"We take a look at the brand new Baby Audio ATOMS - a physical modeling synth based on the Mass-Spring concept.
At a basic level: The specific physical model has been turned into an instrument by Silvin Willemsen and Baby Audio. There are masses (usually balls) connected by springs (virtually of course). These are excited by a bowing action and so the masses move and the springs react.
In its simplest form these are sine waves, but with additional parameters thrown in the algorithm they become more complex.
Weird, yes and sonically pretty pleasing when process by the rest of the ATOMS voice architecture - namely, a filter and a reverberator.
What you'll find are atmospheric, organic and certainly unusual sounds that share a common ground. Its an early release, with a couple of missing things - MIDI mapping for instance, but these we suspect will soon be added.
"Synthesis from the other side Atoms is a new kind of synth plugin that uses cutting edge physical modeling to generate an endless variety of organic and otherworldly sounds. Use it to build rich and alive textures the world hasn’t heard before.
COMPLEX PHYSICS IN A SIMPLE PACKAGE Physical modeling simulates the behavior of real life instruments. But Atoms takes you beyond what’s possible in the natural world. Its features are deep enough to explore the outer bounds of sound design, yet so simple that you can easily mangle, shape and create.
Atoms is powered by a simulation of interconnected masses and springs with tweakable properties and dimensions. The model is triggered by a virtual bowing action that excites the system and makes it vibrate to generate sound.
A LIVING ORGANISM Nothing in the natural world is ever truly static. Physical modeling mimics this by generating sounds with the same organic fluctuations as acoustic instruments.
Atoms takes it even further. Its six main parameters can be automated with a selection of powerful motion options to add extra life. This lets you create soundscapes that are constantly shifting and re-generating, like a natural organism.
If you’re used to working with sample libraries, Atoms will bring a new level of otherworldly realism into your tracks.
PROGRAM NEW PATCHES WITH A CLICK Atoms comes equipped with a powerful randomization engine. It’s a musically calibrated algorithm that selectively adjusts each parameter based on its relationship to the others, giving you usable patches with every roll of the dice.
You can narrow the algorithm further by limiting the random ranges for any knob or locking parameters from changing.
Finally, the Recycle button is a second randomizer that will create new patches similar to the current patch. Once you have a sound you like, click recycle to explore related options.
PHYSICALLY MODELED EFFECTS The bottom panel gives you a range of creative effects to further sculpt your sound. You can also choose between four sonic profiles, each offering a different structure of the mass-spring network simulation.
With the exception of Space (reverb), all effects in the bottom panel are created inside the physical model itself. This gives you a range of unique modulation effects that are an inherent part of the physical model and sound more natural than any separate FX chain ever would."
YouTube via WoosterAudio — "February 14, 2010 — Space Baby is a digital delay which will debut at Handmade Music Austin #5 on February 28, 2010 (along with the Bleep Labs PicoPaso). It has dedicated controls for wet/dry mix, delay, and feedback. A rotary encoder is used to adjust delay modulation speed/amplitude, clock source, and ring modulation.
The same simple 8 beat synth line plays throughout the demo. The demo begins with the dry synth sound, and then I start tweaking the delay and feedback controls. Later in the video I enable the ring mod / distortion. The ring mod multiplies the original signal by the delayed signal for unusual clangorous sounds.
The delay modulation and infrared beat sync features are not used in the demo.
"WoosterAudio — June 10, 2010 — This is an extended demo of MIDI-IR and the Space Baby digital delay. MIDI-IR is syncing to an instance of the Audio Damage Tattoo drum synth running on a laptop. It is generating an infrared clock to wirelessly drive the Space Baby and Autonomous Base Generator (ABG). The audio output from the ABG synthesizer is fed into the Space Baby.
MIDI-IR and Space Baby are available in both kit and preassembled form at http://woosteraudio.com
Playlist:
Endangered Audio Research AD4096 + Funk Box TR77 Drum Machine
Endangered Audio Research AD4096 + Funkbox TR-808 Drum Machine
Endangered Audio Research AD4096 + Funkbox TR-909 Drum Machine
Endangered Audio Research AD4096 + Funkbox Rhythm Ace Drum Machine
Endangered Audio Research AD4096 + Korg iMS20
"This is a demo of the now legendary, long-out-of-circulation Endangered Audio Research AD4096, with the Funk Box TR77 running through it. Very few videos show what the AD4096's Infinity Mode is useful for, which is crazy to me, because I feel like that's the best, most unique part of this pedal. Infinity Mode can be tuned to creep on the edge of self-oscillation in a really organic way. New signal pushes old signal out - and in that way it's almost like a looper, or even a tape bleed emulator.
