Isla Instruments S2400 Video User Manual

Isla Instruments S2400 Video User Manual - Part 1: Introduction
Isla Instruments

"Over the coming days and weeks, the complete multi part series will be uploaded to this channel to compliment the written user manual.

Here's a fun introduction to the course, prepared by @Alex Ball"

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OSCar Synthesizer | The New Romance

Published on Jan 21, 2018 Alex Ball

"A friend of mine brought over his 1983 OSCar analogue monosynth for the day. A fairly rare synth, they were used heavily by Ultravox.

So, we unleashed our New Romantic side.

Synths:
OSCar (sequences, bass, leads, FX)
Yamaha DX7 (bell piano)
Roland JX-3P (pads)
Roland Juno-6 (pads)
Roland SH-101 (some doubling of bass parts)
Rhythmic Robot EMU Emulator II VST (sampled piano)

Guitars:
Ibanez JEM 7DBK
Squier Jagmaster
Fender Blues Junior II mic'd with an SM57
Ibanez Tube Screamer 808
Boss Chorus CE-2

Bass:
Fender Jazz Bass
Orange OB1-300
DBX 266XL Compressor

Drums:
Past to future - California Drums
Fairlight CMI III samples

Vocals:
Recorded with an AKG C414

Plugins:
Waves, U-he, Goodhertz, T-racks, Past to future reverb impulses

All instruments performed by Alex Ball & Dave Grant
Song and recording by Alex Ball 2018"

Roland System 100m | Nexus

Published on May 8, 2020 Alex Ball

Break down video further below.

"Following on from the 'closer look' video [posted here], here's a full performance with the Roland System 100m from 1979.

I tried to demonstrate the versatility of a setup like this by making things like full drum kits, squelchy basses, phased and delayed textures with sequenced filter mod, synth guitars, ring mod nastiness, audio rate down-sampled formants, voltage processed LFOs, lush Jupiter-esque polyphony, a singing and gliding lead, sounds that can't really be described and more.

Many sounds were also created in groups together at one time because you can!

The eagle eyed among you may have noticed that there were actually five 191-J cabs used in the video, although only four at one time.

Across those cabs we had the following modules (and duplicates thereof) and I used every single one of them at some point in the demo.

110 VCO / VCF / VCA
112 Dual VCO
121 Dual Filter
130 Dual VCA
131 Output Mixer
132 Voltage Processor / Mixer
140 Dual Envelope / LFO
150 Ring Mod / S&H / Noise / LFO
165 Dual Portamento
172 Phaser / Audio Delay / Gate Delay / LFO
182 Sequencer
184 Polyphonic 4CV Keyboard*

The only original modules not present are:
173 Signal Gate / Multi
174 Parametric EQ

*The original 184 keyboard arrived in the mail right when I was finishing recording and filming this track, so you only see me using it in one section at the end. I thought I'd explain this for those of you wondering why I used the Arturia KeyStep Pro for almost all of the keyboard duties instead of the original top-of-the-line keyboard. (Side note - the new KeyStep is fantastic).

Other gear used:
Roland RE-201 Space Echo
Roland RE-5 Digital Space Echo
Arturia KeyStep Pro
Ibanez RM-80 Mixer
Ibanez Jem 7DBK
Alvarez ABT60 Baritone Acoustic
TR-808 clap sample
TR-606 Hi-Hats
Oberheim DXa (final choruses)

Mixed by Jakob at Sonic Peak Studio. He breaks down the mix of this track here:"

Behind The Mix : "Nexus" by Alex Ball

Published on May 8, 2020 Sonic Peak Studio

"In this video I'll take the viewer through most of the work that went into creating this mix and master
There's a couple of compressors and details I don't mention, but to keep it within 1 hour, I had to do some sorting.

1:21 Playthrough with solo'ing
6:05 The 1st Kick-Drum, Transient Designer / Shaping
7:52 Snare 1, stereo-widening using the Haas-effect
9:28 Snare 2, Limiting
10:42 The Fat Snare Trick
13:51 The Big Huge Claps
15:35 Some volume-automation in the end
16:16 Bass 1
17:15 1st part Lead-Synth
17:42 Autopanner-tricks
18:56 The Synth-PowerChord
21:02 The Pads, a little about reverbs
23:33 The Missing Breakdown
24:18 The Phaser-Pad in the No-Longer-Missing-Anymore-Breakdown (NLMAB)
25:22 The Formant-Synth
26:08 A Message From Alex Ball.
26:30 The Big Synth-Leads
28:31 The AutoPanner-Trick, used again.
29:34 The Sequencer-Synths, a bit about Limiting.
31:24 The Vocals
32:09 A Vocal-Compressor-Trick, and "My Almost Standard-Vocal Chain"
33:00 Dynamic EQ on Vocals
34:15 Mastering Overview
34:47 Low Cut
34:56 Linear Multiband Compressor (Waves LinMB)
35:26 Waves Vitamin
35:54 Stereo Spread
35:58 L2 Ultramaximizer
36:02 Youlean Metering - To get the right loudness for streaming."

