Strange Synthesizers of Japan by Hiromichi Oohashi - Synth Book w/ CD

Hiromichi Oohashi wrote in to let us know about his new synth book featuring rare and somewhat strange synthesizers from Japan. The book features synths from his collection along with a CD of audio/music. You can find the book via the publisher Rittor Music (Japan) (published Nov.2021), and on Amazon JP here.

You can find a list of the synths featured by chapter further below.

Details on the book from Hiromichi Oohashi follow.

"This art book introduces many of Japanese most rare and strange electronic musical instruments (1960s~1980s) from author's private collection for long years.

Contains over 130 synthesizers, rhythm machines, organs, toy instruments, speech synths, etc most of these rare instruments will be the first public release. All color pages, lot of beautiful photo of these unique instruments with simple and detailed text, all photos and book design by author himself.

Contribution from Mark Mothersbaugh (DEVO)

Foreword by Eric Schneider (author of TOY INSTRUMENTS/MBP)

Attached CD has original music using these strange instruments so you can hear what these synth sounds like.

CD's music made by author's band KINO-MODERNO (world-renowned electronic music duo)



Hiromichi Oohashi is an artist born in Tokyo 1961
after studied art & design at Kuwazawa Design School in Tokyo
works as an artist and producer for Art, Design and Music
also known as collector of rare electronic musical instruments
in 1990 released groundbreaking [ VIDEO DRUG2/Phuture ] and get noticed
member of electronic music duo KINO-MODERNO since 1984
president of DAT PLANET PRODUKT"

CLICK FOR MORE »

Vintage Synthesizer Museum & Lance Hill on Art Vs The World

video upload by Art vs. The World

"Hello and welcome to my favorite place in the world the Vintage Synthesizer Museum and the best man in the world Lance Hill. Please enjoy this video with your best keyboard or human friends.

You too can go here and synthesize.

Book a session at the Synth Museum!

vintagesynthesizermuseum.com

Q: How does this work?
A: We rent out the space by private, hourly appointments. An appointment grants one access to the entire collection. You’re free to look around, take pictures, play the instruments, record the instruments, ask questions, or whatever else you’re interested in doing here.

Q: How much does an appointment cost?
A: Basic appointments start at $50/hr and go up $15/hr per person you add to the reservation. There is a two hour minimum for groups under 4 people. If you need a full-time recording engineer, or would like group instruction, the rate will go up accordingly.

Q: Am I cool enough to book an appointment at VSM?
A: Yes you are. You’re an amazing person who deserves the best.

Q: Will there be people there judging my skills?
A: Nope. Not unless you bring some judgey people with you. We’re just happy to have people of all backgrounds over here to enjoy and explore this magical place."

Formant Synth Dream

Update as of 9:26 PDT: I made a couple of minor updates in case you read it before then. Sorry!

A quick note on posts like this: I hope you enjoy them. If not, just skip them. When I first started the site I used to share my synth dreams but stopped. Personally I get a kick out of them. I won't share every one, just some of the stand outs. The last one stood out for the humor, this one stood out for the design of the instrument. It reminds me of different makers and their approach. As a maker, do you set out to design a synthesizer, an instrument, or both? Are you locked in by the tools, components, and paradigms of what makes a synth? In my dream both the musician and the maker (who never made an appearance BTW) didn't really know what a synth even was. The maker just designed an instrument and the musician just played it. This reminds me of Don Buchla's original designs and specifically the Buchla Music Easel. This was at the birth of synthesis as we know it. What's interesting is his designs weren't meant to be what they are commonly perceived as today. They were meant to be unique instruments, palettes for sound, hence the Music Easel. I heard even his modular systems weren't meant to be complete fixed instruments, they weren't meant to be mixed and matched. Think about that for a bit. They were modular in design, but they weren't meant to be modular in nature. They were meant to be wholly formed instruments. In the following dream the musician reminded me of Marc-Henri and Barry Schrader to an extent. Marc-Henri almost exclusively uses an Access Virus Ti as a music easel for his compositions. Barry Schrader started with Buchla and then moved to FM synthesis for his compositions. You can find an extensive interview with him here.