Although a guitar pedal, mixing artists contact us all the time to tell us how they use the AD4096 on drum busses - especially for dub music! I think the AD4096 is killer on drums. You can get a really loose spring-reverb-like tone from short delays.
The Momentary Expand switch shorts the Depth pot and sends it into self-oscillation - the faster the clock speed (the Time knob turned to the right - "backwards" of how most pedals work), the faster it will run wildly into speaker-blasting range. However, with Infinity Mode engaged, you don't get the ever-louder-and-louder signal - it's "limited" because the new incoming signal pushes out the old. Also, if the Depth is turned all the way down, it becomes a momentary off switch.
The Delay line is a more traditional dark, fat analog delay sound, whereas the Echo line has a elevated, rarefied glittery tone. It's almost like an LPF and an HPF line. It also arrives just barely later than the Delay line. It overdrives beautifully, and thanks to its FET transistors, it has an almost tube-like breakup. The combination of these characteristics, along with the totally unique Infinity Mode, makes this the most tonally flexible and musically useful analog delay pedal ever made.
We get almost daily emails about these pedals at Endangered Audio Research. This unit is going to be donated to Oberlin College's TIMARA program when I'm done making demo videos for it, so don't bother trying to buy it from me. We are going to add more delay time with an aftermarket mod that will be available to the public, but first, I'm making a bunch of videos with different sound sources to show what the original sounds like.
EAR is also making a new, updated version of this later this year with expanded functionality, but gotta love the original unit - named one of the best 30 guitar effects in the world by Premier Guitar Magazine.
I don't deal in unprocessed, "clean" demos, because I don't believe it shows you more about the effect you're using. Nothing exists in a vacuum, especially music.
Signal Chain:
iPad - AD4096 - Universal Audio Apollo 8 Duo - Neve 1073 Unison Preamp - Studer A800 - Ampex ATR-102 - A.O.M. Invisible Limiter
Contact me at mark@endangeredaudioresearch.com to reserve a new version of the AD4096, or to inquire about the aftermarket added delay time modification.
By the way, if you're a hater who thinks $375 is too much for 300ms of delay, you should get a digital delay and run it through a LPF. This pedal is not about time - it's all tone, baby.
Here's a link to Funk Box - a total must-have iOS drum machine. It's a fully featured drum machine with a bunch of different sounds from all sorts of classic analog and digital drum machines. It's only $5, and you are fooling yourself if you think the "real thing" sounds better.
after 50 years of creative work in the field of sound synthesis I decided to stop doing business. I've been thinking about this step for some time now, especially since I've turned 70 this year. Therefore, I am very happy to have found a competent company in Brainworx Audio GmbH that will take over and continue my products and ideas.
I would like to thank you for the support I've received over the last six years. PPG VST plug-ins and iOS apps are no longer available for purchase. We will continue to provide downloads of your previous plugin purchases until end of 2020.
However, we do not recommend updating the hosts or the operating systems, as we cannot guarantee that our products will still run perfectly.
Customers of PPG plugins will receive a mail from SendOwl, which gives more infos on how to connect to Brainworx.
The future of the iOS apps has not been decided yet.
Thank you again for your support.
March 2020, Wolfgang Palm"
Update: and the official press release:
"Plugin Alliance announces acquisition of Wolfgang Palm’s prestigious PPG synthesizer brand by Brainworx Audio
“I am very glad to have found Brainworx and Plugin Alliance, who appreciate my work from the past and want to continue my legacy.”
