Yuyo cmos synth - First try Attiny85 dco with analog cmos shaping and twin t filter

video upload by JIANT

"everything is from the synth to the zoom recorder, twin t drums, xor snare, pt2399, and cmos stuff.

attiny85 reseting the phase of 40106 oscilators, the digital control accepts 1voct from keysetp and go to the 40106 inputs through resistors, a little rc for filtering the pwm, and for this reason when you change the oscillator frequency you can get intervals and crazy stuff. is not orthodox but suits my need for Rich timbres. the dco goes to 40106 buffers , and then 4040 dividers, twin t filters, one for each of the two voices, one goes to env, vca, filter, delay, and the other one to clock divider and filter, to get the sub osc.

firmware super simple only for checking the conversion from filtered frecuency of the attiny85 to my 40106 non exponencial vcos.
currently is tracking 10 octaves really good, the trick is put a voltage divider in the cv in of the attiny because keystep has 0 to 10v and the attiny accepts 0 to 5v tehn the tracking inside the attiny converts o.5v oct to 1 volt oct. i dont know anything about coding but i made it with chat gpt and my design . source code will be in the coments ."

Previous videos:

CLICK FOR MORE »

Yamaha AN1X Klaus Schulze 4 and Klaus Schulze 8 two Presets with Chorus and Phaser variations

video upload by js-sound

"I often read on music forums 'why are hardware synthesizers stuck in the Stone Age?'. People are often unhappy with many things. People can like something and at the same time a couple of things can irritate people, if, for example, we are talking about hardware synthesizers. For me AN1X is perfect.

There are a lot of new music products available on the market now. But often they are the ones that don’t suit me in many ways. And I love my AN1X, it has never let me down or annoyed me. After modification, which greatly changed the sound for the better, it is a polyphonic analogue for me! On YouTube, crumbs remain from the original sound, but live my AN1X sounds so that it gives me goosebumps. If you look at the synthesis diagram on the case cover, you can understand from it that AN1X is simple! The entire diagram does not show its capabilities even at 20%. AN1X can do a lot better than my Eurorack modular! And and if you want that Eurorack modular to do what the AN1X can do, it must occupy half of the small room.

00:00 JS-Sound Klaus Schulze 4 Preset with a little bit AN1X chorus and panorama by 50%
02:57 JS-Sound Klaus Schulze 8 Preset with a AN1X phaser and wide panorama"

Yamaha AN1X Jean Michel Jarre Magnetic Fields Part2 with 2 Scenes live

video upload by js-sound

"What can a Yamaha AN1X synthesizer that is already 27 years old do? First of all, it can make me happy because it doesn’t show any signs that it will ever break down and stop working. He can also sound completely different and with his creative abilities generate crazy and very musical timbres. AN1X is the most musical synthesizer for my ears.

There is only one preset in this video. It consists of two different timbres (2 scenes or dual mode), which I controlled using DAW via two MIDI channels simultaneously. I recorded the sum of the two timbres into a wave file at one time. I normalized the amplitude to the maximum peak and added audio to my video.

00:00 Start Video
00:15 Jean-Michel Jarre Magnetic Fields Part 2 live Video.
01:00 Info 3
04:29 My YouTube Channel Info.

Yamaha AN1X as drone synthesizer

video upload by js-sound

"If none of you have watched the Vikings series on Netflix, then you should watch it. What is the connection between the Vikings and synthesizers or the actions of people in a certain choice, for example a musical equipment? The connection is actually direct. If you believe the saga about the Vikings, they fought among themselves, but without peace and harmony, they always tried to conquer new unknown lands. How can synthesizers and Vikings be combined? It's simple... people's logic is often not justified. For example, a person has a synthesizer and likes the sound. But some “evil” manufacturer throws a new “musical toy” onto the market. A doubt creeps into this person’s brain: “it’s time to sell the old junk, you need to buy a new synthesizer, it will be better!” Often everything is just the opposite.... People have always been in an eternal search. I'm not looking for anything. Maybe I'm not a Viking! But at the same time, I am happy to have what I have. I'm not interested by any new products, I don't want to be disappointed by them. This happened all the time! Therefore, watch a series about Vikings and perhaps you will find harmony with your musical devices."

Strega Musica by Make Noise Music

"Strega Musica is intended to be a free compilation— a gift from Make Noise and a celebration of Strega. All artists on the collection have already been compensated.

"Strega Musica" is a collection of music created with Strega, an instrument designed in close collaboration between Make Noise founder Tony Rolando and Alessandro Cortini. Thoughts on the collection from Strega's co-designers can be found below:

—

"It’s quite inspiring when people connect with your output and your works, making them theirs, finding their own emotional color in them. It’s truly magic and I will never stop being thankful for it.

Creating an instrument that reflects your idea for a vessel of compositional creativity, and seeing it stimulate other people’s creative output, has to be in a complete different level, and I couldn’t have been caught more off guard by it.

Hearing what people all over the world have made with Strega is invigorating and overwhelming!

If all that wasn’t enough, I’m here to present you a compilation of pieces composed on the Strega by some of our favorite musicians and friends: it’s really great to see how each of them was able to make the instrument their own, and speak their own language through the grammar that is Strega.

May you find your own language through it as well... happy exploring!”

- Alessandro Cortini

—

"As a listener, I am forever seeking music that has the ability to put me into an alternate space. Sounds that let me travel fluidly through time, forward or backward. I'm not usually looking to be in the now while I listen, as I must be in the now for most other parts of my life.

As an instrument designer, it makes me happy when people find a process, a patch program that creates a sound I'd not known was possible with the instrument. If that sound connects on an emotional level and takes me away from the now, the listener in me is also elated.

As a musician, I'm looking for an instrument that wants to connect with me and travel. Searching out a future I wish to know, or a past time I've lived. Maybe a moment I never thought about until I played that instrument on that day.

It doesn't matter if the sound is complex and never before heard, or simple and universally heard for decades.

As a listener, I traveled fluidly through time as Strega Musica played.

As an instrument designer, I was surprised by the sounds these artists achieved.
As a musician, the Strega sparked in me an energy I've not felt in a decade.”

- Tony Rolando, founder Make Noise

—

"Strega Musica" was curated by Alessandro Cortini and mastered by Stephan Mathieu | Schwebung Mastering

Cover art by Lewis Dahm

Crazy Synth Dreams and a Real Waldorf Blofeld Keyboard (Review)

I had another synth dream last night. This time I was out in LA making a trip to Noisebug with my wife. When I get there it turned into me just happening to drive by and noticing it was there. Hey, there's Noisebug, can I check it out!? Followed by a reluctant yes from my wife. :) Odd how dreams work that way. Note I've never actually been to Noisebug, so this was just my imagination. When we get there a guy comes out to our car and while I'm sitting there, I ask him what he has that might be interesting. Drive-up service! He says he has a Waldorf Pulse for $249 and some other things. I ask about the Pulse and he brings it out to me. I decide I must have it even though I already have a Pulse Plus. You can chain them for polyphony. I then convince my wife that I should go in and have a look around. I do and the place is probably a 4500 square foot warehouse, high ceilings like Costco, filled with synths and other electronics. Kind of like a massive or rather mini JRR World in New York but in an industrial flea market type setting. There are a number of shops in the open space. Tons of used synths. I start walking the aisles and see a few Oberheim DXs, OB-Xas and a few interesting Waldorfs. There's an orange XT with custom writing on it and coloring. If I remember correctly there's some 80s digital and DCO based analogs, a DX7, KORG DW8000 and some other random synths. I go to buy my Pulse Plus at one of the counters closest to the entrance and I notice a Yellow Waldorf Q with some red writing on it. It says something about Waldorf and it's in Spanish. Apparently Waldorf made it for one of the hispanic guys in the shop. The guy behind the counter points at him and rolls his eyes. Anyway, I pay for the Pulse Plus and I ask him if he has anything else for such a good deal. He says he has a Roland D50 for $150. I always wanted one so I ask him if I could check it out. I do and it's in fantastic shape. It has a green led type display with operator algorithms. Note the D50 isn't an FM synth. In my dream I wonder what that might be. The pitch benders on it are actually long thin pull tabs but you don't pull them, you press down on them. Kind of like the proportional pitch control on some of the ARP Odysseys but more like thin extended keys that you press down. It was actually pretty nice feeling but somewhat cheap. I tell him I'll take it and he takes it away to prep it for me. I head to another section and there's a Prophet-5 hiding under a card table for $554! My wife is going to kill me. I turn it on and all voices are working but they are out of tune and the keys have graffiti on them from Sharpies. It's also physically shorter than a full size Prophet-5 - about three octaves. I debate on whether I should get it and I think I could really use Stephen of Synthwood.com's help as he definitely knows his Prophets (in real life too!). He says probably not since I have one already. I ask him if he plans to pick it up. :) He says nooooo. The sales guy lets me know the D50 is ready, so I leave Stephen playing the Prophet-5. When I'm walking over to the counter to purchase the D50 the guy says with the additional $50 off, the D50 will come out to $100 and the Pulse is $200. Both are pristine! What a deal! While I'm purchasing them I realize my wife is still in the car!!! She's going to kill me!!! But if I explain the good deal I got, I'm sure she'll understand even though I've been in there for a good 30 to 40 minutes. :)