And the dream...

I had another synth dream last night. In this one I was at an ensemble event held in kind of a classroom/workshop/gym-type of open space at what felt like an old English or New England boarding school - lots of wood, flat tall ceilings, and windows along the length of the far wall. The ensemble consisted of maybe 18 people in a semi-circle with a small audience in front of them, mainly standing, which I was one of. The instructor had each member of the ensemble introduce their instruments. I was in front towards the left of the ensemble and noticed the last two instruments to be electronic desktop boxes sitting on a card table (synth gathering anywone?), both vintage and almost DIY looking in style. I remember thinking, "I know what these boxes are. They are synths! I can't wait to talk shop with the owners and check them out." Well the instructor starts going around the ensemble starting on the opposite side. Each member introduces their instrument and talks a little bit about them and their technique. There were some interesting brass-like instruments. I think there was one based on an alto trombone, but it was just a flat pipe and no horn at the end. Funny side note is my daughter is currently learning to play piccolo. She plays flute in high school band and decided to finally give the piccolo a try as a stretch goal. If you don't know what a piccolo is, it's a tiny flute for super high notes. She said there were tiny versions of most instruments including the trombone. I looked one up and sure enough there is. A tiny trombone not much longer than a foot exists. The instrument in my dream also bore a resemblance to the ribbon controller featured in the Nunomo QUN post, so I'm guessing that's where it came from - some bizarre mix of the two. Anyway, when the instructor/host got around to the last two instruments, it turned out the first was a theremin based synth minus the antennas. It was made of wood and looked vintage. It would have been interesting if not for the next box. That was something. It was black with white and silver sliders, levers, buttons, and knobs. It was a unique instrument custom made for the owner who knew the maker. The interesting thing was the musician wasn't familiar with synths and didn't even see the instrument as a synth. The maker also wasn't into synths. In the dream he was more like a luthier, more of an artist instrument maker than a synth maker. No offense to synth makers! :) Anyway, it was about the size of an EMS SYNTHI and was black with white levers and sliders and had a bunch of esoteric control blocks with non standard names/labels; similar to something like the Hartmann Neuron where controls are familiar but the names are completely different. For some reason it reminded me of a black Lassence uVentury, Modor NF-1, mixed with some MacBeth and Folktek in design, but again completely different. Again, this maker wasn't into synths. This was a unique instrument. After the talk was over the musician gave a little demo. The sound of it. It was like formant analog but the timbers coming out of it were rich and full, not thin or glossy like most formant synthesis. It sounded like nothing I've ever heard before. After the talks were over I walked over to it to check out the controls and design. I wondered if I could touch it and play with it a little and for some reason, as happens in dreams, I knew it was OK so I started playing with it. There was a thin ivory white reed-like lever about an inch and a half long that controlled a female formant timbre. It was amazing. There was an group of lever-type sliders that controlled a multi band formant filter block and I remember thinking, "Oh this is a filter!" There were envelop sliders and other familiar groups that I now forget, but there were a bunch of interesting controls on it that didn't quite match up to common synths. There were additional effects and shaping tools built into the design and everything just flowed like a natural instrument. Again it kind of reminded me in concept to a Hartman Neuron and Modor NF-1, with maybe a bit of Folktek, but it was more vintage and simplistic in design - just a sold black block with white and silver controls. It was definitely designed as a work of art instrument vs. a synth. Similar in concept to the Buchla music Easel as I mentioned in the intro to this dream above. So after checking it out a little and talking to the owner I realized I should take a video of it for the site! I got the OK to film it, pulled out my iPhone, and started trying to capture some of the controls and timbres it was capable of. When I got to that formant female slider it was gone! I couldn't remember what I did to get that sound and I couldn't find the control again. Damn dreams.... And as in many real world sessions I wasn't getting those rich timbres again. I got lost between timbres! I thought my readers would be disappointed in my programming chops for a split second, but then I reminded myself anyone into programming synths will understand and not care, so I kept tweaking. Well, right then, a foster kid boarding at the school distracted me and started talking to me. I hand gestured to him (no I did not flick him off) to hold off for a second because I was in the middle of filming the synth and trying to capture audio. He understood for like five seconds and started talking again. I asked him to give me a sec but he got upset and said I should be there more for people. I felt bad and wasn't getting anywhere with the instrument at that point, so I stopped filming to talk to him before he left.