- Wolfgang Palm, originator of wavetable synthesis and founder/owner of PPG, 2020
SANTA CRUZ, CA, USA: Plugin Alliance, supporting all major plugin formats and uniting some of the best- known international audio companies under one virtual roof, is proud to announce founding partner Brainworx Audio’s acquisition of the assets of Wolfgang Palm’s prestigious PPG synthesizer brand. The trailblazing Hamburg-based company founded by Wolfgang Palm first found fame and fortune in its initial incarnation throughout the Eighties and beyond by bringing the distinctive sound of wavetable synthesis to the musical masses and also impacting the MI industry with its innovative PPG Wave hybrid digital/ analogue synthesizer series and associated advances. These included the unique (unreleased) Realizer — quite possibly the world’s first virtual instrument (in 1986), albeit as a proprietary hardware hybrid! Software seriously came calling from 2012 onwards when Wolfgang Palm returned to prominence, producing new PPG products.
What a legacy. PPG synthesizers have musically made their mark onstage and in the studio with an array of notable artists such as a-Ha, Alphaville, David Bowie, Depeche Mode, Thomas Dolby, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Jean-Michel Jarre, Mike & The Mechanics, Gary Numan, Pet Shop Boys, Rush, Talk Talk, Tangerine Dream, Tears For Fears, Ultravox, Stevie Wonder, and many more. Thanks to Brainworx Audio’s acquisition of the assets of Wolfgang Palm’s prestigious PPG synthesizer brand, that legacy is all set to thrive.
Plans are already afoot by Brainworx Audio to update Wolfgang Palm’s PPG products in close collaboration with the man himself, universally recognized as the originator of wavetable synthesis! Together they will take the PPG brand and advance its digital products into the future, following Wolfgang Palm’s planned retirement at the end of March 2020 — after 50 years in the creative field of sound synthesis! Signing an agreement with Plugin Alliance and Brainworx Audio owner Dirk Ulrich ultimately lets Wolfgang Palm put his (well- deserved) retirement plan into action, happy in the knowledge that his ‘baby’ will be in good hands.
Wolfgang Palm puts it this way: “I am very glad to have found Brainworx and Plugin Alliance, who appreciate my work from the past and want to continue my legacy. They have a great team of competent developers, product specialists, marketing, and all that is needed to make a company successful. I support their work to make the transition as smooth as possible, and it will be exciting to see how this evolves. Also, I think that this collaboration will result in a much wider audience than before.”
Indeed, it is a great honor for Brainworx Audio to be joining forces with Wolfgang Palm — truly a legend in his own right, and continue to break boundaries in the world of virtual instruments. “We are proud that Wolfgang Palm put his brand and product into our hands,” declares Dirk Ulrich, ending on a high note: “We will make sure to carry on his legacy with the respect it deserves and we are looking forward to evolving the brand and products for years to come.”
"'ILLUMIRINGER' Motion Controlled Ring Modulator Pre-Built Kit Add THEREMIN style controlled FX craziness to ANY AUDIO DEVICE!"
"FINALLY! For the first time ever... I am able to offer the ILLUMIRINGER - Motion Controlled Ring Modulator to everyone at an affordable price (I still haven't been able to work out the costs of the pedal).
What is an ILLUMIRINGER you ask? Check out THIS LINK for more information on how this circuit got started. This auction might even be cooler, why? This modification kit can be built into ANY DEVICE THAT PRODUCES AUDIO. Doesn't matter if it has an output jack (guitar, bass, keyboard) or if it has a speaker (iPod dock, guitar amplifier, baby toy etc) this sucker can be installed with only 6 SOLDER POINTS!
I have come up with a simple to follow diagram (shown below) to help illustrate how completely easy it is to install this thing.
To sum it up quickly (which isn't hard)...
STEP 1: You remove the two output wires of your device from the speaker or jack, you solder the output wires of the ILLUMIRINGER mod in their place.
STEP 2: You take the devices output wires you just removed and solder them to the input wires of the ILLUMIRINGER mod kit. We are almost done!
STEP 3: Next we drill holes in the device to mount the LED bezel, 3 selector switches, control knob and LDR Light Sensor and screw them into place.
STEP 4: Next we solder the last two remaining wires to the two leads of the LDR Light Sensor. DONE! Installed!
A Motion / Light controlled Theremin style instrument modification in less than an hours work. And btw... this thing is BEYOND COOL... nothing else like it out on the market.. and at this price you will want to install it into EVERY device in your studio you play out with.