And that's it! I haven't had a good synth dream in a while. What caused it and why Noisebug? Well... I'm sure it has something to do with that Waldorf Blofeld Keyboard you see here. It just arrived yesterday from Noisebug! My initial impressions? Absolutely fantastic synth. Note, I've only had a little over a few hours with it, so the following impressions are initial. I'm still in the honeymoon phase, but I have spent time with quite a few synths, analog and digital. I'm a bit of a Waldorf fanboy, but not because it's Waldorf. They just make fantastic sounding synths with impeccable design. I do love most if not all synths though. I have a tendancy to look for the good in synths and what each individual synth has to offer vs. looking for what's wrong and/or negatively comparing a given synth to another with obviously more power. That said, here are my initial impressions:

On the physical design:
Extremely classy looking, superb keyboard and knobs. Solid metal construction. The mod and pitch wheels are light, thin and have little pointers poking out at the mid points. At first I thought they might be a little flimsy, and I wasn't sure how the I'd like them, but so far they feel good. I like them.

On the interface:
Extremely well laid out. I wasn't sure if it would be difficult to navigate, as if you look at the top right you will see that the matrix there only has the most common parameters you might want to edit for each section. How do you dig deeper? Well, with any section selected (indicated by the led on the left of the matrix), you turn the top left knob (photo above) by the display to get to deeper settings. You then use the two knobs under the display to edit. The display BTW, is pretty nice. Anything you edit shows up graphically and changes in real time. Overall the synth is super easy to navigate. The endless knobs are smooth and solid.

On the sound:
Definitely Waldorf but more. Like I said above, I have an XT, Q and Pulse Plus. The XT is a wavetable synth, which means you select a wavetable as a sound source. Think of a wavetable as a spreadsheet holding a single cycle waveform in each cell. Once a wavetable is selected you can then set the cell reference point for each oscillator. You can then apply modulation to that reference point to sweep through the wavetable. You can do this with an LFO, Envelops, aftertouch, the mod wheel, etc. With the XT note that all oscillators share the same wavetable, so there is only one shared across oscillators in a single patch. With the Blofeld you can have a different wavetable for each OSC 1 and OSC 2. With the XT however, if you change wavetables while holding a note down, you will hear the wavetable change. You can get some really cool effects going this way. With the Blofeld the wavetable does not change until the next note is played. Note if you have an arpeggio going on the Blofeld the sound will change. OSC 3 is your standard virtual analog oscillator. Note OSCs 1 and 2 do have virtual analog waveshapes. The Blofeld has the XT wavetables and the Alt 1 and Alt 2 wavetables from the Q. In addition to wavetable and virtual analog synthesis, the Blofeld also has sample based synthesis! The samples act as oscillators to be used as sound sources in the synth engine - think synthesis as the focus vs. sampling. What it does is bring a whole new sound palette to the Waldorf line of synthesis. When I think Waldorf, I think wavetables and VA, now sample based oscillators have been added to the mix. How does it sound? Fantastic! There are some nice organic samples on board including a really nice Nylon guitar patch A014. I did notice a small quirk with this patch though. If you hold down C2 or a couple of notes around it the loop repeats at the end point much like old samplers. It doesn't do this for the rest of the keyboard range and I didn't notice it on other patches. Update: this problem went away after updating the OS. I went from 1.10 incrementally up to 1.13.

As for audio quality, presence and hi fidelity, the synth sounds absolutely amazing. One of my biggest gripes with some virtual analog synths out there is that they can sound somewhat muffled and weak. They are missing that certain boldness and presence you find in many analogs. A bit watered down so to speak. I was curious how the Blofeld would sound in this regard. To my ears it is very, very bold. Possibly more so than the Q rack - almost more "analog" sounding. It's on par with the Pulse and either as bold if not bolder than the XTk. It really has presence.

Summary
Overall, I am in love with this synth. For the price, $999 from Noisebug, it is an absolute steel. It is super compact, more so than the Nord Lead, it's built like a tank, has a fantastic interface and the sound is bold and broad. You have virtual analog, wavetable and now sample based synthesis. If this synth came out at the same time as the original Q I could see it going for twice as much. I'd recommend this synth to anyone. It is a great starter synth to learn the basics of subtractive synthesis and you can dig real deep. The interface is a breeze to navigate and the synth engine is extremely powerful in spite of it's price. Highly, highly recommended. Note there have been some bugs reported on the Waldorf list. Waldorf is working on updates, however the current bugs may or may not matter to you.

And.. that's all for now. Synth dreams and a real synth dream come true for me. I love my Blofeld!

I want to give a special thanks to Antonio at Noisebug. He was a pleasure to deal with. I ordered my Blofeld on Tuesday, it was shipped that day, and it arrived on schedule Friday. I was given a tracking number on Tuesday without having to ask and I was able to plan accordingly. I had absolutely fantastic service from Noisebug and can highly recommend them. Note they currently have the Blofeld Keyboard on sale from now until the end of July for $999 which is what I paid for mine. It's one heck of a birthday present. :)

You can find more pics including box shots here.

Update: soon after I wrote this mini review, I later hooked up the MIDI out on my Blofeld Keyboard and to my dismay it was not working. I had OS 1.10 loaded. Upgrading to 1.11 fixed the problem. I then upgraded to 1.12 followed by 1.13 and the fix stayed in tack. MIDI out is working. I just wanted to note this in the post in case anyone else ran into the problem. You can find the latest updates here. Note, one other person on the Waldorf user forum also had the problem on 1.10 and upgrading took care of it.

SynthStar

"I'm writing to let you know that I've launched a new synthesizer database site – yes, another one:

http://www.synthstar.com

Of course I know that there are already several synthesizer database sites out there – but they all lacked one thing, which was a decent search feature. None of them let you search by individual synth specifications, so I've stepped in and created a site with an exhaustive advanced search function. If you check out the advanced search page, you'll see what I mean:

http://www.synthstar.com/advancedSearch.php

Here, you can pretty much go crazy with the search parameters. If you wanted to find a list of all synths made between 1979 and 1995 with a chorus effect, you can do so. Looking for a synth that has an aftertouch-capable keyboard as well as a minimum of three oscillators? Can do.

Apart from that, each synth page has its own comments area, and I've compiled resource links for just about every synth in there. I also tried to keep the design low-key so that pages would load quickly and also to make it easier for visitors to find what they're looking for faster. Almost all of the information entered in the database was culled from product manuals when possible, and from other sites when absolutely necessary. For the record, Sequencer.de has by far the most complete and accurate set of synth information on the web.

