Mike Pinder was the keyboard player and a founding member of The Moody Blues. Prior to that he worked on the manufacturing of the first Mellotrons in the UK. According to mellotronics.com, "Streetly Electronics are the original UK manufacturer of mellotrons and world experts in the instrument."
"Between 1962-63 Pinder worked for 18 months as an engineer at Streetly Electronics, in Streetly, Birmingham, a factory manufacturing the first models of Mellotron in the UK.
In May 1964 Pinder left Streetly Electronics to co-found The Moody Blues with Ray Thomas, Denny Laine, Clint Warwick and Graeme Edge."
His impact becomes clear when you read the following from Music of the Daze:
"This from my friend Nicklas Barker, guitarist, singer and composer from Swedish proggers Anekdoten. He is also a connoisseur of the Mellotron:
'Very sad, imagine if he had not started working at the Mellotron factory and done something else before joining The Moody Blues and introducing the glorious Mellotron string sound to a wider audience through Nights in White Satin. What would have happened then? No King Crimson? He was also friends with John Lennon and introduced the Mellotron to him. No Strawberry Fields? Mike Pinder was the first, and the impact of his use of the Mellotron changed music history. He was also the greatest Mellotron player ever. Just listen to Out and In from To Our Children’s Children’s Children. He was the wizard of the astral orchestra.'"
"Mike Pinder describes how the mellotron works in the fabulous 'Live at Isle of Wight Festival (1970)' You really should buy this DVD, it's not only a great documentary but a wonderful concert film as well. The sound is surprisingly good, you will enjoy it."
"Here's the Moody's live on French TV. You can really see/hear what Mike Pinder contributed to the sound of that band. Without him and the MK 2, they would have just been another guitar band. It's startling how much they sounded like the records live!"
The Moody Blues - Full Concert - French TV Special 1968 (Remastered)
"Audio and Video Remastered by BrunoSamppa - Support me on KO-FI http://ko-fi.com/brunosamppa
CHAVE PIX: brunovideopix@gmail.com
1. Tuesday Afternoon 00:01
2. Nights in White Satin 04:54
3. Legend of a Mind (Part 3) 09:36
4. Bye Bye Bird 12:42
5. Fly Me High 17:33
6. I've Got a Dream 24:12
7. A Beautiful Dream 27:36
8. Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood 31:49
9. Peak Hour 35:18
10. Nights in White Satin (Reprise) 41:38"
If anyone knows otherwise, feel free to leave a comment.
Update2 via Robert Saint John in the comments: "[Atomic Shadow] is correct, this is simply the Cherry Audio/MRB bundle of VM900 modules for Cherry Audio’s Voltage Modular platform, released in October 2021. We have not announced any plans to release this as a standalone or VST instrument"
"Leaving school and full time education aged 16 armed with six O-levels, Ian is a self-taught and self-funded multi-media artist, working in music, film, animation, analogue electronics, instrument building, collage, installations, live performance, light show projection, graphic design, writing and film programming.
Ian coined the term ‘creative soldering’ to best define his ‘intuitive electronics’ approach, and since the 1990s he has designed and built a unique range of electronic tone generating machines – Hellitrons and Hellisizers – which he uses to realise his compositions."
"The Tone Generation is Ian's audio series looking at the early period of electronic music history, focussing on experimental tracks mostly drawn from his CD and record collection.
TG 34 - Louis & Bebe Barron TG 33 - Cybernetic Serendipity TG 32 - Electronics in Space TG 31 - Synthetic Sound TG 30 - Beaver & Krause TG 29 - Electronics in Rock 2 TG 28 - Electronics in Rock 1 TG 27 - Edinburgh Festival Concert 1961 TG 26 - Electronic Odyssey 1967 TG 25 - QEH Concert 1968 TG 24 - Analogue Synthesizers TG 23 - Electronics for Feature Films TG 22 - Moog TG 21 - Buchla TG 20 - Electronics and Voice TG 19 - Women in Electronics TG 18 - Computer Music TG 17 - EMS TG 16 - Electronics for Expos TG 15 - Electronic Music Authors TG 14 - Electronics for Dance TG 13 - Electronics in Jazz TG 12 - The RCA Synthesizer TG 11 - Expo 58 TG 10 - EM Worldwide TG 9 - Canada TG 8 - USA TG 7 - Soviet Union & E. Bloc TG 6 - Scandanavia TG 5 - Holland & Belgium TG 4 - Italy TG 3 - Germany TG 2 - France TG 1 ..."