FEATURES:
- 1st of it's kind modification kit!
- Adds a THEREMIN style MOTION CONTROLLED effect to ANY AUDIO DEVICE!
- Super SMALL circuit board (about 1.5" x 1.5") so it is easy to fit into ANY device
- Switch 1 Turns the Effects Circuit On / Off (this is done to save battery when not in use)
- Switch 2 is a Wet / Dry selector. Wet activates the Effect, Dry is the clean audio signal
- Switch 3 allows you select either Motion / Light control over the effect or Knob Control
- HUGE 12mm LDR Light Sensor to get MAXIMUM motion control
- Red professionally Bezel Mounted Power Indicator LED
- SIMPLE to install into ANY AUDIO DEVICE with a speaker or mono output jack!
- Device will work & sound EXACTLY as it did before the mod when FX are off (True Bypass)
- Minimal / Basic Soldering Skills needed (entire install can take less than an hour)
- 9V Battery Powered (EXTREMELY long battery life, circuit will run with less than 3V!)
- Professionally designed, built and tested before arriving to you
- ADDICTIVE TO PLAY WITH! Brings a completely new life to audio gear your are bored of!
- Adds ENDLESS now tone and performance possibilities to ANY AUDIO DEVICE!
- MEGA AFFORDABLE!!!!!!!!!!"
"BA-1 is a modern re-imagination of a cultish 1982 analog synth that looked like a toy but sounded like a beast. It brings you pure and authentic lo-fi textures that are fast to program and dripping with color."
"BA-1 is based on a portable 1980s synth with a toylike appearance and a gritty sound. Despite its small size, it left a big mark on music history, while still flying somewhat under the hype radar. The original has been used as a secret weapon for bubbly synth textures by some of Sweden’s most successful pop producers of the past two decades. It was also a staple of 1990s digital dancehall and beloved by the indietronica scene for its raw lo-fi quality. The ‘CS01’ - as the original is called - has never been properly captured in software form. So for our first ever synth, we started there.
In keeping with our motto 'it’s an evolution, not an emulation', we modeled the hardware with the greatest possible accuracy, before carefully upgrading it with new and useful features. A second analog-modeled oscillator, FM, polyphony, and more, help to vastly expand the sonic palette of the original. All while keeping its signature sound unspoiled.
Additionally, BA-1 lets you drain the battery, bend the circuits, and use the built-in speaker – for an authentic lo-fi aesthetic that you could normally only get with hardware.
If you know our company, you’ll know that effects are our specialty. So we’ve treated BA-1 with an FX section worthy of its own plugin. The effects chain is inspired by budget 1980s rack hardware and captures the lo-fi charm of the home studio scene of the era. The overdrive is modeled after a guitar pedal, while the delay, reverb and chorus effects are based on cheap, but amazing, digital rack units.
In BA-1, the effects are not an afterthought but an ingrained part of the sonic signature. So tweak, use, and abuse them.
BA-1 is simple, but surprisingly tweakable. We’ve put great effort into tuning all parameters to be in the perfect sweet spot. This results in a rewarding programming workflow where tweaking BA-1 is a lot of fun and you’ll create new patches on repeat.
And if a simple interface is not fast enough, you can always use the smart ‘Re-Gen’ feature. Hit Re-Gen and BA-1 will automatically create new and musically tuned patches with every click."
"Watch Taylor Boy create synth presets from scratch with Baby Audio's BA-1 synthesizer plugin. Part of the attraction of BA-1 is it rarely sounds bad + it's lightning fast to program. So go have fun! Free trial available. https://babyaud.io/ba-1"
" String sound: OB-12 in slow arpeggio mode
Bass sound 1: Sine VCO sequenced by Baby 10 sequencer and squared up by MFOS ringmod and filtered by MFOS 24dB/Oct LPF
Bass sound 2: Same sine VCO as Bass sound 1 but overdriven by MFOS VCA
Drums: Tr-606
Delay: Reel-to-reel taperecorder
Lead: Two MFOS VCO (saw waveforms) to the MFOS 12dB/Oct SVF in Lowpass mode (Highpass output inversed and fed back to the input) controlled by the MFOS dual AR generator in different modes.
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.