All of the data entry for this site was done by myself, for all 641 synthesizers in the database (I did turn up a few which I didn't see on any other synth DB site). Because of this, I'm sure that some errors were introduced, or some synths missed, so I'd ask that visitors use the correction form if they notice something wrong. A reference would be appreciated if something is found, to save me a bit of leg work since I'll need to research it anyway.

One note I should make: right now there are no modular synthesizers in the database. Initially I did start adding these in, but quickly realized that they wouldn't work with the site because their specifications vary so widely and it's difficult to put these in a searchable database alongside "normal" synths and still return accurate results. So for now I'm holding off on that, and may instead launch a sub-site at some point in the future that would list each individual synth module rather than treating all of the modules as one big theoretical machine.

One thing I would definitely appreciate is image submissions – you'll notice that there aren't a lot of synth images on the site right now. It just wasn't feasible for one person to get permission to use images for 641 synths, so instead I'm going to rely on the kindness of visitors to get these up there. I really, really appreciate anyone who is able to take the time to help me out with this part of the site.

This took me a long time to put together, and I'm happy that I've reached the end of this project – I hope people find the site useful! I plan on adding more to the site and continually improving it as time goes on, so anyone is welcome to email me with their comments and suggestions to admin@synthstar.com. :)"

Chamberlin M-300

images via this auction.

"For your consideration is this 1959 Chamberlin M-300 electro-mechanical keyboard in 100% ALL ORIGINAL condition. This one-of-a-kind Chamberlin M-300 was invented and crafted by Harry Chamberlin for the great Bobby Darin. This exact Chamberlin is the one which was later used on Darin's 1960 hit "Mack the Knife." Harry Chamberlin only made ONE M-300, which is essentially the better half of an M-600.

This Chamberlin has been completely restored to factory specs and is ready for professional studio recording use. In the early M-600s, and in this M-300, the tapes themselves have much more dynamics and detail than the later tapes found in the M1s. This is probably due to fewer generations of copies to the original masters. Additionally, the vacuum tube preamp and amplification stages are far superioir sounding to the transistorized amplifcation stages found in the M1.

The sound of this M-300 is far superior to that of an M1 and M4, and it sounds most similar to a Mellotron Mk II. The keyboard action on the 300 is much better suited for the mechanical tape keyboard system. The keys have much better response to the tapes than an M1.

Recording directly off the speaker is much more dynamic than going direct, as both the amplification stage and quality of the speaker are amazing.

There were a couple owners between myself and the great Bobby Darin- none of whom are very interesting musicians are who were able to express the greatness of this keyboard.

None except the notorious and legendary Vincent Gallo who used it for recording and performance on several occasions. I tried to buy this unit from Gallo for years offering cash or whatever it would take to get it, but finally during a restoration Gallo was doing on his Universal Audio board I was able to offer the unfindable parts he needed to complete the task. So I acquired this machine from Gallo after he relucatantly did a deal with me, even insulting me as I left.

I expect him to bid if he finds out it is for sale."

Alesis iO Dock Requires Separate Adapter for iPad 2?

via Ryan:
"I've pre-ordered the Alesis Studio Dock for my ipad 2, so it's encouraging to see some retailers now shipping. One is Sweetwater.

Now, alarming to me, is the 1st review at that retail site from someone who claims to have received one of these already...and finds it is not compatible with ipad 2 out of the box:

'The box is huge, and the dock is well packed. Includes power supply, a really skimpy manual...basically a quickstart guide that briefly explains the buttons, knobs, ins and outs, and so on, the I/O dock itself, and sadly enough, for you iPad 2 owners, a slip of paper telling you how to contact Alesis to order an adapter. Luckily for me, I have the iPad 1!'

WTF. Nowhere on the Alesis site does it say there is an adaptor required...or even available!

Consider my pre-order cancelled until I know more about this adaptor and its availability."

Quick note: remember to support the shops that support this site. See the DEALERS section on the right. Sweetwater gets a free ride on this one.

The full review:
"Alesis I/O dock arrived on my doorstep today! Sweetwater shipped yesterday. Thanks Matt, you guys rock!

CLICK FOR MORE »

Driscoll Modular

Update: Some comments with additional info from Ken below. Click on comments at the end of this post.

Wow. Josue Arias sent this to me. You can put this on the list of the rarest of the rare. I'm not one to benchmark rarity against, but I've never seen or even heard of one of these before. The only thing that comes up on Google is this site with a brief reference of the Driscoll. The Analog Heaven archives come up dry as well.

Josue refers to the Driscoll as a Driscoll/Serge modular. He states, "the 'serge' part is just because the similar modules in it (Slope generators, Random voltages, cv processors, Analog shift register,...) and because my system even have a serge 5 stage sequencing programmer!, but driscoll designed the same functions than the serge modular using another electronic aproach and design, so is not a clone(!)"

The Driscoll was built in the 70s by Australian composer/designer/engineer Julian Driscoll. Josue, believes the original Driscoll was a 10-12 panel system.

As for the sound?
"The sound for this synth is incredible, its really "organic", it sound like creatures more than electronics : ) I have it next to my 4 panel serge and I really like the driscoll sound a lot more."

http://www.cyndustries.com/bugmusic/17.mp3

"All the water drops/woodblocks/marimba/rithms, comes from the driscoll. I think it show the organic qualities. I`m ataching you a couple of photos but they are from my old studio"

Wow. Thanks for sharing this Josue.

Update:
Josue gave me the ok to post the following thread. Thanks Josue!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I`ve found some of the conversaions I had with australian composer
Warren Burt, He used the Driscoll and even it have a CD now for sale
made with it!:

"Hello Mr. Burt,

I`m Josue Arias, a musician and sound engineer from Madrid(SPAIN)
I just got the old Segemodular tape from 1983, and I`ve found you have
a nice piece there called "You want, maybe, something a little intense
diatonic?"

CLICK FOR MORE »

The Thomas Henry Mega Percussive Synthesizer

via Scott Stites on this electro-music thread. Keep an eye on the thread for updates. If images or samples come in, let me know.

"I guess I better extricate this from the Clangora thread before it derails that fine conversation. I hope I don't sound like I'm hyping this thing unnecessarily, but I truly am buzzed by this design. This one has been as hard to keep quiet about as the Mankato Filter. In fact, I often think about this as the Mankato of drum voices, it's that good. I'll start at the top:

This summer (summer 2007), Thomas quietly developed a drum voice that just sat me back in my seat. I'm not sure I've ever seen him work so hard on a single design - I'm sure he has, but in my experience breadboard testing things, I'm certain this one took more work than I've experienced with any other project. He literally designed this thing from the ground up, and we very thoroughly rung it out.

In the Clangora thread, Thomas mentioned how versatile it was (and it is extremely versatile). On top of that, the sound of this drum voice for me is simply stunning. A good deal of that is due to an innovation Thomas threw in there; it's something that I've never seen on any other drum voice. It was an idea that he picked up from an interview with Roger Powell years ago (it was Roger Powell, wasn't it Thomas? I'm kinda fuzzy here). It has to do with the impact circuit - I swear, it literally sounds like someone is striking this think with a real stick/mallet/hand/sledgehammer (depending on how it's tuned).

Just to give a rundown of the elements: the voice has three oscillators, a noise source, a balanced modulator (that can be unbalanced as well), three envelope generators, two VCAs, a noise source, a LP/BP switchable resonant VCF, and a versatile mixing section with send/receive loops. This one is a blast to tweak as it plays, BTW. It's the only drum voice I've played that can dissolve from a cowbell to a landing alien craft in a very non-seventies, non-disco-era Simmons way (though it can do that, too, if that's your thing).

Fortunately, Thomas designed it, so it is a very elegantly designed circuit (translation, it will fit on a single PCB). There are a lot of controls, so it won't be a small panel.

Right now, the target for the project is as the next electro-music PCB series, in the same vein as the Klee project. We're working on drafting a certain man from Nambucca Heads to crank out a PCB, and we're going to Klee team it to make sure what you get will be the best quality PCB we can offer. The documentation part already is very well done - can't beat those Thomas Henry schematics! I'm hoping to avoid the whole reservation process which is really a pain, but this is all in the prelim stage so far.