"32-Key USB MIDI Controller Keyboard with 64 Step Polyphonic Sequencing, Chord and Arpeggiator Modes
The Behringer SWING gives you full control over any synthesizer or virtual instrument in your DAW via USB or MIDI. Featuring a 64-step sequencer with an 8-note polyphonic sequence combined with 32 compact-sized keys and pitch and modulation touch-strips provide unlimited ways to express yourself in a compact and portable package.
The SWING’s 32-compact-sized keys create a perfect balance between size and playability. The keys give you the ability to create more nuanced and colorful passages with velocity and after-touch functionality. Use the Pitch and Modulation touch-strips to add even more character to your music. Chord Play Mode allows you to play a chord with up to 16 notes with one single key for some really enchanting Trance music. The SWING also features a 64-step polyphonic sequencer so you can create any progression imaginable and even play over it. Switch to Arpeggiator mode and create an amazing string of notes that can sync to the clock of any device the SWING is connected to.
The Mode knob on the SWING can select up to 8 saved programs in Sequencer mode, while in Arpeggiator mode, you can select different playing orders such as up, down, inclusive, exclusive, random, note order, double up and double down modes. Select from 8 different time signatures with the Scale knob and adjust the tempo with the Tempo knob or the Tap button. Press the Record button to start recording a sequence. This also doubles as an Append button when holding down Shift. Use this along with the Stop/Clear Last button and you can edit your sequences and arpeggios on the fly.
Update: And a response from Arturia followed by Axel Hartman who designed the physical look of the Keystep:
Arturia:
"Hello everyone,
We have been informed on Sunday November the 22nd of the upcoming release of a new product called Swing, by Behringer.
This product is in no way the result of a partnership between Arturia and Behringer.
We have worked hard to create the _Step range. We have invested time and money to imagine, specify, develop, test and market the KeyStep. Along our distributors we have been evangelizing this product, placing it in stores, explaining it, servicing it.
Of course we accept competition, and would absolutely understand that Berhinger give their own interpretation of a small and smart controller that would also be a sequencer. Others do, we have no problem with that and see good for the customer, as well as for the industry, in fair competition.
But this is not fair competition here.
Coco Chanel once said: “If you want to be original, be ready to be copied”. So we could in a way consider the Swing as a compliment.
We could.
In any case, thank you, everyone who came out and supported us these past 36 hours! It's been very helpful, very much appreciated.
"I do feel the need to comment on the many postings I can find here @ Facebook in several places regarding my thoughts, feelings, but also the truth about the blunt Behringer copy of the Arturia key step.
Arturia and myself, aka my company design box are designing instruments, synthesizers, controllers, interfaces since many years. As industrial designer, I contribute mostly my services on the asthetical side of a product. This is true for almost all hardware products that you know from Arturia. In all cases, Arturia is buying my services - I never licensed any of the designs. Arturia always pays, and naturally owns the output of my work, that - by the way - is alway the result of an in-depth cooperation with their internal team of specialists.
Arturia and myself are working together since many years, and we share the deep desire of designing innovative products. I could never share any of the designs, that came out of that cooperation with any body else, legally not, and not from my personal high attitude in that regards. So anything, pointing in that direction is simply fake information. Neither the company Behringer, nor Uli himself have ever approached me with a request like that. And I would also never ever do something like that - I can not license anything that is not in my possession.
Personally, I feel sad, and am also upset about that sheer copy of a design, that I once created for, and together with Arturia, the team around Frederic Brun. These people have spent lots of efforts and great energy in building a brand and all that belongs to a brands assets. It is simply not right, somebody else is taking advantage of that hard work (which is not only true for Arturia, but for all great brands, that must see their most successful products being copied)
I do not understand (Uli) Behringer - with his huge company and the power of many great R&D teams - some of the best and most respected and innovative companies we know in our business, that Uli was able to simply buy in the past with his money. A product like that copy simply can not represent the core values of the people, he could convince to be part of his company. It is simply sad, and I can not understand that move (like many, it seems)."
And then there's the following mock-up from Atomic Shadow that pretty much sums it up:
Update via Wikipedia: "Music Tribe, formerly Music Group, is a holding company based in the City of Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines.[2] It is chaired by Uli Behringer, founder of Behringer. Music Group rebranded to Music Tribe in December 2017.[3]...
In 2015, Music Group's portfolio included Midas, Klark Teknik, Behringer, Bugera, Eurocom, Turbosound, TC Electronic, TC-Helicon, Lake, Lab.gruppen, Tannoy, TC Applied Technologies and CoolAudio[6]"
"Since various magazines and Arturia have publicly called us out over the launch of our Swing MIDI Controller, we would like to respond and share some facts around the principles of competition and clear up some misconceptions.