"That right there is a mockup of our new baby, Ensō, which is an audio buffer module in 22hp, with 50 seconds of stereo 48/24 audio memory, and various ways for looping/triggering/etc that buffer. We're done with the hardware design, and are working on the software now.
You can come see it (and the new Eos module) in person if you're in the LA area. I will be doing an Audio Damage clinic/Q&A at Perfect Circuit in Burbank this Wednesday, April 5th, at 7PM. Facebook event page with all the deets is here. Derrick Baseck will be doing a performance, and I'm given to understand there will be pizza and beer, two of the three major food groups. We will be giving away a couple modules, and buttons and stickers and the other usual shit, and I may extemporaneously perform for 15 minutes myself.
In other news, the first articles for the hardware version of Eos will be on the way to me today. So just a beta-testing round and then that will be shipping. Figure two weeks to stores at this point.
And finally, we will be attending Superbooth in Berlin again this year. I'm flying in to Prague on April 15, and then driving up to Berlin a couple days later. If you are in town and want to hook up, get at me in the usual methods."
Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.
via this auction
"This auction is for a Use Audio Plugiator. For those of you who do not know what this is, basically you have 8 different synthesizers in one box. Each one of those synths has 100 presets built in. Each one of those presets can be changed using the plugiator software. New sopunds can be downloaded from the plugiator mcommunity forum and installed instead of the the standard presets. Basically you can have every sound you have ever loved from classic analogue synths in one small box. It is made of metal / steel and built to last.
Installed on the plugiator are all 8 plug ins. These are all activated and all work fine. The four extra plug ins (Prodyssey, Pro-12, Fmagia and Drums 'n 'Bass) were all purchased at approx £39 each. The activation keys for all the plugins are written into the section at the back of the manual. If you ever have to reinstall them, the activation keys are all there. The Plugiator is registered to me as are the plug ins, but I will provide you with my log on details to the server so you can change the details to you and download new sounds etc.
"This instrument was made by me for the local Winnipeg band DRugs. I really like this one. Glitchy, noisy, and fun. The craziness increases ten fold if you plug it into effects. This video was recorded with no effects, just the straight signal from Baby. The "Deprive" knob really helps sculpt the sound. There are three audio rate oscillators and one clock rate that controls the "Shake" feature. It was a complicated task to get everything inside the baby head. It is now sealed shut, so if anything goes wrong.......surgery. My next baby will have a CV in, babies like that. I did not realize there are others who use baby heads for projects........cool."
Playlist (use the controls on the bottom of the player to forward through videos - 4th video on shows module):
SPUTNIK DUAL DEFECT PROCESSOR MODEL 289 - SAW CORE OSCILLATOR
SPUTNIK DUAL DEFECT PROCESSOR MODEL 289 - SINE CORE OSCILLATOR
SPUTNIK DUAL DEFECT PROCESSOR MODEL 289 - DUAL FM OSCILLATOR SCOPE
SPUTNIK DUAL DEFECT PROCESSOR MODEL 289 - DUAL FM OSCILLATOR DEMO
SPUTNIK DUAL DEFECT PROCESSOR MODEL 289 - HARMONIZER / PITCH SHIFTER
SPUTNIK DUAL DEFECT PROCESSOR MODEL 289 - BITCRUSHER / SONIC DECIMATOR
SPUTNIK DUAL DEFECT PROCESSOR MODEL 289 - KARMINUS-WEAK SYNTHESIZER
SPUTNIK DUAL DEFECT PROCESSOR MODEL 289 - PLATE REVERBERATOR
SPUTNIK DUAL DEFECT PROCESSOR MODEL 289 - HALL REVERBERATOR
SPUTNIK DUAL DEFECT PROCESSOR MODEL 289 - TALKER
"we (Roman Filippov and Alex Pleninger) are glad to introduce the result of almost a year of development, coding, electronic tests and just complex work in general - Sputnik Defect Processor Model 289.
this device is crafted to precisely comply the modular standards of Buchla Electric Music Box better known as Buchla 200 and Buchla 200e.