Expect samples. Very Happy

Cheerio,
Scott"

TORAIZ AS-1 - a Berlin School sequencing style sound demo

Published on Feb 15, 2019 Alba Ecstasy

"👉DSI PATCHES?! 👉 https://www.albaecstasy.ro

A short story of my Dave Smith Instruments experience.
Once upon a time I was searching for a cheap keyboard MIDI controller around $150.
I ended buying DSI Evolver (about $600 at that time). Tremendous sound!
Years later, I’m selling it: pots starts to “fall”.

Enters MoPho: fat, dirty yellow box. Instant buy. Years later, I’m selling it: programming was exhausting.

Some strange experiences with Prophet 6: weak knobs, loose top panel.

Years later, Toraiz is released. Me (not impressed): “meh!”...
2019: my friend Robert ask me if I want to test the Toraiz. Me: “what, that fancy Monotribe?! Haha, no thanks!” He brings it to me. Me: plug cables, play notes. WHAT?!

A week later: me, after intense searches I find a cheap B-stock and I’m ordering it!
Yep. I was so wrong about Toraiz. One of the few synths I judged before testing it.
And this is very wrong. First test, and then speak your opinion.

And in this case, I think TORAIZ is BIG.
Look for one. You won’t regret!

In this video, I choose a random a factory preset and start tweaking it. Programming looks much easier on Toraiz, even it has the same linear menu structure as MoPho, but, I don't know: I find it much easier to dive into its menu.

Delay: H-Delay Waves
Reverb: Valhalla Vintagege"

ROLAND TR-8S Demos

Published on Mar 17, 2018 Sunshine Jones

Playlist:

1. ROLAND TR-8S BASIC KIT DEMOS

/////////////////////////////////////////////////
First let me say that there is a lot going on under the hood here on the Roland AIRA TR-8S. There are many kits, and many ways to include sounds, add effects, samples and more.

My general approach is to answer my most fundamental questions - how does it sound, how does it work, can I make use of it, and does it delight me? - before I dig down too deep.
This is a set of clips featuring the most basic kits and effects to let you see and hear what the @rolandaira TR-8S sounds like fundamentally.

1. TR-909
2. TR-808
3. TR-707
4. TR-727
5. TR-606

There is also a TR-626 kit which is great 80's fun, and many more sounds.

Next I'm going to explore adding my own samples and try to apply a sample loop as well.

2. Roland TR-8S Sampling Experiments

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Late into the night last night I explored the idea of importing my own collection of samples into the Roland AIRA TR-8S. Much of the exploration was in headphones and I couldn't wait for the sun to come up so I could listen and document the experiments for us to dig together.

1. A loop of my darling Geraldine Hunt with a -12db filter, accompanied by internal 909 sounds.

2. 100% Roger Linn samples taken by me from my old Linn Drum, sequenced and tuned to make your Camero go faster and match your tri-level nylon jacked.

3. The SP-1200 Congas translated from floppy to WAV files, and loaded into the TR-8S with reverb and a kick added.

I still have some functional questions (like how to assign things like kick attack to the CTRL knob, can one step edit the motion recordings, and other basic stuff...) as well as a real desire for some kind of time/pitch compression and expansion.

Perhaps that could be solved with using slices of a loop, or perhaps the inclusion of a particular file format with beat markers - I don't know - but tempo based samples will not automatically sync. They must be either worked out to a tempo ahead of time, or pitched to be in sync on the TR-8S. However you work it out, one is then working at a fixed tempo (provided pitch is essential) and that can be tricky live. In any given performance I may play at 110 if the audience is forward thinking and with me, but in more ordinary and adverse circumstances I will be forced to play the same material at 122-125 depending on how hostile they are. That's a huge leap in tempo, and getting that perfect on the fly can be tough.

But I'm undaunted, deeply inspired, and I'm going to dig in deeper still and answer my questions and come up with workarounds.

It's only been about a day, but I already just LOVE this thing and can barely remember not having it around.

3. ROLAND TR-8S LOOP SYNCOPATION EXAMPLES

ROLAND TR-8S LOOP SYNCOPATION EXAMPLES
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
I talked about the fact that the Roland AIRA TR-8S doesn't have any time compression/expansion for loops, and here are three examples of ways to work with time based loops:

1. PITCH
The whole loop is imported into one instrument and pitch is adjusted to accommodate timing between 105 bpm and 125 bpm
This technique works great as the old school use of loops. Sometimes a loop gets really interesting when you slow it way down, or speed it way up. But for pitch crucial loops this isn't practical at all. For example in a live performance if you really must play faster or slower, this means your looped material will end up being pitched higher or lower, and if it's meant to play with other instruments the whole composition will be out of whack and potentially sound a tonal, or just wrong (or wonderful!)

2. FOUR SLICES (the one-and technique)
The same loop is chopped into 4 parts. Every beat is trimmed (import the sample loop 4 times and edit each one) and then placed on 4 instruments and the beats are programmed in sequence across the grid.
This allows for tempo adjustment between 125 bpm and 117 bpm without adjusting the pitch.

NOTE: It sounds better as you go faster, than it does as you go slower, so it would be best to begin with a slower loop than you need, so that as you increase tempo the timing feels better, and it sounds tighter than if you had to slow way down.

3. EIGHT SLICES
The same loop is cut into 8 parts and placed into 8 instruments. The decay of each slice is cut in half, and the tempo may be adjusted between 105 bpm and 140 bpm without adjusting the pitch one bit.
NOTE: There's no reason we have to use a unique kick and snare for this size of slice, so this could be done with fewer slices, and using up fewer instruments.

TIP:
When using a uniform grid solution, you can do some pretty interesting things. For example - chop up 4 different loops at the same grid (8) and then use program changes to switch between kits for crazy, far out glitch beats, or dynamic pattern changes at random. It's pretty sick.

Conclusion:
It seems there are many ways to accomplish timing without feeling that the device truly needs to import ReCycle files, or contain a time compression/expansion feature. But it does take us away from the device, and ask us to think it through before we get to it.

I grabbed this loop for fun and explored it on the device itself, without going back to the computer or another device for additional editing. It all happened right here in the TR-8S with a single loop. Naturally this would have gone faster, and possibly been a better result if I'd done the editing on the computer, but I am really not taking my inspiration from computers anymore, and want to work with the device I'm working with when I'm working with it. So taking the slow road, and doing it "stupid" style is all right with me, and seems to produce worthy results I can get behind.

Hope this helps with your adventures.

Roland JX-3P Filter Resonance Boost Mod DIY: Detailed Walkthrough and Sound Demonstration

video by thesrabbit

follow-up to this post.

"Disclaimer: I cannot be held responsible if you try this out and break your gear or yourself. Please be careful! This mod requires the synth to be powered on with the panel open as you make adjustments to the trim pots. Please do not touch anything inside the synth other than the trim pots, and only touch the trim pots with your trim pot tool. I used a special tool for this, but I think it may be possible to use other tools as well.

This video is meant to show you how I accomplished my particular goal. It does not mean that this is THE correct way, if there is such a thing. I'm a total DIY noob and have never used an oscilloscope before. Please leave a comment if you know something important about safety or want to call me out for anything that I'm doing which is clearly wrong.

Contents:
0:00: Intro
1:35: Preparation and disassembly
3:00: Opening the top panel
4:07: Trim pots

CLICK FOR MORE »

Professor William Hoskins and His Mystery Moog

Pictured to the left is Professor William Hoskins (via). What you see there is not the mystery Moog, but his Moog modular system. This post is about another Moog synth, one most likely based on the Sonic VI. If you have any information on what this synth might be after reading this, please feel free to leave a comment or contact me directly. My contact info is on the bottom right of the site. I have already contacted Michelle Moog-Koussa and Brian Kehew author of Kaleidoscope Eyes A Day in the Life of Sgt. Pepper, as well as Trevor Pinch, author of Analog Days [Amazon hardcover & paperback, preview on Google books], and featured in this exclusive post. I also contacted James Husted of Synthwerks, George Mattson of Mattson Mini Modular, Steven Jones of Synthwood, and Carbon111, all of whom know their synth history. None were familiar with what the synth might be.