Checking out Roland's CMU-800 w/ a Alex Ball history lesson

video upload by Stazma

"Here we dive again into Roland's "Compu-Music" serie from the early 80s with it's centerpiece and first release: The CMU-800.

If you havn't seen the video about the CMU-810, featuring the full history thing on the Compu Music serie by Alex Ball, here it is:"

The mighty yet unknown CMU 810 by Roland featuring Alex Ball

ARPchives LIVE! Live Stream Episode 22 with Alex Ball

video upload by Alan R. Pearlman Foundation

"Alex Ball is back, this time with the ARP Avatar in his clutches. Join d'ARP as she chats with Alex, who will share his discoveries and demonstrate this instrument."

https://alanrpearlmanfoundation.org/

Finally - A Moog Video!! by Alex Ball

video upload by Alex Ball

"For the first time ever I review some Moog gear!

Matriarch
DFAM
Mother-32
Subharmonicon

0:00 It's a jolly good day for a Mooging!
0:32 Intro
1:25 Matriarch out of the box
2:34 A deeper look
6:12 Performance
8:05 Summary
9:28 Sound Studio out of the box
11:03 Demo - Jambalaya
11:58 Demo - SP-Moog-Hundred
12:43 Demo - Moog 78
13:29 Demo - Mother 303
14:22 Demo - Moog-ro Composer
15:13 Demo - No idea mate
15:51 Summary
17:11 Credits

Many thanks to Source Distribution for sponsoring this video and many thanks to Moog Music."

The Prophet is back!!

Alex Ball

"The Prophet is back baby!"

Alex Ball documentary video posts

Arcade Game Music with DigDugDIY

Published on May 11, 2018 Alex Ball

"/////////////////////////

I've been waiting to get my hands on a DigDugDIY Lofi dreams FX unit for about 2 years and finally nabbed one. Put it to use in an Arcade Game style track.

More info on it here: http://digdugdiy.com/lofi-dreams/

Featuring:
Roland SH-101 (1982) - Main riff
Roland JX-3P (1983) - Step sequenced arpeggios and chords
Yamaha DX7 (1983) - Bass line
Roland Juno-6 (1982) - Chords
Roland TR-606 (1981) - Analog Drums - Clocked with an Arturia BeatStep Pro
Sequential Circuits Pro-One (1981) - Oscillator Sync Lead (I've just picked this legendary synth up, will be doing a separate video on it)
Dr Scientist BitQuest FX Pedal - Bit Crushing distortion on SH-101 and TR-606
DigDugDIY Lofi Dreams - Arcade sampler and granular device. Used to replay processed chords and sounds from my Juno-6 and JX-3P.
Guitars - Ibanez Jem 7DBK and Dan Electro Baritone. Ibanez Tubescreamer TS808, Fender Blues Junior II, Mic'd with an SM57
Drums - Mapex Horizon HZB kick and snare with Istanbul Agop 16" hi-hat cymbals. Recorded with a single SM57 (pointed between kick and snare) and smashed through Vulf Compressor
Drums in the box - Samples from Atari, Game Boy and NES from Sony Sound Series Chiptune Odyssey library (I think it's since been discontinued), Spitfire "The Grange"
FX - Also from Chiptune Odyssey and various other Arcade sounds
Vocals: Recorded with an AKG C414 - One lead with two doubles panned slightly left and right and mixed back. Then two harmony parts, each doubled and panned left and right. So a total of seven vocals.

Sequencer: Cubase 9.5
Plugins: Waves, Goodhertz, Izotope, IK Multimedia, U-he

Filmed on a phone
Edited in Filmora

Song and video by Alex Ball

/////////////////////////

If you enjoyed this and want to support me, please check out my album" [links on YouTube]

Daft Punk | Rollin' & Scratchin' Synth Tutorial

Published on Jan 20, 2019 Alex Ball

"As requested by a dozen or more people, here's the Rollin' & Scratchin' synth tutorial.