And that was it! Everything felt right with the kid so that was good, but that instrument! It's gone forever...

XFM FPGA-based FM synthesizer module

Published on Jul 17, 2019 René Ceballos

via future3soundz

"XFM is a polyphonic, 32-voice, 6-operator FM synthesizer stereo module that you can build yourself.

Essentially, the module receives MIDI messages from a controller/sequencer, produces audio and delivers it via digital (SPDIF) and analog outputs.

The sound range XFM can create and its feature set have a very broad intersection with most pure-FM synthesizers of the past (Yamaha DX series, OPL chip series, TX81Z/802/816 modules, etc.).

Complete Feature Set
32-voice polyphonic

Polyphonic or Monophonic Legato modes

6 operators per voice

CLICK FOR MORE »

Plogue chipcrusher v2.0 : Retro-Digital Multi-FX

Published on Nov 13, 2018 Plogue Art et Technologie, Inc.

"Now available (free for registered users)
New DAC Encodings: -CVSD -MOZER -HAAR TRANSFORM -LPC-SP0256 -VOCODER
SPC Delay effect from forthcoming 'chipsynth SFC'
UI Redesign from http://www.kikencorp.com
NKS FX Support!

Downloads and more info:
https://www.plogue.com/products/chipc..."

"Nostalgic for vintage sound encodings, 80s computer speakers, or the SPC Delay from a famous 16-bit console? chipcrusher's got all that, plus grit (background noise) and filter-impulse responses.

HOW DOES IT SOUND?
There is a wide spectrum of results achievable with chipcrusher. Here are a few use cases:

Uniquely destroy/mangle a beat, a guitar or any other audio track.
Play single hits and emulate the sound of old samplers.
Add ‘accurate dirt’ to chipsounds’s output.
Emulate a classic 16-bit console's "Delay/verb" to a track
There are four main components in chipcrusher: DAC Encoding, SPC Delay, Background Noise and Cabinet. The audio inputs first go to the DAC Encoding. Then gets processed by the SPC Delay, mixed with the Background Noise to finally get sent to the Cabinet stage. Of course, each component can be bypassed on demand without muting the audio.

CLICK FOR MORE »

Native Instruments Introduces 9 New Products Including Machine Micro MK3

Published on Sep 6, 2018 Native Instruments

"Whether making beats from the bedroom, designing sound in the studio, or moving crowds on the main stage, music making is about getting your ideas out. Our biggest release ever features nine new products and three major platform updates designed to help you do just that."

Playlist:
For the Music in You – 9 New Products and 3 Updated Platforms
Introducing KOMPLETE 12 – For the Music in You | Native Instruments
Introducing the New TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 – For the Music in You | Native Instruments
Introducing the New MASCHINE MIKRO – For the Music in You | Native Instruments
Introducing KOMPLETE KONTROL A-Series – For the Music in You | Native Instruments
Introducing MASSIVE X – For the Music in You | Native Instruments
Introducing the New TRAKTOR KONTROL S2 – For the Music in You | Native Instruments
Introducing KONTAKT 6 – For the Music in You | Native Instruments
Introducing the New KOMPLETE KONTROL S88 – For the Music in You | Native Instruments

CLICK FOR MORE »

Don Buchla Has Passed Away

It has come to my attention that Don Buchla passed away on Wednesday, September 14, at the age of 79. Anyone coming to this site should be well aware of who he is; who he was to the world of synthesizers. For those that aren't, he was by all means one of the fathers of the modern day synthesizer. Credit usually goes to Bob Moog, mainly for two reasons. One, Bob Moog chose the standard keyboard as the main interface for his synthesizers as they were more accessible to musicians. Two, Bob Moog's approach focused mainly on reproducing the sounds of acoustic instruments. Wendy Carlos' Switch on Bach and Keith Emerson's use of the Moog Modular brought Moog synthesizers to the mainstream.