The story: I was recently contacted by a Paul Rego with the following:

"I've been searching the Internet for over a year now and have not been able find a specific synth. Since you seem to know and work with every type of synth known, I thought I'd ask you...

Around 1973 - 1974, I took private synthesizer lessons at Jacksonville University (Florida). The instructor was Professor William Hoskins and the synth was a custom Studio Moog assembled by Professor Hoskins.

One day, Professor Hoskins showed me his personal, portable synthesizer. He brought out what looked like a brown suitcase. When he opened it, I saw a Moog Sonic VI.

This is nothing new. I've seen lots of images of this synth on the Internet. The one aspect of this particular synth, that I cannot find anywhere, is that it had a touch-sensitive keyboard. The keyboard was made of plastic and had a gray / brown color. Outlining the keys (showing the location of the 'white' and 'black' keys) was an almost medium blue color (about an eighth-inch thick). (He and I tinkered with this synth for about a half-hour to an hour.)

Professor Hoskins passed away several years ago, so I can't ask him about it. I did contact his family but they don't remember anything about this synth.

I do remember Professor Hoskins telling me that he and Bob Moog had 'gone to school together'. I think he was referring to electronics school but I never asked him more about it. I thought I had read somewhere that Professor Hoskins and Bob Moog had briefly worked together on a Sonic VI prototype but I don't know if that's true. (Even if what I saw was a prototype, someone has to own it now and should be proud enough of it to post some photos somewhere.)

I thought the background story might help in your own research on this.

Basically, I'd just like to know if this synth ever existed or am I just not remembering it correctly.

Thank you for your time and attention."

My first obvious guess considering the blue was the Buchla Music Easel or separate Buchla touchplate keyboard modded into the case of a Sonic VI. I sent Paul a couple of links to various images.

Paul replied: "the synth I saw didn't look like the Buchla Easel. Good call though.

The 'blue', which outlined the keys on the Sonic VI I saw was a bit lighter in color than the blue in your photos and maybe had a bit of green in it (closer to turquoise). There was no red or other color on the keyboard (that I can remember) and the entire keyboard seemed to be one piece of plastic with only the blue / green outlines separating the 'keys'.

I also read a story recently about the time when Musonics bought Moog and had a synth ('Sonic V'?) of their own, at that time, but I haven't research this too much yet. One thought I had was the synth I saw was something from Musonics but was never officially released (until it had the 'Moog' name placed on it). I'm pretty sure the synth I saw had the 'Moog' logo and the word 'Sonic VI'. (Not 100% sure but it seems clear in my memory.)"

I also sent Paul images of the EMS Synthi AKS. Paul replied it was the closest, but definitely not it.

I contacted Michelle Moog-Koussa and Brian Kehew to see if they knew of anything. Michelle replied: "...I can tell you that we have several of William Hoskins reel-to-reel tapes in the archives, so there was obviously a significant professional relationship between he and Bob.

I don't ever remember reading anything about the Sonic VI, but maybe Brian does. One thing I can tell you for sure is that Dad began working with John Eaton in 1970 on the Multi-Touch Sensitive keyboard [left via]. The main component of the MTS was the touch-sensitive keyboard, of course. It's not out of the realm of possibility that Dad would have used his work with John to push boundaries on another project."

Brian replied: "Bob didn't design or build the original Sonic V (from Musonics before they bought Moog) that was Gene Zumchak: The Sonic V did have a brown wood style. It's even unlikely Bob did much on the Sonic Six as it was the same thing with a new outer case.

The Sonic VI was the version Moog made in 1972 and later, in a plastic suitcase version. Many of these were made vs the very few Sonic V's. So one might think they saw a Sonic VI when it was the V (same front panel and features). But the brown suitcase and colored keys and touch sensitive thing are ALL unusual. I know a little about Prof Hoskins from the paperwork of the past, but no mention of this synth. Definitely unusual to have keys like that anywhere, anytime!" Followed by: "And there IS touch (velocity) sensitivity on Wendy Carlos' synth by 1971 for Clockwork Orange, but it's used under the normal keyboard. THIS velocity was very possible, but would not make the keys look different. Again - maybe a Sonic V was retrofitted with a cooler keyboard later in the 80s, but why not do so on a BETTER synth!?" :)

On a separate thread, Trevor Pinch got back to me with the following: "Bill Hoskins was important in that he was one of the first people David VanKouvering approached about minimoog reiail sales etc. I have a good album of his somewhere! I think he may have been Bob's favorite composer for a while.

I have no idea about the touch key board but I'm in touch with Gene Zumchak the guy who designed the Sonic Six, so I'll ask him. (I guess you know the joke that the Sonic Six was known by Moog engineers as the Chronic Sick!)

Actually its story might be kinda interesting - Zummy (as he is known) told me that it was made with 741 op amps and in many ways was more advanced than the minimoog.
Maybe it has had an unfair press. I never heard one or saw one for real."

James Husted sent me the image of Professor Hoskins at the top of this post. I sent it to Paul to see if maybe it brought back any memories that might help.

He replied: "The custom Moog modular in that photo is the same one I took lessons on. However, this is an early photo and when I saw that Moog modular, Professor Hoskins had already added a top layer to that cabinet — which included a Moog sequencer. (I have a photo of it, that I took around 1990, but the top part of the photo, showing the upper section, is cut off.)

The reason you didn't see Professor Hoskins' 'Sonic VI' is... I'm guessing that he didn't bring it to the university very often. When I saw it, I was at his home. He had invited me over one Saturday afternoon to see HIS custom Moog modular. It was in his garage, which he had made-over into a nice studio. It also had a two-manual organ, at least two reel-to-reel tape decks and LOTS of recording tape. Later, during that same session, he said 'There's something else I want to show you. Come inside.' We went into the living room and I sat on the couch. He said 'I'll be right back.' After about a minute, he came back carrying a brown 'suitcase'. He set it on the coffee table in front of me and sat down on the couch. He opened it up and... Whoa! I had never seen one of these and it was the first time I had seen a Ring Modulator!

---

I remember seeing Professor Hoskins play his Sonic VI during a live performance of his album 'Galactic Fantasy / Eastern Reflections'. The Jacksonville University orchestra played most of his composition but at one point his Sonic VI was brought out and he played it while at center stage. I could see it clearly from my seat but, of course, I could only see the back of it, which simply looked like the back of a brown suitcase.

---

Sorry it took so long to get back to you. Since I think this is important, I thought I'd try to recreate the 'Sonic VI' I think I saw. I 'Photoshopped' a production Sonic VI and attached it to this message. It's the best image of what I think I saw.

Modifying the image forced my memory to go into more detail. Here's what I'm fairly certain of:

• The outer color of the "suitcase" was almost dark brown.

• The outer shape was more square than the production Sonic VI.

• The thickness of the top and bottom sections was thicker than the production Sonic VI model.

• The keyboard was made of slightly textured plastic, otherwise completely flat, was brown / gray in color and had a vibrant blue outline between the keys. (I'm not 100% sure if the "black" keys were outlined or solid blue.)

• The background color of the back panel and the area surrounding the keyboard was almost dark brown. It looked like it was made out of either pressed cardboard or thin wood. It really reminded me more of the thin 'wood' used in old, tube televisions and radios (during the 1960s).

What I'm not 'fairly sure' of:

• I can't remember if it had a Mod Wheel.

• I think there was more space between the modules.

• I think it had two speakers (placed on the left and right side of the back panel). Each might have been the size of the center speaker-grill in my photo.

• I can't remember if there were any connectors, switches or knobs on the keyboard section."