Ideally you'd have a 1984 Juno-106, as it has fully implemented midi control, but I'm using the 1982 Juno-6 as that's what I have. The workaround is that I had to use the arpeggiator with external triggers for the opening bit of the video.

The other part of the sound is the Boss HM-2 "Heavy Metal" pedal. I'm using an original Japanese unit, but I imagine the later Taiwanese version will be almost identical. You could also try the MT-2 "Metal Zone" pedal too.

Thanks for watching."

Alex Ball Daft Punk

Roland SVC 350 Vocoder | Where You Lie

Published on Apr 1, 2020 Alex Ball

See the Behind The Mix walkthrough below.

"In 1979 Roland released one of the most famous vocoders of all time, the VP-330, but some may not realise that it had a lesser known sibling; the SVC-350.

The 350 is essentially the same vocoder found in the 330, but in rackmount format and without the synth parts. That said, it does have some unique features that don’t appear on the 330.

The 350 went on being made quite late into the 80s and the serial of this particular unit dates to July 1985 which ties in with Roland’s move towards rack mount and module-based gear at that time.

Here’s a 1980 article on “The Roland Rack”: http://retrosynthads.blogspot.com/201...

SVC-350 features: Starting on the left there’s a microphone input section (xlr and jack) which is the modulator and then an instrument or guitar input section that acts as the carrier. The Guitar input also has a “harmonics” knob to balance the incoming sound.

Your modulator and carrier then run through the 11-band vocoder that has 11 corresponding sliders that can boost or cut that particular band to sculpt the sound. These are labelled “voice character control”.

There’s then a balance knob to blend between the direct modulator signal and vocoder as well as quite comprehensive outputs and remote (footswitch) controls for different live or studio applications.

In also has the classic Roland stereo ensemble.

My original intention was to do a talkthrough of its features and also compare it to my Seekers Voice Spectra vocoder which I absolutely love. I started trying out some test sounds for that video and was laying them down and multi-tracking for comparisons and basically I wound up making a whole track so, I decided to follow where that was going and abandon the original talkthrough idea.

There is already a talkthrough video here anyway: https://youtu.be/cOO6xTXTeiA

At the very start of the demo you actually hear a Juno and Seekers Voice Spectra (a bit weird I know, but it was intended as a comparison and this video unfolded in an ad-hoc manner). From 28 seconds we overdub with the SVC-350 and you can hear its mellower sound which compliments the more crystal-like Spectra.

From about 41 seconds I ran a Roland System 100m through the 350 with its own noise generator as modulator and an oscillator as a carrier which gave a slightly unusual texture to the ostinato I’m playing (controlled by the SH-101).

From around 55 seconds I tried a lower part singing an alternative melody and used a sawtooth from the Sequential Pro~One. I also ran a Sequential Drumtraks through the 350 as the modulator with a guitar as the carrier. The cymbals with the guitar created some particularly interesting sounds I thought (heard on the downbeat of every other bar).

As a contrast, in the middle things go acoustic in terms of voices and guitars. I quite like that moment as it’s as though we come out of electronics and into more natural sounds.

Gear / Sounds used:

Roland SVC-350 Vocoder (1979)
Seekers Voice Spectra Vocoder (1999)
Roland System 100m (1979)
Roland SH-101 (1982)
Roland Juno-6 (1982)
Sequential Circuits Pro~One (1981)
ARP Odyssey Mark II 2813 (circa 1976)
Musicaid Simmons SDS-3 (1978)
Sequential Circuits Drumtraks (1984)
Roland TR-606 Hi-Hats (1981)
Alvarez Baritone Acoustic
Squier Jagmaster Vista (1997)
AKG C414S
Stagg SDM-50
G-Force Software MTron Pro (Flutes)
G-Force Software VSM (Solina)
Spitfire Audio Joby Burgess Percussion (Orchestral Snare / Rain Sheet)
Fairlight CMI III Drum samples (end solo only)


Mixed by Jakob at Sonic Peak Studio.

In fact Jakob has done a walkthrough of the mix of this track:"

Behind The Mix : "Where You Lie" by Alex Ball

Published on Apr 1, 2020 Sonic Peak Studio

"In this video I'll take the viewer through most of the work that went into creating this mix and master. It'll also form the basis for future videos in the series.