Don Buchla's instruments, however, focused mainly on the exploration of sound. Artists attracted to his instrument fell more into the realm of what was known as musique concrete. Musique concrete mainly focused on the manipulation of sound, initially composed with electro-acoustic instruments recorded and manipulated on analog tape.

via wikipedia: "Buchla formed his electronic music equipment company, Buchla and Associates, in 1962 in Berkeley, California. Buchla was commissioned by avant garde music composers Morton Subotnick and Ramon Sender, both of the San Francisco Tape Music Center, to create an electronic instrument for live performance. Under a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation Buchla completed his first modular synthesizer in 1963." On the other hand (also via wikipedia): "Moog created the first voltage-controlled subtractive synthesizer to utilize a keyboard as a controller and demonstrated it at the AES convention in 1964." Update: Wikipedia appears to be incorrect on Buchla.  Don Buchla started working on instruments in 1963, and the 100 was his first VC system completed in 1965. It was then sold in 66/67. The first name of the company was Buchla Associates in 66/67 followed by Buchla & Associates in 70/71. This New York times obituary has a good write-up on Don Buchla's work beyond just synthesizers. It also has 1965 as the date for the completion of his first synth.

Please note, this post isn't about who came first. In my opinion they both did and they both had different approaches. Most of you will be familiar with the terms East and West Coast synthesis. They pertain to these two different approaches with Buchla on the West and Moog on the East.

Don Buchla's passing is bittersweet. On the one hand his creations have finally gained popularity and respect in the modern day synthesizer community - a decade ago the focus was primarily on Bob Moog. On the other hand, he passed away not being able to do what he himself wanted to do in the end. He sold the rights to the Buchla name to BEMI, only to later take them to court. The case was settled, but I have been told it was far short from the initial agreement. It is also my understanding that Don Buchla was discouraged from working on creating new instruments.

One thing to consider is that although there were/are many Buchla clones out there that paid tribute to Don's work, it is my understanding that Don wasn't paid licensing for them and that Don wasn't necessarily thrilled by them. Think about it for a bit. One, people cloned his work, two, he did not get paid for his original creations, and three, people buying clones were putting their budgets towards clones vs. his new creations, for example, the 258 clone vs the new 261e. I was told from a reliable resource, that Don never had any interest in re-hashing old products. In a sense, they were more works of art, and he was always interested in creating something new, rather than re-hashing the old. However, I was told he was fine with people creating clones for personal use, just not for sale.

Writing this post is extremely difficult. I didn't know Don personally, but I did meet him a few times at NAMM. The first time I met him was a bit awkward because he doesn't talk fluff. His answers were very short, and he just kind of stood there as if implying, "are we done yet". I then realized, he wasn't implying that at all, he was just hanging out. The second time I met him, I said hello and didn't elaborate much. He then engaged in conversation with me. It was a simple thing, but something I will never forget. The video below with Don Buchla being interviewed by Mark Vail, captures the way I felt perfectly. If you were ever fortunate to meet him in person you will know what I mean. I'm going to miss him greatly, and will always wish I got to know him better.

And a message from Moog Music:

"Dear Don,

There are no words that can accurately portray the profound impact you have had on our lives. We are deeply inspired by your artistry, and your ground-breaking achievements will always inform the work we hold most closely to our hearts. You and Bob, through your distinctive styles, collaboration and friendship, have laid the foundation for our future. Your influence endures in our minds, hearts and hands as we craft tools that give rise to joyful experimentations. We will never truly capture the elegance and beauty that you and Bob achieved, but we promise to never stop trying.

From everyone at Moog, thank you for inspiring us and giving meaning to our life's work.