Update: via Aaron aka theglyph in the comments: "Holy shit! That's the guy from JU. There was an electronics repair/pawn shop here in Jacksonville called Active Electronics that had a bunch of synths back in 90's. The owner had a sign in the store explicitly stating that the synths were not for sale and that customers were not allowed to walk up and look at them or touch them. I walked in day and walked close enough to notice that the MiniMoogs had very low serial #'s. It wasn't until I read Analog Days that I found out that the earliest Mini were sold here in Jacksonville. There so much more to this story that I don't know where to begin but I can say that I did an obscure Moog at the store that I've never seen photographed since and I simply thought I was loosing my mind recollecting it. WOW!

Cheers,
theglyph"

Update: Above, Brian originally mentioned Bill Hemsath as the person that designed the Sonic V. He meant to say Gene Zumchak. This has been updated.

Updates: via Dorothy in the comments:
"HI, as a Hoskins kid, I watched Dad perform on the synthesizer and I know we had the Sonic but I thought it was a "V". Dad had several custom modules built for him by Bob Moog. They were friends but didn't go to school together -- Dad went to Trumansburg NY to work with Bob on the synthesizer that they got for Jacksonville University (in 1969, I think). I will have to go digging in the Will Hoskins letters that I have. Those of you who knew Dad know that he was very meticulous about writing up the components that he bought and what they were for.
Late in Dad's life, when he was basically letting go of most composing effort except for revising existing scores, Bob helped Dad find a collector (in Germany, as I recall), who bought all of Dad's big home synthesizer. I think some of the smaller units were in the hands of Steve Smith, who was Dad's right-hand man at the JU studio for some years. Whatever happened to them, I don't think Dad would have cared as long as someone was using them to create music. He wouldn't have collected synthesizers as museum pieces, he actively used everything he got from Moog until he was ready to let it go."

Followed by: "BTW, that last time I spoke to Bob Moog was after Dad died, when Bob came to Rochester NY http://www.esm.rochester.edu/news/?id=132 which is near where I live now. Bob spoke very fondly of working with Dad, because Dad cared as much about the science of music synthesis as any composer Bob knew. Dad did some work with him on modulators and other components for JU and the Hoskins home studio."

Followed by: "Hoskins synth photo --not a Sonic -- in news article 1970 [link]"

Update 6/6/2010:

Some more interesting bits of Moog history:

Trevor Pinch checked with Gene Zumchak who had the following to say:

"I am not aware of a touch sensitive keyboard on the Sonic V or 6. It did have a two-note keyboard and the highest key pressed and lowest pressed could be routed to Osc 1 and Osc 2.

They removed the keyswitch bus and superimposed a highpitch (100KHz?) tone on the voltage string. This might have been the source of a whine that some users complained about that wasn't present in the Sonic V."

via Josh Brandt: 'Okay, I did hear back from David Mash [VP of IT at Berklee and friend of Bob Moog], who says that the story he was telling me several years ago was about a keyboard Bob was building for John Eaton. I asked about the story he'd told me and if the pictures you posted could be of the instrument he'd been talking about, and he said:

"The story I was no doubt telling was definitely about the keyboard Bob built for John Eaton [middle pic above]. Bob was going to show us the completed instrument (which my friends Jeff Tripp and Paul Derocco helped complete), but we never got to see it due to the way the conversation turned over dinner. I did see the instrument several times during the design/build stages and again later after it was complete.

The keyboard was simply a controller and not a synth, so definitely not the portable synth the blog is referring to. I know Brian, and was involved briefly with him and a bit more with Michelle Moog on the NAMM Museum exhibit, and they used a couple of my photos for the exhibit. They're great people and working hard to preserve Bob's legacy.'"

Update via WmJHeart in the comments:

"Thanks Matrix, for hosting this page. I own a copy of Will's Galactic Fantasy & Eastern Reflections (my personal favorite) recording on vinyl. But I also discovered and listened to the entire album on YouTube recently! Here:"

Galactic Fantasy - Eastern Reflections (1979)[Full Album]

Published on Jul 12, 2017 TheHomecoming

"Rare electronic/synth/moog private pressing LP

TITLE 'Galactic Fantasy - Eastern Reflections'

William Hoskins, "Galactic Fantasy, Eastern Reflections" [CP-158]
TRACK 01 AUDIO TITLE "Overture : Stars Are Suns" PERFORMER "William Hoskins" INDEX 01 00:00
TRACK 02 AUDIO TITLE "Intermezzo : Interplanetary Communique" PERFORMER "William Hoskins" INDEX 01 06:39
TRACK 03 AUDIO TITLE "Star Nocturne" PERFORMER "William Hoskins" INDEX 01 08:11
TRACK 04 AUDIO TITLE "Scherzo : Comets" PERFORMER "William Hoskins" INDEX 01 16:35
TRACK 05 AUDIO TITLE "Beyond Beyond" PERFORMER "William Hoskins" INDEX 01 18:54
TRACK 06 AUDIO TITLE "Prolog : Theme and Variation" PERFORMER "William Hoskins" INDEX 01 23:40
TRACK 07 AUDIO TITLE "Lower Heterophonie" PERFORMER "William Hoskins" INDEX 01 27:55
TRACK 08 AUDIO TITLE "Song : Open Skies" PERFORMER "William Hoskins" INDEX 01 31:22
TRACK 09 AUDIO TITLE "Drum Chime" PERFORMER "William Hoskins" INDEX 01 35:28
TRACK 10 AUDIO TITLE "Upper Heterophonie" PERFORMER "William Hoskins" INDEX 01 39:41
TRACK 11 AUDIO TITLE "Epilog : Processional" PERFORMER "William Hoskins" INDEX 01 41:30

A1
Overture: Stars Are Suns
A2
Intermezzo: Interplanetary Communique
A3
Star Nocturne
A4
Scherzo: Comets
A5
Beyond Beyond: An Entropy Study
A6
Eastern Reflections
Eastern Reflections
B1
Prolog: Theme and Variation
B2
Lower Heterophonie
B3
Song: Open Skies
B4
Drum Chime
B5
Upper Heterophonie
B6
Epilog: Processional

Criminally under-rated set of Early American Moog Modular Synthesizer Music - the sole release by composer William Hoskins, the 'Director of Electronic Music and Composer-in-Residence at Jacksonville University in Florida.' Issued in 1979 by the Harriman, NY-based Spectrum - a 'Division of UNI-PRO Recordings, Inc.' the LP consists of a pair of discrete pieces, with each taking up a side of its own."

Update via Kimberly S Beasley in the comments:

"Hello, everyone. I am the current chair of the Department of Music at Jacksonville University and I have the original Sonic VI manuals and one of Hoskin's Moogs....happy to share photos tomorrow."

Kimberly sent in the images with the following:

"This has been in the possession of our Professor Emeritus Dr. William Schirmer as it was given to him by Hoskins. Hoskins' granddaughter Dorothy is also aware of the instrument. We also have a large collection of manuscripts of Hoskins.

There is also a mini-Moog we just refurbished in our recording studio."

You can see WM. Hoskins written on the top right of the manual. Note "Home Copy" on the blue cover. It's kind of neat to think of him perusing through the manual in the comfort of his home.

Novation Summit - A playing attempt at Brian Crain's "Imagining"

video uploads by eM

Playlist:
Novation Summit - A playing attempt at Brian Crain's "Imagining"

One of my favorite piano artists Brian Crain, his song 'Imagining' attempting to play it. IIt definitely takes some muscle memory, but I love this song, love to hear it sound on the Summit.

Novation Summit - "Morning Stroll" SM Plucked Keys

Took a walk outside with the family in our new neighborhood... beautiful sunny day. Much to be thankful for. a short inspirational piece from that played here. I hope wherever you are you will find an enjoyable stroll for yourself.