1:15 Playthrough with soloing and un-grouping
5:30 Basic EQ details
9:58 : Parallel Compression - more on that later
11:56 : Compression/Limiting/Transient Designing/Clipping
17:33 : Vokal Processing
18:34 : De-essing
18:43 : Dynamic EQ
19:32 : EQ
19:39 : Limiting
20:01 : Bus Compression/Limiting vs "Normal" Compression/Limiting
20:54 : Acoustic Guitars, bussing and processing
21:39 : Send/Returns
21:55 : A Word of Warning....
22:35 : Parallel Compressor
22:45 : Chorus
24:34 : Tal Chorus demo using acoustic guitars
25:10 : Waves Doubler
26:50 : Short Reverb
31:24 : Long Reverb
32:48 : Automation of Reverbs
36:27 : Delay
38:16 : Mastering"

Aphex Twin's Old Synth

Alex Ball

"A brief look at an early Theis Modular Synthesizer (TMSS) from around 2002. This particular unit was originally owned by Richard D James / Aphex Twin.

0:00 Intro
0:23 Aphex Twin
1:09 What is the Theis Synthesizer?
2:06 Raw Demo Sequence
3:52 Summary
4:28 Contextual Demo

Other gear used in this video:
Roland System 100m
Roland System 500
Ryk 185 Sequencer
Roland Juno-6
Roland TR-707
Roland TR-606
Roland CR-8000 (samples)
Korg KR-55B
Yamaha DX7
Simmons SDS-3
Pollard Syndrum Twin
Fairlight CMI Drum Samples
Ibanez RM-80 Mixer"

Alex Ball synth vids

See the Theis label for more.

That One Time That Fender Made A Synth...

Alex Ball

"This short film explains why and how that happened.

With thanks:
Paul DeRocco (original designer and ARP and CBS employee)
Mary Lock (original ARP and CBS employee)
The Alan R Pearlman Foundation https://alanrpearlmanfoundation.org/
Richard @ http://retrosynthads.blogspot.com/
Marc Brassé http://www.brassee.com/
Midera: https://youtu.be/fFIsgiG_wX0
http://www.rhodeschroma.com/
http://www.muzines.co.uk/
Nathan @ https://synthchaser.com/

…and the owner of the featured Polaris II."

Check out additional synth demos and documentaries by Alex Ball here.

The WASP - A Very British Synthesizer

Alex Ball

"The WASP is an iconic British synthesizer designed by Electronic Dream Plant in 1978.

EDP were Adrian Wagner (yes he was a relation), Chris Huggett and Steven Evans. They only traded until around 1982, but that wasn't the end of their synth story. Chris Huggett in particular has had a prolific career in the industry, founding the Oxford Synthesizer Company in 1983 and releasing the (also iconic) OSCar and subsequently (after work with Akai), he joined Novation, who are still trading to this very day.

Back to 1978, the concept of the WASP was to build a powerful, low cost synthesizer. That seemed to have worked as one of the original reviews I found uses the headline "The Synth we can all afford" but still dubs it a professional instrument.

I also found a Moog price list dated June 15th 1978 and it lists the Minimoog as $1,995, the Multimoog as $1,495 and the Micromoog as $895. Assuming they sold for about the same in the UK, the equivalent prices would be approximately £1,090, £820 and £490 respectively. The aforementioned WASP review also states that an Odyssey is still over £1,000 in 1978, so with the WASP priced at £199 this demonstrates what a bargain it was at the time.

In fact, I had a brief conversation with a friend who remembers running out to buy it the moment he heard about it in 1978 and he still has his. It was also the first synth of Dave Stewart and Nick Rhodes among others.

In this video I breakdown its features and use it to make a short track.

0:00 - Intro
0:42 - The WASP
2:07 - The Keyboard
2:59 - The Oscillators
3:40 - Noise
4:03 - The Controller Oscillator
5:06 - The Filter
6:08 - The Envelopes
6:30 - LINK
7:11 - Internal Speaker
7:32 - Demo Track
9:21 - Outro

Gear used:
EDP WASP (1978)
Simmons SDS-3 (1978)
AMS DMX 15~80S (1978)
Roland CR-78 (1978) samples

Some original brochure scans stolen from the wonderful Retro Synth Ads blog:
http://retrosynthads.blogspot.com"

Alex Ball synth vids

Roland's Forgotten Space Echo

Published on Mar 25, 2020 Alex Ball

"In 1974 Roland released the RE-201 Space Echo. It went on to become the industry standard appearing in studios and live rigs the world over.