Love,
Your Friends At Moog"


Published on Aug 27, 2015 Redaktion Megasynth

And a rare performance of Don playing live with his instruments and Alessandro Cortini of Nine Inch Nails (NIN):

Everything Ends Here

Uploaded on Nov 18, 2011 Alessandro Cortini

"San Francisco Electronic Music Festival 2010

Alessandro Cortini + Don Buchla, performing the piece "everything ends here", from Blindoldfreak's 1st EP, 1."

Knobcon 2016 Details are In

"Knobcon, the world's only synthesizer convention, returns to the Hyatt Regency Schaumburg near Chicago IL USA for the fifth happening of this immersive event featuring over 60 exhibitors, live performances and workshops!

Knobcon:
Jack to the Future Part V
$35 Entry Fee for ALL 3 DAYS!
Optional Knobcon Banquet only $50

It all begins with an opening reception on Friday, September 9 with live performances by Allerian, Entanglement, Studio Dummies, and Suit & Tie Guy. Attendees of the reception will also enjoy specially priced drinks featuring whiskey from Balcones Distilling.

Multiple exhibit halls open to the public at 10AM Saturday and Sunday and are filled to capacity with large manufacturers such as Roland, Korg, Yamaha, and Moog, the finest boutique modular and pedal companies, and even some "classic cars" that collectors bring to display. Behringer’s new analog polysynth DeepMind12 will be making its North American debut at the event. Also appearing will be the new Minimoog Model D from Moog, and Arturia's Matrixbrute. See the latest releases and even purchase gear at special Knobcon pricing throughout the weekend!

Workshops scheduled on Saturday and Sunday, Sept 10-11. See the Knobcon website (www.knobcon.com) for complete descriptions and times.
• Syntheizer Basics and Synthesizer Myths presented by Marc Doty
• History and Theory of Additive Synthesis presented by Jon Sonnenberg
• Birth of the Prophet VS presented by Chris Meyer
• Tomita: A Voyage Through His Greatest Techniques presented by Nicholas D. Kent
• Experimental Music: Composition with an Arduino MIDI Controller presented by Elliott Inman
• MIDI: What’s it All About? presented by Amos Gaynes
• BeatPPL - Live Podcast Recording
• SynthSummitShow - Live Podcast Recording
• Learn to solder SMT with synthCube building a Buffered Mult and Cable Tester Module
• Build an AstroNoise Euro Module or Standalone Circuit with Synthrotek
• Build a Dual Passive Low Pass Gate Euro Module with Modular Addict

Saturday evening features multiple events including the annual Knobcon Banquet with a keynote address by guest of honor, Bill Hemsath. Enjoy cocktail music by the Knobcon Supper Club All-Stars, a classic organ, guitar, and drums trio.

Bill Hemsath, RA Moog's Chief Engineer from 1969 to 1971, gave us three fantastic things we all treasure to this day. He developed the first CV joystick, which then became pitch and mod wheels. He also had the bright idea to wire some modules together in a box with a keyboard, and the Minimoog was born.

The entertainment continues Saturday night with multiple live music events. The Knobcon Big Room - a house and techno party with projections by Lorenzo Vektor and Dennis Stein. Big Room performers include Glacial 23, Introvert, Low-Gain, Komprezzor and Oliver Dodd. If that's not your thing, head over to the International Players Club - a live music and jam session with The SynthFreq & Friends.

Knobcon ends on Sunday, September 11 at 5pm.

Full event details can be found at www.knobcon.com

EXHIBITORS
2hp, 4ms Company, Amplified Parts, Analogue Solutions, Antimatter Audio, Art For The Ears, Artisan Electronic Instruments, Arturia, Audient, Behringer, Believotron, Black Market Modular, Blue Lantern Modules, Casio, Detachment 3, Detroit Modular, Division 6, Dreadbox, EarthQuaker Devices, Elite Modular, Erogenous Tones, Evaton Technologies, EVE Audio, Future Retro, Foxtone Music, Grove Audio, Hexinverter Électronique, Industrial Music Electronics, Kilpatrick Audio, Korg, KVgear, Malekko Heavy Industry, Metalphoto of Cincinnati, Modal Electronics, Mode Machines, Moog Music, Moon Modular, Modular Addict, Nerd Audio, Noisebug, Novation, Old Crow, Percussa, Perfect Circuit Audio, Plastiq Musiq, Qu-Bit, Reverb, Roland, Sleepery Supply, STG Soundlabs, Syinsi, synthCube, Synth City, Synthrotek, Synthesis Technology, Tsyklon Labs, Verbos Electronics, WMD, Yamaha, Zetaohm, Żłob Modular, Z. Vex Effects"