Competition is a highly effective tool to drive innovation by empowering Customers to make their best choices and force manufacturers to constantly reinvent themselves. Innovation means progress and this happens on many levels, whether it relates to customer experience, functionality or cost efficiencies etc. There are 4 established marketing strategies: market leader, market challenger, market follower and market nichers. Here is a great article: https://aytm.com/blog/brand-positioning-for-a-competitive-edge-part-3/
The competition law was designed to avoid companies creating a market monopoly and stifle innovation, which would be detrimental to the rights of the Customers to expect better offerings. The law was specifically designed to encourage everyone to fiercely compete, even when it means over the same functionality and design, provided intellectual property such as utility (functional) and design patents as well as trademarks etc. are respected.
How many Fender Stratocaster or Gibson Les Paul clones are out there in the guitar world and how many SM58 clones are available? How many cars or mobile phones look alike? It is not surprising that Gibson recently lost a substantial legal case trying to prevent others from making V-shape guitars or Fender, who lost all trademark cases related to their Stratocaster design. The reason is simple: the law encourages competition and provides maximum freedom for companies to engage head-on, all for the benefit of the Customer.
We are spending large amounts of resources on innovation, which is reflected in products such as X32, XR18, Flow, DDM4000, etc. This made us the global market leader for analog and digital mixers and over the years we have built an extensive patent portfolio: https://community.musictribe.com/pages/intellectual-property However, we also clearly choose to follow successful brands and products, while adding more features and/or competing on price. Much of our innovation is invisible to the Customer as it relates to our highly advanced and automated design and manufacturing processes and for that we are spending hundreds of millions of US$. For this reason, we have become strategic partners with Microsoft, Siemens, Adobe and many other Tier 1 companies as we are pushing for extreme digitization and automation.
The follower marketing strategy is a very common business model in any industry, which is enabled by law to encourage competition. With our new Swing MIDI Controller, we followed an established concept, but of course wrote our own firmware with added functionality. However, these unique features will only come to life when we launch our free DAW.
The free Music Tribe DAW will form the heart of an incredible eco-system, where all our controllers, synthesizers and drum machines etc. will integrate seamlessly, thus dramatically improve connectivity and workflow. This will make it incredibly easy for our Customers to create, edit and share their music. Only our upcoming controllers will feature total integration with our synthesizers, drum machines, digital mixers and other Music Tribe equipment, while also offering standard functionality with all 3rd party products.
For anyone familiar with the industry landscape, Arturia has been cloned for years (Worlde MiniMidi, etc.), while the company has also been “borrowing” from others with their VST replicas of legendary hardware synths, open-source code from Mutable Instruments, the “Expressive Touche” controller or the registration of known “DX7” and “Synthi” marks. Equally, our own analog Xenyx mixers and many other products have been widely cloned. ¬We will absolutely continue to deliver innovative products but also follow our competitors as we expect our products to be cloned - fair play.
We are very cautious when it comes to our follower approach and employ expert intellectual property firms to ensure our products stay within the boundaries of the law; we are committed to never intentionally infringe on other companies’ intellectual property.
Many years ago, we were entangled in bitter lawsuits with Mackie and Pioneer, which we all won. But we also recently lost a case against Yamaha in China related to a simple fader knob design that involved a design patent we were unfortunately not aware of. We changed the design, we will pay the fees and move on. Notably, Yamaha themselves were sued by Dr. Dre over their headphone designs (https://www.cnet.com/news/dr-dre-sues-yamaha-over-headphones/) or entangled in other legal matters (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/musical-instrument-firms-to-pay-millions-after-breaking-competition-law), which clearly shows how competitive business is. The heated Apple versus Samsung disputes are a prime example.
It is our Purpose and Mission to empower Customers who don’t have deep pockets and provide them with the best possible equipment at fair prices. We do understand that we are a fierce competitor and at times controversial as we’re relentlessly push the envelope.
We would like to thank all our Customers who have supported us over the past 30 years. We are absolutely committed to continue to deliver the best possible products at the lowest possible cost."
"In honor of our Year One Anniversary Celebration, Cherry Audio is very proud to introduce Voltage Modular Nucleus - absolutely FREE for a limited time! This collection of 22 modules and 67 presets is the ultimate introduction to modular synthesis. This package includes all of the fundamentals of subtractive analog synthesis, including oscillators, filters, envelope generators, amplifiers, and mixers, plus a sequencer, arpeggiator, and a full suite of useful utility modules and powerful effects modules.
