’re playing a C on the Poli synth, you can make the Mono synth sound at either the root (C); one and a half steps lower, at A (minor 3rd); three and a half steps lower, at F (minor 5th); or four steps lower, at E (minor 6th). The Mono has high-note priority, so if you play, say, a C chord voiced C-E-G on the Poli, the Mono will sound a G when the Interval control is set at the root, an E with the interval set to the minor 3rd, and so on and so on.

All the control panel functions work. They are a little bit noisy when you move them, and just a little stiff, too, but not much -- certainly not like those you’ll find on old Moogs and Arps. The one thing that’s easy to forget is that the Soffiato and Decay controls are dependent on the front-panel selector switch. You may think one of them isn’t working until you remember to place the switch in the appropriate position.

Front Panel Controls (located below the keyboard)
This is where you choose sounds and engage a few other features.

First, the sounds. The Poli has four: Trombone, Trumpet, Piano and Viola. The Trombone, Trumpet and Viola voices work fine. As mentioned above, the Piano voice has several notes that don’t sound at all.

The Mono synth has nine sounds, a few of which don’t work. Functioning sounds: Violin, Piccolo, Flute, Bass Flute, Alto Sax and Baritone Sax. The three nonfunctioning sounds: Trumpet, Trombone and Tuba (all three are side by side, so the issue may have something to do with the wiring in this spot). In addition, the Mono section voice can be heard faintly in the background after the keys are released.

Functions on the front panel include two Portamento controls: one engages the effect, and the other is a spring-loaded flipper that lets you engage the effect at will and then springs back into the off position when you remove your finger. Both of these work. There are two controls that let you instantly cancel out the Poli or Mono section without having to pull down the volume control. The Poli cancel works; the Mono cancel does not, but as stated above, you can still cut the voice by lowering the Mono’s volume. Finally, to the far right are controls for Wha-Wha and the aforementioned Envelope function selector (Soffiato or Decay). Both controls work."

click this image to see the detailed overlay.

Korg 900PS preset monosynth



via this auction

"The synth has great analog sounds and a versatile feature set that provides control over many aspects of the preset tones. There are also three Harmonic switches that let you create sounds of your own using four harmonic slide controls in addition to the other panel controls.

Best of all, in addition to White Noise, the 900PS has Scale Noise, a feature I have not seen on any synth except the Korg 770. This is essentially “pitched” noise. Unlike White Noise, which sounds the same on all keys, Scale Noise follows keyboard pitch, so you can use it to play melodies. It sounds very eerie, and I think it’s one of the synth’s best features – and certainly its most unique."

Roland JUNO-6 Analog vintage synth

via this auction

Roland manuals

Yamaha SK20


via this auction

"A lovely sounding organ / strings / polysynth . Early yamaha Digital FM for the organ , strings and polysynth are analog. String sound is comparable to the Roland RS 202 and you can build up more complex sounds because of the 3 sections. PItch of the organ/string section can be detuned against the pitch of the polysynth. It contains an excellent ensemble effect in addition to vibrato and tremelo effect. Its a little heavy so best suited for studio use!
The analog section strings/polysynth sound , to me , is very beautiful ; grainy ., a very physical real sound .
One note ; the polysynth section contains a selection of wavetypes 4'saw down to 16'pulse . If you place the switch in between to wavetypes you get a mixture of those 2 ."

Yamaha SK20 manual

Sequential Circuits Prophet-10

via this auction




Vintage rare 80's kawai sx 240 analog midi synth


via this auction



Native Instruments Core 2.1 Videos

"KORE 2 is the Next-Generation Workstation – a powerful software / hardware system with a versatile library of more than 500 production-ready sounds with over 3,000 sound variations, plus over 100 effect settings. Find, play, and tweak sounds with unprecedented speed, power and ease.
KORE 2 features six integrated sound engines, a dedicated hardware controller, and the ultra-fast KoreSound® browser. KORE 2 is infinitely expandable with the KORE SOUNDPACKS, KOMPLETE 5 or any other Audio Unit™/VST®-plug-in."

KORE 2 Introduction


KORE 2 as a MIDI Controller


Tutorials:
Finding Sounds Quickly


Sound Design


Advanced Browser Usage


KORE in a Sequencer


Sound Samples


KORE and KOMPLETE


http://www.native-instruments.com

Native Instruments EVOLVE MUTATIONS




http://www.native-instruments.com

"Building on the award-winning success of Evolve, Heavyocity and Native Instruments introduce the all-new EVOLVE MUTATIONS! Powered by the latest KONTAKT PLAYER, and featuring completely new content, this 2-gigabyte collection of rhythm and tonality provides a "music-meets-sound-design"-approach for the modern composer. Created by working pros in the film, tv and game industries, EVOLVE MUTATIONS is a go-to resource for hybrid, electronic, pop and dance music productions, either on it’s own or as an addition to Heavyocity’s flagship Virtual Instrument Evolve. Find your sonic signature with EVOLVE MUTATIONS.

Find out what the pros have to say about EVOLVE MUTATIONS here..."

Native Instruments Free KONTAKT PLAYER


http://www.native-instruments.com
"Building on the success of its predecessor, the free KONTAKT PLAYER allows for innovative, highly playable instruments that leave existing technological and musical limitations behind. The virtually unlimited flexibility of Kontakt Script Processing allows for instruments with unprecedented functionality and musicality."

tenori on twins...

flickr by mushboy

"Mushboy (yepp, that's me) at home playing the tenori on..."

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ARP Odyssey Lumina

I made the ARP Odyssey Lumina post Featured. Comment there.
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