Roland's AIRA Officially Unveiled - Massive Pic Gallery, Details, Videos

AIRA — Artists make first contact with AIRA

Published on Feb 13, 2014 RolandChannel·835 videos

"Groundbreaking artists talk about their experiences with Roland instruments and make first contact with the AIRA gear. Artists appearing are: Arthur Baker, Ricardo Villalobos, A Guy Called Gerald, Rain Man, Netsky, Oscar Burnside, Boys Noize, Dr Meaker, Hardfloor, John Heckle, Hisashi Saito, and Akkord."

This post might take a bit to load. :)

Update3: You can find a write-up on Novamusik here.

Update2: You can find comments and discussion on this post on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge here. I also added a page break for this post on the main site so it doesn't slow the site down for new posts. Click the "Click for more" link to get to the full post.

CLICK FOR MORE »

Symbolic Sound KISS2012

"KISS2012: real time, reel time, sound and Kyma

Sound designers to converge on St Cloud Minnesota for over 24 hours of lecture/demonstrations, 9 hours of hands-on workshops, and 3 nights of live music, cinema and improvisation

CHAMPAIGN, ILLINOIS, June 26 - The fourth annual Kyma International Sound Symposium (KISS2012) - to take place September 13-16 at St Cloud State University School of the Arts in St Cloud, Minnesota - will include over 24 hours of technical sessions presented by Kyma experts, 9 hours of hands-on labs, and evenings filled with live music and live cinema showcasing some of the most outstanding work created in Kyma this year.

Since the inaugural symposium in Barcelona in 2009, KISS attendees around the world have benefited from the extensive technical training, aesthetic inspiration, and opportunities for collaboration that KISS is known to deliver. This year, more than 100 sound designers, composers, performers, filmmakers, game designers, authors, audio engineers, educators, and students are expected to participate in KISS2012.

"The dual nature of this year's theme - reel time || real time - has attracted an incredibly diverse group of people! It's just a great learning opportunity for everyone involved." - Scott Miller, professor of music composition at St Cloud State University School of the Arts and host of this year's KISS.

Throughout the four-day event, sound designers will be able to explore the latest innovations, features, and capabilities of the Kyma Sound Design Language and learn how to optimize their work flow so they can create amazing new sounds for film, games, music and more. Kyma practitioners are invited to bring their own Sounds to the labs where they can work with Kyma developers and fellow Kyma practitioners to enhance their results.

"One of our passions is to partner with Kyma users to help bring their creations to life. There is no better way to maximize your Kyma skills and discover new collaborative opportunities than by participating in the Kyma International Sound Symposium." - Carla Scaletti, president of Symbolic Sound Corporation, co-host of KISS2012.

If you are obsessed with sound - whether a novice seeking to kickstart your career, an expert looking to take your mastery to the next level, or someone who's simply curious about sound design and Kyma - KISS2012 is your chance to immerse yourself in sound and ideas for four intense and inspiring days and nights.
The deadline for discounted registration is August 10, 2012: http://bit.ly/J7URvC


[Photo Credit: Adam Studer]

Keynote speakers, expert presenters, and topics

CLICK FOR MORE »

Ensoniq SQ80 Synthesizer

via this auction

Posting this one here vs. C for the verbiage from the manual. It's always interesting to see how manufacturers presented their synths.