With Voltage Modular Nucleus, you can discover the thrill of patching modules together in new and endlessly creative ways, and explore all of the capabilities of Voltage Modular, absolutely free."
"Is It A Synth? No. It's from the first episode of The Outer Limits which aired in September, 1963. The Galaxy Being starred Cliff Robertson as a radio station owner who used his transmitter to reach out across the galaxy. After establishing contact with a being from another world, a series of events (brought about by his carping wife) leads to the physical transmission of the Galaxy Being to Earth. A heavy handed moral about the human race being prone to violence ensues.
The episode has some great examples of mid 20th century Gizmology. Gizmology is term that I coined to describe movie tech that is designed to look all "Science-y". If you look at the photo, you see what appears to be a Eurorack synth! Just out of the frame, on the right, there is the obligatory reel to reel tape recorder. In those days if you wanted your set to look like real science, you had to have an oscilloscope displaying a sine wave and a tape recorder. This episode lacks a scope, but makes up for it with that crazy nest of wires.
I started watching that episode on Prime the other night. When that scene happened I thought, 'How did Cliff Robertson get his hands on Richard Divine's euro rig? In 1963!'."
"Meet the six track groovebox that offers massive sound in a compact size. You get pretty much all of the Elektron superpowers in a sleek, lightweight, and accessible package. Loads of useful presets and loads of space for your own sounds. The controls are right there at your fingertips. A truly plug-and-play bundle of joy!
Available in February 2019.
449.00 USD
Six track sample based groovebox
Packed with great sounds
The sound engine uses high-quality digital samples. There are 300 preset sounds supplied by Splice, ranging from the familiar kicks, snares, and hi-hats to exotic, never-before-heard ones. With a few tweaks, you can easily personalize any sample until it sounds just the way you want it. Transfer your own samples into it, or use any of the expertly crafted custom sound packs.
Dedicated knobs
As an Elektron first, this machine offers a complete set of tactile controls, with one function per knob. They’re all right there on the front panel; just grab a knob and twist it. Unleash your music spontaneously using the six tough, velocity-sensitive pads. Record your every move live, or punch in your creation one step at a time using the superb Elektron sequencer.
Ready to go
At under one kilogram, you’re getting the benefits of a light and convenient machine that will surprise you with its snarling sonic power.
Key Features
Control All lets you twist your sounds to oblivion. Then use Reload to take you back to where you started
Use Parameter Locks to automate parameters. Each step can have a totally different sound
Load six samples at once – just like a kit. Great when you have made a Pattern with Parameter Locks, LFOs etc…
Load six new samples to instantly experiment and come up with unique and unexpected results
"At the 2019 NAMM Show, to be held in Anaheim, California, eight hugely significant audio inventions will be inducted to the TECnology Hall of Fame (THOF). Founder of the THOF, George Petersen announced the eight products for induction.
The inventions were chosen span from a period covering the 1940s to the present day. The event was presented by the NAMM Museum of Making Music and hosted by Petersen, a veteran pro-audio journalist.
The eight TECnology Hall of Fame inductees for 2019 include: the anechoic audio test chamber (Leo Beranek, 1943); beyerdynamic M160 ribbon microphone (1957), Bell Labs’ electret microphone patent (1964), Robert Moog’s 1964 Modular Moog Synthesizer; iZ Technology’s RADAR (24-track disk recorder, 1991); Meyer Sound Labs Source Independent Measurement (SIM) system (1991); Millennia Media HV-3 microphone preamplifier (1992), and the JBL Professional VerTec line array live sound system (2000)"
On Moog:
"Each inductee represents significant milestones and fascinating histories. The late Robert Moog is a household name for his music synthesizer development. His Modular Moog quickly became adopted by The Beatles, The Monkees, The Rolling Stones, Keith Emerson, and Wendy Carlos’ landmark Switched on Bach album."
Also note both Bob Moog and the Moog ladder filter were previously inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame:
"This is a track that I made with the additive drone synth, Lancinantes from Inear Display. Everything is directly recorded from the software including delay and reverb. No post processing.
This instrument is like an electronic music lab. It's made up of three additive sine oscillators with adjustable harmonics. You have a noise generator, filter, delay, reverb, volume controls and a handy randomizer section. Under the randomizer you can click to change pitch, harmonics, filter and mixer settings. Or all of those at once.
I think this software sounds great and the bang per buck factor is high."
"Lancinantes is a drone synthesizer plugin : having no amplitude control envelope its oscillators are freely running, generating a constant sound. Three special additive oscillators are layered, allowing the creation of chords that can be conformed to a melodic scale.