the core of the 289 is a Digital Signal Processor which takes all the computations in sound transforming and generating. around it one may observe some controllable analogue parameters such as Balance and Regeneration, they are independent for each audio channel. both DSP cores have 8 independent Programs or Algorithms per core and each such algorithm has three voltage controllable parameters, varying from program to program. each core can be expanded via another 8 programs on external EEPROM chip. one of the most exciting feature is the variable Timebase which affects a lot of nuances in every algorithm's behavior.
apart from conventional stuff like reverbs, delays and various modulations the Model 289 offers quite unique solutions such as fm-synthesis, wide sonic range generators, human throat modelling, simple spectrum transfer facility, pitch-to-cv conversion, pitch shifting, audio looping, several sound destructors, pitch class generator, karplus-strong synthesis and many others, including some auxiliary programs. and the program list is ever-growing, new programs are always on the way.
we hope this module will take its place in every Buchla system whether it is a baby 4U boat or two 18U cabinets mighty electronic workbench.
ALGORITHMS
OSCILLATORS
we offer two oscillator programs, both of them work in audio range from 25 to approximately 3000 hz.
the controls are the following:
x - pitch.
y - wavemorphing.
z - wavefolding.
audio inputs 1 and 2 support amplitude and frequency modulations respectively.
on the output 1 you'll get final waveform morphed and folded, if any.
the second output provides the sub-oscillator one octave below the main one.
as for y and z controls, the first one continuously morphs the osc core (saw or triangle, depending on chosen program) from saw through triangle to half-inverted saw or from triangle through sine to square. in the case the wavemorphing is set to square, the wavefolding performs as pwm controller. in any other situations z-pot folds the wave in a manner of mathematical reflection at the given threshold. all these are pretty straight-forward, even if sounds a bit messy. you may observe the oscillators behavior in the attached [above] video footages.
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via this auction
"This is an excellent working condition EML POLY-BOX. This is remote control keyboard. Super clean unit with that has very little use. This unit was tested and works perfectly. Devo was well known for using one of these.This was owned by a musician who is having financial problems, he is forced to sell this rare gem. It has just 2 tiny nicks near the front left(See photo 17), rest is virtually flawless. It looks like it is 1 year old not over 30. Only 130 of these were ever produced, trying to fnd one is this condition, nearly impossible. Back in the day, most synthesizers were monophonic - that is they could play only 1 note at a time. EML realized this limitation and came up with the Polybox. This rare little box has built in oscillators which track the pitch of an incoming audio signal really well - even following vibrato and portamento successfully. Take any monophonic synthesizer audio output, patch it into this synth and play the Polybox's keys along with the mono melody to convert it to chords. Or lock the chord memory so it follows your melody automatically with a set chord that's transposed along with the melody's pitch. Or play its internal oscillators as their own instrument. This is a very cool, unique and extremely useful tool!
ONLY LISTING ON EBAY OR THE ENTIRE NET
Specifications Polyphony - 26 voices (13 per bank) Oscillators - n/a
LFO - n/a
Filter - n/a
VCA - n/a
Keyboard - 13 keys
Memory - 26 patches
Control - CV/Gate
Date Produced - 1977-84
This is info gathered from one of EML's founders, Jeff Murray. This is reprinted from Vintage Synthesizers. [on Amazon]
The Poly-Box.
On the heels of introducing some fairly straightforward synth equipment, EML did an about-face and came out with one of the strangest accessories ever designed for mono- and duophonic synths: the Poly-Box, which had only a one-octave keyboard (C to C ). If you sent one or more notes into the Poly-Box’s audio input and played a chord on its keyboard, the Poly-Box would output a chord based on the incoming note (the root) and the notes depressed on the Poly-Box keyboard. Each key was programmable within a four-octave range, and memory could store up to 26 notes for automated pitch-following of a synthesizer. “The Poly-Box was kind of a cool instrument,” says Murray. “A lot of early synthesizers were just one- or two-note devices, but with the Poly-Box you could play chords. It had phase-lock-loop circuitry so that it could follow the frequency of an incoming audio signal. Then you could hit a chord on the Poly-Box and it would synthesize all the other frequencies of the chord.” EML made around 130 Poly-Boxes between 1977 and 1984. It originally listed for $475.
'It's more for those old mono's you can't get to be poly. sure there's poly synths falling out of trees these days, but there's no polyphonic version of vintage synths falling out of trees and that's where this baby fills the gap!'