"Welcome to the ENSONIQ SQ-80, the first studio synthesizer designed 'for live performance. In a world of synthesizers, sequencers, MIDI controllers and MIDI disk drives, the SQ-80 is something different. It is all of those things and more, in one easy-to-use device. Here's what you get:

• An eight-voice, polyphonic, poly-timbral synthesizer, capable of playing eight different sounds at once, with dynamic stereo panning for each voice.
• Voice section employing state-of-the-art CrossWaveTM synthesis techniques; combine different attack and sustain segments to create a rich variety of complex, dynamic sounds.
• 256k bytes of synthetic, sampled and multi-sampled wavedata in ROM — 75 different Waves.
• Dynamic Voice assignment — each Track/MIDI Channel has access to all eight voices.
• An integrated eight-track MIDI sequencer with 20.000 note capacity and features you would expect to find on stand-alone or computer-based Sequencers.
• A full-featured MIDI controller keyboard capable of sending eight MIDI Program and Volume changes at once.
• Key (Poly) Pressure keyboard — Polyphonic Pressure (or After-touch) affects only the note or notes you press down on, allowing a whole new level of expressiveness. Of course, for sending to instruments which only recognize Mono (or "Channel") Pressure, the SQ-80 can send that too.
• A 3.5" disk drive for fast and reliable storage of up to 600 Sequences and up to 1,728 Programs on a single disk.
• Disk storage for all your MIDI devices —the ability to receive and save to disk any System Exclusive message of up to 64k bytes from any device.
• An eighty-character fluorescent Display and user-friendly "Page-driven" programming scheme to help you keep track of it all.
• Stereo Headphone jack for private listening at home or in the studio.
• Program and Sequence formats which are upwardly compatible with the ENSONIQ ESQ-1, so sounds and sequences created for the ESQ-1 can be played on the SQ-80.

Enough with the verbiage from the manual. What you are getting is a working as new Synthesizer! No broken keys. It comes with 1 Voice Crystal #3."

M-Audio Venom Review and Interview with Product Manager Taiho Yamada

A quick note: This review is long. You can jump to sections that interest you vs. reading it straight through if you prefer. This review focuses primarily on the synth engine for one single patch on the Venom. The Venom supports Multi mode with up to four multitimbral parts. Not only can you layer sound programs but you can set global parameters for the set. Be sure to see the Multi mode section of "Tips and Tricks via Taiho Yamada" at the end of this post. Taiho is the Lead Project Manager of the Venom and served as my contact during the review. I want to thank Taiho for his help and enthusiastic generosity. He is a true synthesist and the Venom is his baby.

Synth connections: Taiho previously worked at Alesis on the Andromeda A6. The DSP developer of the Venom worked on Radikal Technologies' Spectralis and the Accelerator. People that contributed to the presets via sound design include Richard Devine, Francis Preve, Mark Ovenden (Avid's AIR Instruments, ProTools VIs), Joerg Huettner (Waldorf, Access, Alesis), and of course Taiho Yamada.

*Don't miss the "Q&A with Taiho" section towards the end of the review. Also keep an eye out for "Taiho's Tips and Tricks" throughout the review in grey. You can find the consolidated list below the Q&A section.

CLICK FOR MORE »

The iPad is a Game Changer for Editing and Controlling All Synths

This is a follow-up to the previous post on the Pulse+ TouchOSC template. After I put the post up I finally got to play and something crazy happened. I found a "bug" in my Chroma editor and discovered a whole new world of sound exploration. A very happy accident.

When creating the TouchOSC templates for the Waldorf Pulse and Rhodes Chroma, my intent was essentially to make a virtual hardware interface for every editable parameter along with a few touch pads - all traditional controls with expected value ranges. The equivalent of a PG-1000 plus some extras. What I discovered was much, much more than that. TouchOSC and the iPad is a major game changer. It will open up synths in a way never imagined. We will be able to do things never possible before now.

How? First, it will help if you think of sonic exploration and the editing of your synths in two ways. The first is relatively static and traditional. You edit the parameters of a patch to arrive at your sonic destination. Simple editing. The second is to view your patch as something you manipulate over time. Either hold a note, start a sequence or an arpeggiation and then edit. I did a bit of this with the Pulse video.