They released numerous other successful models (before and after) but the rarest of them all is the RE-5 Digital Space that had a very short run in Japan in 1988.

Its intended application is also quite surprising and in this video we take a look at what it does and contrast it with its famous older brother."

Additional posts featuring Alex Ball

You can find additional documentary type posts via the documentaries label at the bottom of this post.

The Worst Drum Machine Korg Ever Made! (Feat. Bad Gear)

Alex Ball

"After having the privilege of demonstrating so much wonderful gear on my channel, Florian came to me during an out-of-body experience to show me the path to true enlightenment – Bad Gear!

…and boy was it bad!"

Check out more Alex Ball synth vids here.

Drumtraks: Sequential's answer to the LinnDrum (includes FREE SAMPLES)

Published on Jul 18, 2019 Alex Ball

"I've been planning to giveaway a detailed sample pack of my Sequential Circuits Drumtraks and so I thought I'd tell you a bit more about the machine whilst doing that.

Download the sample pack:
http://bit.ly/Drumtraks

As mentioned in the film, much of the specific information about Sequential Circuits comes from 'The Prophet from Silicon Valley' by David Abernethy and I thoroughly recommend getting a copy if you're into synth history. [you can find it on Amazon here]

Some of the original adverts and posters come from Retro Synth Ads.

The Boss DR-55 footage was shot by Ra Smith at madFame for my Roland documentary, so that's recycled here. Ra has been putting out a very cool series called 'Synth Quest' so go have a look. [episodes posted here]

Thanks for watching!"

Previous posts featuring Alex Ball

The Roland Super Quartet - The 80s band in a box!

Alex Ball

Check out more of Alex Ball's synth videos here.

"If you’re after a classic Roland Juno-106 or TR-707, you might not know that both (plus a bass synth) are found inside the MKS-7 or “Super Quartet” from 1985.

Roland made various rack mount versions of their 80s synths in the MKS range, but the Super Quartet is a little different and is somewhat related to their earlier CMU-800.

In this video we take a look at what it does, how it was intended to be used and how it can be used in ways that weren’t intended.

Espen Kraft even shows up. What’s not to love?

0:00 Intro
0:32 The Super Quartet
2:07 Four Bass Presets
2:56 Four Chord Presets
4:12 Four Melody Presets
4:55 Editing
5:17 In Its Pure Form
6:04 Karaoke
7:09 Playing Outside the Box

Some original brochure scans stolen from the wonderful Retro Synth Ads blog:
http://retrosynthads.blogspot.com"

2022: ARP ODYSSEY SYNTHPOSIUM Coming November 5th

via The Alan R Pearlman Foundation

"COME HELP US CELEBRATE 50 YEARS OF THE ARP ODYSSEY!

Join us on November 5th at 10:00am (EST) for an in-person/online event and fundraiser celebrating 50 years of the ARP Odyssey, one of the most popular synthesizers of all time- played by everyone from Herbie Hancock, Deep Purple (John Lord), The Fixx, P-Funk, UltraVox, Billy Preston, George Duke and many many more. Hosted by the Berklee College of Music's Electronic Production & Design Department, the day will feature live performances, panel discussions, special guests, and more! The in-person performances of the SYNTHPOSIUM and fundraiser will take place at David Friend Recital Hall at The Berklee College of Music in Boston. The event will be streamed live via several different sources.

Our concert highlights include:
Streaming interview with Herbie Hancock
Live in-person concert with Lisa Bella Donna (fully streamed for all virtual attendees)
Our confirmed artists, panelists, content creators and guests include: Herbie Hancock, Lisa Bella Donna, Rupert Greenall (The Fixx), David Friend, Mark Vail, DJ Cherish the Luv, Danz (Synth History), Drew Schlesinger, Ian Staer, Jamie Billings, Mike Metlay, Alex Ball, David Frederick, Tom Piggot, Alison Cassidy, Bill T. Miller, the Berklee Synthesizer Ensemble, Greg Phillinganes, the Jennifer Hruska group, BØLT and many more!

Tickets and Information
Tickets are available to purchase. Please visit our Eventbrite page for more information. Limited seating available for in-person attendees.

Visit our Facebook & Eventbrite page regularly for updates.

This Synthposium would not be possible without the generous support of the Berklee College of Music Electronic Production and Design Department, who is graciously hosting this event.

Anyone who is able to join us at the David Friend Recital Hall in person can attend the event for free, with donations encouraged for preferred seating.