The oscillators are built around harmonic combinations where each partial has a random amplitude modulation applied to create perpetual subtle variations. New sets of harmonics can manually be regenerated at will.
A mixer section allows you to adjust individual oscillators levels as well as the amplitudes of a sub oscillator and a white noise generator. The mixer output then goes through a resonant filter, an overdrive, a delay, and a reverb to further shape the sound.
Most of the settings can be set to random values thanks to a versatile randomizer section.
Of course, the real fun starts when you automate the controls and run Lancinantes through your favorite effects...
Available as VST and Audio Unit for Mac OS and Windows (32 and 64 bit)."
"Voltage Modular is AVAILABLE NOW! Voltage Modular is a brand-new virtual modular platform, designed from the outset to be the best sounding, most powerful, flexible, and easy-to-use virtual modular synthesizer available. For Mac and PC, available in AU, VST2, VST3, AAX, and Stand-Alone formats. Visit cherryaudio.com to learn more!"
This one is in via Atomic Shadow who did some beta testing for PSP Audio's modules.
"Quick and dirty demo. See also the perfected combo:"
Radio Music + RF Nomad 5U = vintage radio sound
Published on Sep 12, 2018 alternatingbitmusic
"Feeding the audio out of the Radio Music module into the CV in of the Nomad module you can use the shortwave radio static to simulate radio interference.
5U modules Atomic Shadow RF Nomad / Synthetic Sound Labs Radio Music"
Hippopotamus Suitcase is likely the final Atomic Shadow album. This is a refinement of previous Musique Concrete experimentation that blends field recordings, modular synthesis, dusty old lab gear and software processing.
The album was completed in just a little over two years. When I looked at the size of the folder that had been complied, it came to a little over 12 GB of edit sessions, Cubase projects and bounces. This is the first album that has been compiled, mixed and processed in Cubase. I have to say that I am enjoying it a good deal more than Logic.
Kelly Ricks returns to do the cover art, as she has since the 12 Full Moons album. It's my favorite.
As always, the album eddownload is deliver as full fidelity WAV files, including cover art and a 'making of the album' PDF."
Select your effect using the Program knob, and the convenient LCD display will show the currently selected effect and it’s parameters. Up to three parameters (depending on the selected effect) that can be adjusted from the INIT controls on the front panel or voltage control them by using the CV-A, CV-B & CV-C inputs.
The FX Capacitor is built around the awesome Spin Semiconductor FV-1 chip (Spin Semiconductor). The FV-1’s seven built-in effects are already awesome, but SSL just couldn’t stop there. Oh no. We had to add 8 more carefully chosen effects that will expand your sonic palette.
Space Shimmer is the brain-child of Gary Worsham. Shimmer is a type of reverb that applies upward pitch shifting (usually by octaves) into the feedback loop for some really ethereal sounds.
Stavely Springs is courtesy of Don Stavely. Don has figured out how to accurately model some of the original dual spring reverb units from the 1970’s. They sound great. If you pulse them, they even “sploing”. The only thing they can’t do is react to physically kicking your module to shake the springs.
The Flanger and Slocum Phaser have a cool feature that allows the Depth knob and CV input to have manual control when the Speed knob is fully counter-clockwise. You can also select between 4, 6, 8 or 10 phase stages on the Slocum Phaser.
Some programs have stereo inputs, some are summed L + R to mono before hitting the effects, and some have different effects on the L & R channels. Play, play, play – and enjoy!
Since effects and feedback settings can conspire to overload the 1350 module, there’s “CLIP” LED on the front panel. Depending on the signal source, a bit of input attenuation might be required to keep things from getting out of hand. Here’s a trick you can use to control the input level – Plug your audio input into the FB_IN inputs instead of the SIG_IN. You can then use the FEEDBACK control as an attenuator. Cool, huh?"
"Here is another view of the new Kronos in the studio. My Command Center is going to be re-arranged in the comping weeks to create a new workflow, centered on the Kronos. @KorgUSA @KronosKorg"
Not sure when this happened, but it appears the Roland Jupiter-80 and Jupiter-50 have been discontinued. Atomic Shadow wrote in to let me know he noticed that they were missing from Roland's current product line-up. I did a quick search, and sure enough I found the old pages with them listed as discontinued, as you can see in the images to the left. You can find the pages here: Jupiter-80 | Jupiter-50. It's worth noting the rackmount Integra-7 has not been discontinued.
The news makes me wonder what Roland might be introducing at NAMM this year. Roland isn't big on mkII models, so I would expect something relatively new to cover the space they left, if anything at all. It will be interesting to see what they follow up with.