So, how is the iPad and TouchOSC a game changer? It will allow you to do things that you simply cannot with traditional hardware, opening up sound exploration in a way that was not possible before now. Controls will be designed specifically for this purpose. I alluded to this in the last post regarding being able to jump parameter settings vs. a continual slide as you would with hardware sliders and knobs, but after the post I accidentally discovered this was just the tip of the iceberg.

After the post I was no longer focused on testing the template. I was finally free to do a little exploring and two things happened.

The first was obvious. I was able to explore the synth more openly than ever before. Having everything in front of you and access to everything at once allowed me to try things not physically possible directly through the hardware UI of the Pulse. On the Pulse you can only edit one row of parameters at a time and you have to page through to get to them.

The second was not obvious and the reason for this post. Testing out the Rhodes Chroma editor, the filter cutoff and resonance sliders were acting sporadically. I realized the full range of each were repeating. For the filter cutoff the full range went from 0-50 on the slider and then again from 50-100. For the resonance it was repeating every centimeter or so. My first thought was of course, I need to fix this. But, not now. I wanted to play. I had a chord drone going with a fairly long release time. I was just transitioning between chords to get kind of a trance vibe going. I then started using the sliders. At first I tried to only use the bottom half for cutoff but every now and then I'd hit that midway tipping point and it would go down to zero. But.... I found this had an interesting effect on the drone. I then started messing with the resonance slider. It was a very, very cool effect to say the least and I had full control over it. This wasn't something I could do with a PG-1000 controller. This wasn't something I could do on a knob laden Minimoog. It was then that I realized this is a major, major game changer. Not only was I able to interact with a thirty year old synth in a way I never had before, but I was able to interact with a synth in a way never possible before.

So what does this mean? I don't know yet, but I do know it will change how I think of creating controllers for synths. The default is to expose all editable parameters in the logical 0-100% value range. From there? Custom controls with oddball value ranges to do who knows what. Synthesizers have always been about synthesis to me. Not just an end point but synthesis and sound exploration over time. The iPad and custom controls with TouchOSC will allow me to do things never before possible. This is the start of it all.

Update via Kyle in the comments: "I always knew there were parameters of the synth that were "inaccessible," due to the limited values of the preexisting editing controls. With proprietary plugs and no gumption to spend hundreds of hours around this, I'm thinking this could be very cool."

I thought this captured it perfectly. The sound engine of synths are capable, we just didn't have the ability to tap into certain aspects of it before. It's the equivalent of unlocking doors. We now have the ability to create keys to a new universe of sonic exploration. We just don't what the keys are yet. A lot of it will be subtle, but never-the-less amazing when you consider it and even more so when you experience it first hand.

Update:

Video of the Happy Accident. I screwed up my camera's video settings, so apologies for the low resolution. As for what your are seeing, it is very simple. The cutoff resets at the midway point and the resonance repeats much more often. At the end you can hear some percussive sounds coming out when I move the resonance slider. One other thing I discovered with TouchOSC is that once you select a slider you can actually move your finger anywhere on the screen including over other controls without triggering them. You can see my thumb move away from the resonance slider while still manipulating it.


The Happy Accident


Update: Note how you hear a sweep moving up and a "pop" moving down. It's because the sweep up goes from 0 - max smoothly through all values while the sweep down goes from 0 - max instantaneously. That along with jumping values are only two of the things you can't do with traditional hardware. Again, as stated above, who knows what's possible. The point is that it now is. This video might not be that impressive on it's own as unfortunately it doesn't really capture the effect of first noticing the anomoly while expecting something else to happen, but hopefully you get the point. As Art stated in the comments, "I'm excited about the same thing, particularly making it easy to move between multiple simultaneous parameters (morphing between patches basically, but with however much real time control you desire) as well as putting synced sequencers into the mix to automate some of that morphing. Think MIDI-synced LFOs and ENVs on steroids." Take a look at this noteplex video. Imagine that controlling your synths, and not just note values, but assignable sysex and MIDI CC parameters.

Update: here we go - currently supports OSC to MIDI via OSCulator.