We have some truly amazing performances, panels, and artist interviews that we can't wait to share with you all. We look forward to seeing you on November 5th!

NOTE: For those joining us from time zones that are not practical for live-streaming, playback will be available for the entire weekend.

Our concert highlights include:
Streaming interview with Herbie Hancock
Live in-person concert with Lisa Bella Donna (fully streamed for all virtual attendees)
Our confirmed artists, panelists, content creators and guests include: Herbie Hancock, Lisa Bella Donna, Rupert Greenall (The Fixx), David Friend, Mark Vail, DJ Cherish the Luv, Danz (Synth History), Drew Schlesinger, Ian Staer, Jamie Billings, Mike Metlay, Alex Ball, David Frederick, Tom Piggot, Alison Cassidy, Bill T. Miller, the Berklee Synthesizer Ensemble, Greg Phillinganes, the Jennifer Hruska group, BØLT and many more!

Tickets and Information
Tickets for the streaming event are available our Eventbrite page for more information. Limited seating available for in-person attendees.

To make a donation for VIP seating, please visit the Event Page on the website.

All proceeds will benefit the Alan R. Pearlman Foundation. & our ARP's for all program. The Foundation's mission is to celebrate the legacy of inventor, musician, entrepreneur and engineer Alan R. Pearlman by making his innovative inventions publicly accessible, and inspiring future generations to imagine and create."

THE ARP ODYSSEY...

"The Odyssey was ARP's primary lead/solo synthesizer. It was designed for musicians who wanted more control than the preset-oriented Soloist could provide, but didn't want the large size and patch cables of the 2600. Over its 8-year lifespan, the Odyssey went through three versions. The changes between them were sonic, cosmetic, and functional – to the point where musicians of today often consider the Odyssey to have existed as three distinct instruments."

To learn more about the ARP Odyssey, please visit our Music Makers & Machines page on Google Arts & Culture. Story by Mike Metlay with editorial contributions from Rich Formidoni, Mary Lock, & Dina Pearlman.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE ARP ODYSSEY SYNTHPOSIUM
VISIT: alanrpearlmanfoundation.org

Tone Science No.9 'Theories and Conjectures' - Various Modular Synth Artists Available Now

video upload by DreamsOfWires

"I have a track (a new version of 'Minimum') featured on the latest Tone Science compilation from Ian Boddy at DiN Records. Available as a digital download, and as a limited edition Digipak CD of 500 copies. Check it out here:

https://dinrecords.bandcamp.com/album...

'Minimum' was recorded entrirely within a Eurorack modular system - sounds, effects, mixing, WAV recording, as a real-time performance (no overdubs). All sound modules are AJH Synth. It uses 6 analog VCOs: The melody is a single VCO (lower frequency) supporting the self-resonating Ladder Filter (upper). The later pattern is 2 VCOs through the Ring SM sub-octave generator. The drone sound in the background is 3 VCOs, 2 through the Wave Swam, and all through the Triple Cross module, where they're cross-faded using 3 seperate LFOs.

From Ian Boddy:
Tone Science sub-label, from DiN records, continues to explore the world of modular synth music.

Following the success and critical acclaim of the first eight Tone Science compilation albums,
DiN label boss Ian Boddy has collated another nine tracks from musicians of varying backgrounds working in the realms of modular synthesis.

As the Tone Science journey continues it never ceases to amaze just how varied and individualistic each musicians work can be. Whilst the hardware is technologically based each artist teases out a reflection of their own musical personality.

This volume kicks off with two pointillistic compositions from Loula Yorke and State Azure with intertwining sequencer patterns flowing and coiling around to create ever changing soundscapes.

CLICK FOR MORE »

Origins of a Legend - The Simmons SDS-3 Drum Synthesizer from 1978

Published on Feb 28, 2020 Alex Ball

"A look at the original Simmons Drum Synthesizer, the SDS-3 from 1978.

This instrument was built by Dave Simmons when he was working for a company called Musicaid in the late 70s and it served as the precursor to famous SDS-V with its distinctive hexagonal pads that cropped up on many hit records in the 1980s.

Free sample pack: http://bit.ly/SimmonsSDS3

Thank you to EvilDragon for scripting the Kontakt patches

Check out Simmons Museum which is a great online resource on the Simmons story: https://www.simmonsmuseum.com/

Here's the 2017 interview cited in the film: https://drummagazine.com/dave-simmons..."

Additional Alex Ball posts