'This is a very rare and unusual keyboard that acts as a unique accessory for any monophonic synthesizer or sound source. Plug a mono source into the input of the Poly Box and it will take the input waveform and allow you to play chords with it, effectively turning a mono source into a polyphonic output. It also has its own internal oscillators, so it can generate polyphonic sound all by itself. You can lock a chord on the Poly Box and then vary the pitch of the mono input, thereby changing the root pitch of the output chord. Additional controls allow you to add an additional tone either one or two octaves below the input, and to transpose everything down an octave, as well as adjust brilliance and add phasing. This unit takes your mono synth into a whole new world of polyphony.'
"In this series Anthony breaks down some of the most icons synthesizer patches that he programmed for Michael Jackson’s Thriller
Anthony's musical touch as both composer and performer is connected with some of the most influential creative minds over the last 40 years. He’s composed and conducted original orchestral scores for over 80 feature films including Young Guns, Internal Affairs, The Man From Elysian Fields, 15 Minutes and Planes, Trains & Automobiles, been commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic for his symphonic work "In the Family Way", written over one thousand TV commercials in a myriad of musical styles, co-founded Levels Audio Post (LA's premiere post production facility) and performed and arranged on big-box-office films and influential hit records such as Michael Jackson's Thriller.
His extensive work as a young arranger, orchestrator and performer for Quincy Jones, Jack Nitzsche, Lamont Dozier, Arthur Rubenstein and Giorgio Moroder was vital in launching his own career. His early years pioneering modular analog synthesizers along with his wide-ranging music scholarship positioned Anthony at the center of the music technology revolution. He attended the University of Southern California School of Music as a piano and composition major."
Playlist at the time of this post:
How I Programmed the Baby Be Mine “warble” Mini Moog Lead on Michael Jackson’s Thriller
How I programmed the Baby Be Mine MiniMoog Bass on Michael Jackson's Thriller
How I Programmed The Bass On Michael Jackson's PYT
How I Programmed the Theremin Sound On Michael Jackson's Thriller
How I Programmed Michael Jackson's "Thriller" Bass on my Tonus ARP 2600
How To Program The Synth Lead From The Weeknd's "Blinding Lights"
How to program the synth bass from Tyler, the Creator's "Igor's Theme"
How I Programmed The Synth Opening On Michael Jackson's Thriller: Prophet 5 Pt.1
How I Programmed The Synth Opening On Michael Jackson's Thriller: Jupiter 8 Pt.2
How To Make The Synth Bass from "Da Funk" by Daft Punk
How To Make Any Imaginable Kick Drum Sound
How I Create Dubstep on Analog Synths (without a computer)
How I Process my TR-808 Drum Machine with OTO EFX Pedals
How To Program The Synth Riff From Prince's 1999
How I Programmed The Synth Opening On Michael Jackson's Thriller: The Synclavier Pt.3
War Games: The Sounds I Made For The Film
"Wind Synthesizer R1 is now a proud finalist of 2022 MIDI Innovation Awards.
Behold the musical instrument from future! For the first time in history, a performer of music could bring light, directly and literally, to every audience vividly. This extra dimension of musical expression responds to your breathe, and glows over 60,000 colors of your choice.
Because of its intuitive panel design, one can easily learn in minutes and gig in 2 weeks. Explore motion control, customizable hotkeys, Bluetooth connectivity, and even onboard sound banks. R1 opens a new gate for both freshers and professionals.
As our city of Shanghai continues its quarantine, we are still unable to film, while we decided to put together this video for the MIDI Awards finals. It should help new friends know R1 better.
For the overseas version, we are talking to a number of KOCs/KOLs. Many features will make adjustments based on your feedback. If you find yourself willing to give comprehensive feedback, and are capable of making high-quality videos, you may contact us for collaboration.