Novation Summit - SM Plucked Keys (Orano patch) - "Pirate's Beach"

Could pass for a guitar sound, do you think? Credit to Orano's patch again, some reverb from the flashback and hall of fame, subtle reverb and delay on the Summit, I know I know.. why not just use one or the other. Well, it's convenient to alternate, the HoF and FB pedals are primarily not adjusted as it's also sent thru my mixer as an FX channel for other instruments. Enjoy.

Novation Summit - "Aisle" - Multi Mode - 1. SM 5th Sense 2. Sm Who's Afraid (Orano's single patches)

Credit to Orano's Novation Summit single patches, I split them in multi mode, as you'll usually see me do. In this improvisation I'm playing with the delay timing effects on the #2 patch while playing pad on the #1. The onboard delay and reverb effects gives instant breaths for your creative atmospheres.

Novation Summit - "Crystal Falls" Multi Setting (SM Leviathan and SM Popcorn Arp)

Patch creation credit to Orano Music @ https://www.orano.co.uk/shop. Just having fun with blending his patches, very lush and enjoyable, highly recommended!

Novation Summit - SM Leviathan (patch Created by Orano Music)

This patch (along with many others) was created by Orano Music

Novation Summit - "Legendary Keys" - Solo Piano - Multi Mode

I like taking the same single patch and splitting them between both the A and B sections. There are a few minor tweaks between the two sections of course, the A section I'll use for solo piano playing with some slight filter manipulations while the B section is mainly conducting the arp in the play tick on the arp knob, this basically follows the key strokes and does a catch up, so to say, as there is also delay and feedback being added for dynamic effect. I like being able to create an immersivity effect to keep me going in my solo playing. The Summit never fails to conveniently produce this very basic task.

Since OBS has fixed their NDI plugin, it's less work around for me to set up these recordings again. Thanks for listening. appreciate any comments or tips for solo piano playing and any other recommendations to help me along this Summit playing journey.

CLICK FOR MORE »

5 Glitchy patchlets with the Strymon Magneto

Omri Cohen

"If you like what I do and want to support my work, consider joining me on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/omricohen

I also created a document full of patching techniques and ideas that I will continue updating - https://www.patreon.com/posts/documen...

00:00 - Patch 1
01:04 - Patch 2
02:39 - Patch 3
03:37 - Patch 4
04:39 - Patch 5

Here are some patch notes:
----------------------------------------------

Patch 1:
---------------
- I have a drumbeat in VCV going to Magneto.
- I'm modulating the Speed, the Loop, the Repeats, and the Spring reverb of Magneto with S&H from VCV Rack.
- I also have a sequence in VCV, sequencing the Basimilus, which is then going back into VCV for some delay.

Patch 2:
--------------
- I'm triggering and modulating the Basimilus from VCv Rack, sending it to the Mimeophon.
- From there it's being copied once to the mixer, and once to Magneto.
- I'm modulating the Speed, Spring reverb, Hold, and Revers functions of Magneto with S&H from VCV.
- This is then going through Freak set to wave folder and saturation model for extra grit.

Patch 3:
--------------
- I have the clock outputs of Magneto triggering the Basimilus and a couple of hats in VCV Rack so by changing the speed, the rate in which they're being triggered also changes.
- This is going into Magneto and I'm modulating the Hold, Revers, and Spring reverb with S&H.
- I also have the send and return of Magneto going to a bandpass filter on Freak, and I'm modulating the cutoff point.
- In VCv Rack, I have a drumbeat to accompany the chaos.

Patch 4:
--------------
- I have a sequence in VCV Rack sequencing the Basimilus.
- Magneto is set to Loop mode and I recorded a few seconds of this sequence onto it.
- I'm also sending Magneto through Freak in low pass mode, and the Mimeophon for some delay and reverb.
- In VCV I have S&H modulating the Revers function of Magneto, the Shift, and also the cutoff point of Freak.
- I also have a Hi-Hat sequence running in VCV Rack.

Patch 5:
---------------
- I have Magneto self-oscillating with the repeats all the way up.
- The CLK 1 output of Magneto is triggering the Play function, and I have also a clock from VCV Rack, clocking Magneto.
- I have an AD envelope in VCV controlling the Wet so it's like controlling a VCA, and I have multiple S&H signals coming from VCV modulating the Shift function, the Speed (so the pitch), and the amount of Spring reverb.
- I'm sending Magneto into Microcell with the Mix all the way down so I'm just using its reverb, but I'm modulating its amount from VCv Rack.
- I have also a copy of the left channel of Magneto going into the 2HP Freez for some extra glitch.
- In VCv Rack I have some drums playing, and I'm sending the Snare drum to a short modulated delay."

Sequential Prophet VS Soundscape - Where moments collide

video upload by MIDERA

"First – a friend sent me a listing for a Prophet VS. I didn’t think I’d get it but I reached out and offered a trade. They were interested in my Prophet 12, but ultimately I wasn’t sure I wanted to part ways with that, so instead I paid with cash… But that meant selling a lot of other gear – gear that no one was buying.

But then out of the blue someone wanted my DW-8000. Then the next day someone wanted my JX-3P. Then the next day I sold my JD-800. And there I had the funds. I bought the synth and came home and played it.

It’s a fascinating synth, but it is quite confusing for me right now. I understand it, but I don’t know how to make it sing. Personally – I think maybe I’m wondering what this really does that I can’t get from the ESQ1, which feels sacrilegious to say… That said, I don’t feel like the internet really shows that much interest in these. Maybe that’s partly because when you search “Prophet VS” google thinks you’re referring to ‘versus’ instead of ‘vector synth’. But either way, it’s pretty quiet out there on these.

Second – you may notice that this is somewhat of a duet. A few weeks ago my wife’s mom brought us a stray she picked up. She had, the day before, brought in a different cat that was very pregnant (and a few days later, had the kittens), so she asked if we would rehome this cat for her. Well – unfortunately the second the cat was in my house I knew it was going to stay. This little girl is so friendly. So, I guess she played along with me for a bit. But then she got obnoxious and had to leave the session. Some of her notes were wrong. I apologize for that.

Third – If you remember from two months ago, I had stated how I had some concerns after going to the doctor – well, thankfully things turned out way better than I had thought when I went back in a few days ago. That was a huge relief. It was something that had been bothering me since I visited my mom right before she passed away. I remember being with her thinking “I can’t tell her about this because I don’t want one of the last things she thinks about me to be worry over my health.” So I kept it quiet. Of course, all of this just makes me think of her, and well, you know the rest.

Fourth and finally – Today I am doing something new. I have recorded, edited, and rendered this entire track within Linux. I have spent the last 2 weeks trying to push myself away from Windows (my computer should be able to run Win 11, but Microsoft decided to not let me install it). This was something I wanted to try out for some time, and here I’ve done it. I used Reaper (which I love, and paid for quite a long time ago) and a free video editor called Kdenlive (which was surprisingly awesome by the way). I used to use Davinci Resolve which is also very nice, and they have a free version – but I want to try to get away from paid software (Reaper, I’ll make an exception). I actually also decided to swap out Eventide Blackhole VST for Valhalla Supermassive (free). Wow that reverb sounds great and as a benefit, doesn’t use iLok which was always really annoying. Although I got Eventide Blackhole for $30, so it wasn’t expensive, it’s nice to try something that is truly free.

Well – yeah, it’s been 2 months since I last posted anything, I think. Everything has just been going by really fast. I’m sure everyone else feels the same way.

Sequential Prophet VS
Valhalla Supermassive VST for reverb"

Torso S-4 | Pure inspiration (walkthrough)

video upload by Jay Hosking

"A walkthrough of how I'm making songs on the Torso S-4.

00:00 - Song
02:24 - Intro, tape machine
04:38 - Granular
07:36 - Resonator
11:45 - Drive, noise, colour
13:11 - Delay and reverb
15:32 - Drums and performance effects
19:18 - The magic of TEMP
19:56 - Pitched drums
22:43 - Making a pad
27:24 - Fourth track
28:56 - Performing with four tracks
31:14 - Concluding thoughts, USB multitrack out

I bought the Torso S-4 last month, thinking it would be an interesting device for playing with granular ideas with a few loops. As soon as I started playing with it, it was clear I had underestimated just how much more the S-4 is, and how inspiring it is. In fact, I basically never use it as a granular device!

This is probably the single most inspiring piece of hardware I've tried since I discovered the Octatrack. It transforms sounds, it is incredible for performing, and it has that perfect feedback loop between musician and instrument. In just a couple of weeks, I've recorded a whole album with it, which I'll release soon.

This is a walkthrough of how I'm making full songs on the S-4. In reality, four tracks is not quite enough for me to be making full songs, and in the final performances I add extra layers. But as a device to create new sounds, glue tracks together, sketch out a song arrangement, and perform some interesting parameter changes, the S-4 is nothing short of an epiphany for me.

Note that I'm using the 2.0 firmware beta, which is largely the same as the recently released 2.0 firmware. I'm well aware of the internet conversation on the previous firmware of the device, of hardware buttons not having any function and triggering a "coming soon" message, etc. I'm also aware of some quality/build concerns from some S-4 owners. I don't want to discredit any of those complaints, and I'm sure they are valid; but I can only tell you about my individual experience, which was largely flawless aside from a few bugs along the way.

Please also note that this isn't my usual sort of video, but rather one I originally recorded for my Patreon community. I'm having such a good time with the S-4, though, that I really wanted to share it more broadly. I hope you find it useful.

I look forward to sharing the album soon!

https://jayhosking.bandcamp.com"

Passage of life | Ambient soundscape with Korg Polysix, Roland SH-101, Strymon Volante

video upload by MIDERA

"This morning my daughter pleaded with me to work from home. It was really cute, and sad. I told her that even if I stayed home, I wouldn't really get to play with her. She insisted, 'You can work. I won't bother you.' I still left for work. I need the exercise (I bike to and from work and just won't do cardio if I don't have a reason to do it).

I got home, ate dinner (but was on my phone), gave her a bath (and was somewhat on my phone), then we watched TV together... I missed it. I missed the day with her, even when I was with her. All she wanted to do was to be with me. I was 'there' but not really.

All I can do is try again, to do better.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gear used:
Korg Polysix (sent through Strymon Volante)
Roland SH-101
All tracks sent through Eventide Blackhole VST"

---

If this could bring you back | Rhodes Piano and Prophet 10 | Tribute to my father

video upload by MIDERA

"Eleven years today, July 22nd, 2010 - that sounds like a long time. It feels like no time, once you've gotten there. It's been 11 years since I watched the last breath leave my father. The sense of sadness, but relief - his pain was over.

I still have dreams about him - he always has stubble on his face (which he never had prior to cancer, he always kept his face clean) and I'm always shocked that he survived. "But... how did you survive??" Although normally I don't even ask him that anymore. I think I'm just happy to see him again, and my brain knows not to tempt it by asking those questions.

One time, after I'd gotten into a car accident and he was yelling at me over the phone, I found the words that dug into him and hurt him. I said to him, "You were never there for me." Apparently that ripped right into him and - I always regretted saying that. It reminds me of the lyrics from a Pearl Jam song, 'Some words when spoken, can't be taken back.'

I wrote him a letter, a few weeks before he died, apologizing for having said that back in 2003... He read it, I think, or I hope. My mom recently gave me the letter I wrote to him. Three pages of how proud I was of him, how I'd always regretted saying that to him, how I hoped he'd still be with us for a long time... After that - I don't think I actually saw him conscious, he was basically in a coma the next weekend and never woke up, except for some strange bouts of strength and alertness (although I wasn't there for that).

I ended my letter to him, saying that I'd love to read anything he'd write back to me. But there was nothing there. I never heard back."

Suit & Tie Guy's "Love on a real train" - analysis (synth nerds only!)

video by Published on Feb 20, 2013 suitandtieguy·34 videos


"This will bore the ever-living **** out of you if you aren't a synth nerd.

And yeah I'm aware that there's a couple sequences in the original I forgot. I only have so much synth. And it's already 15 minutes long.

Final recordings:
http://suitandtieguy.bandcamp.com/alb... [embed below]

Numerology files:
http://suitandtieguy.com/education/lo..."






"This photo nearly got me arrested by the '911 police.' They pulled up in a truck that said '911' on it and then yelled '911' at me and felt me up and threatened to arrest me. then they were distracted by an actual crime about 10 minutes into the interrogation about my dastardly plan to take photos of public transit for my sister's children to look at.

I pointed out to them that railroad photography was the number one most popular subject of amateur photographers in the world. they just yelled '911' at me and told me the 'FBI' was going to visit me. i'm probably on a no-fly list over this bullshit, which is fine because i never fucking fly anyway.

Oh about the music. This is my obligatory tribute to TD. (Completely unlike the rest of my catalogue which is a voluntary tribute to TD.)

Both tracks were recorded as one contiguous take in the studio direct to 2 track and no editing was engaged. No processing other than compression was employed in the computer.
credits released 21 February 2013"

Berlin School Ambient-ish Jam - Zoom R8, Gen R-8, ELZ_1 play, PSS-380

video upload by ChrisLody

"Full Disclosure: I occasionally take on freelance work at Sonicware and Stylophone on an hourly rate producing synth & sample sound design, beta testing, checking English text, video manuals, promo content etc. This video wasn't paid for directly but as a result of my work with Sonicware and Stylophone it is marked as Paid Promotion

So I feel very lucky this year to have worked with a few wonderful companies, mainly Sonicware and Stylophone. Obviously I've been sent the gear I've worked on for Sonicware as you'll see it all over my channel, but also Stylophone were very nice to me and sent me a Gen R-8 from their vaults!

I'm also lucky that my wife (and in-laws) appreciates my second job/hobby and buys me music gear for Christmas, that's where the Zoom R8 multitrack recorder I'm using here came from. I bought a Zoom Livetrak L-6 this year for my dawless jams which I love, but it records all it's channel simultaneously so layering is not possible. Layering is an interesting way of working which I've often used on the channel with a four track tape recorder, mixer and a send effect (most often a Zoom 1201), but this replaces the need for all that with a lot more features to boot.

What surprised me the most about the R8 is that you can record, mix and even master a whole track without relying on a DAW. All effects etc you hear are the R8 alone here. It has a send reverb slot, a send chorus/delay slot and then a single insert effects chain. The insert effect can only be doing one thing at once so you'll typically record through it onto an audio track or you can record dry and re-record (bounce) through it later if you prefer. There are a number of algorithms which are just a number of effects slots in a chain which can be configured to your liking. You switch algorithms, channel, contents and settings or preset of the insert effect depending what you need it for and when. This information is not well presented in the manual though so I geeked out and made a spreadsheet to show more simply which algorithms can contain which type of effect and which can be synced to tempo. That's available here: https://mega.nz/file/quxm3CoD#H1-u2Db... (I printed and laminated these, yes I know how to nerd)

Perhaps the only let down about the R8 is there's no sync options, though it's not really expecting you to work that way. You can have the metronome on headphones only which may be the way to do things, but I suspect I end up recording and panning a click from a Volca/Liven as a way around this.

By the way the small glockenspiel was part of my present from my in-laws. I've never had much luck recording them because of the huge spike in volume when the bar is hit (transient) so I almost gave up, but after studying the effects I saw the R8 has a 'slow attack' effect which was perfect for this as it completely kills the clackiness of the hit. Nice one. I'm recording through one of the two built in mics for that btw.

A quick word about the Stylophone Gen R-8, it's a dirty little beast. It's been kind of wild to get to grips with and I'm finding it's not suited to quite a lot of patches I'd normally make, smooth basses are out of the question for example because it sounds like the oscillator resets at the start of each new note (maybe the envelope, idk) so there's always a percussive click. Plus the filter sound is agro with settings that would normally tame it, it refuses to be calm. But for more aggressive tones it's very nice so I'll probably use it mostly for that!"

https://chrislody.bandcamp.com