Robkoo’s revolutionary Wind Synthesizer R1 rocked as Commercial Hardware category finalist in the MIDI Association’s 2022 MIDI Innovation Awards Show
SHANGHAI, CHINA: fresh from making musical waves at The 2022 NAMM Show in Anaheim, California, USA, at the invitation of the MIDI Association, a non-profit community for both the companies who develop new MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) specifications and products and the people that create music and art with MIDI, digital art-facilitating software and hardware company Robkoo is proud to announce that its revolutionary Wind Synthesizer R1 — realised as a futuristic, cyber-like MIDI wind controller instrument with responsive RGB light bars, motion control, Bluetooth connectivity, customisable hotkeys, onboard sound banks, and a dedicated app allowing amateur and professional players alike to directly (and literally) light up their performances to audiences for the first time in history, having mastered its intuitive panel design in a matter of minutes and achieved gig-readiness within weeks of first musically making its acquaintance — rocked as a Commercial Hardware category finalist in the MIDI Association’s 2022 MIDI Innovation Awards Show, itself co-founded by music technologies learning platform Music Hackspace and the non-profit NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants), where it was displayed as taking third place…
It is true to say that the most distinguishing design feature of the Wind Synthesizer R1 is how much of its slimline body actually lights up. Ultimately, an extra dimension of musical expression responds to the player’s breath, glowing to the tune of over 60,000 colours — customisable in JamKoo, Robkoo’s popular performance app for iOS and Android that automatically detects (via Bluetooth) when a Wind Synthesizer R1 is nearby and awake to provide access to all settings on a larger screen, as well as a dummy-proof guide to learning — courtesy of two lengthy, patent-protected RGB light bars with which the futuristic, cyber-like MIDI wind controller instrument is equipped. It is also the only such instrument that can be played both vertically and horizontally, whether working with the (removable/replaceable) food-grade mouthpiece manufactured from the same material as a baby pacifier for utmost health protection or the new horizontal mouthpiece, making for a cyber-flute-like performance action.
Its inbuilt gyroscope lets Wind Synthesizer R1 players spice up their performance with pitch bend and vibrato by simply moving the MIDI wind controller instrument itself. Indeed, performing with it is simply a case of playing the seven touch-sensing performance keys (positioned on its topside) — themselves exhibiting minimal noise and maximum durability — that resemble an acoustic instrument to permit playing expressively in a realistic and graceful way while switching tones in an instant, ably assisted by an OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) screen that even helps with navigating in the dark. Delve instantly into wider octaves beyond the limitations of acoustic instruments thanks to the triple-octave (-1, 0, +1, +2) keys (on the underside of Wind Synthesizer R1), while a reliable and intuitive mechanical pitch wheel lets performers pitch freely with their thumb — also customisable to trigger other controls like portamento.
Put it this way: with onboard tones sampled from top performers from around the world — working with sound suppliers like Dynamix Audio (Serbia), Impact Soundworks (USA), Kong Audio (China), Sound Magic (China), and Versilian Studios (USA), Wind Synthesizer R1 could conceivably shave off 10 or even 20 years of practice when it comes to achieving a professional-sounding performance!
Whether wirelessly or cable connected to an applicable device, by also allowing for portamento and program change alongside breath control — as implied by name, Wind Synthesizer R1 is also a capable MIDI controller that sends so much more than just note information. Interestingly, it also supports MIDI input over USB MIDI (Type-C) and Bluetooth (BLE MIDI) — not bad going for a lightweight (450g) device with 67 cm (length), 4 cm (width), and 5 cm (height) measurements making for comfortable handling. However, its slimline design belies its impressive specification, also accommodating a 3.5 mm TRS headphone output, 6.35 mm TRS audio output, and Type-C USB port. But better still, Wind Synthesizer R1 boasts a (2600mAh) battery-running time of six hours (with the RGB light bars operating), extending to 10 hours (with the RGB light bars turned off).
On the face of it, Wind Synthesizer R1 represents a highly-capable package, one which helpfully comes complete with a dust bag, neck strap, mouthpiece cap, Type-C USB cable, quickstart guide, and user manual... little wonder, then, that Wind Synthesizer R1 rocked as a Commercial Hardware category finalist in the MIDI Association’s 2022 MIDI Innovation Awards Show — something Robkoo Business Developer Tianbang Zhuang far from takes lightly, as evidenced in his well-chosen words when speaking there: “It would be unfair to say that R1 is just a wind synth with lights, or just a wind synth with motion control, or just a wind synth with a horizontal mouthpiece option. They are eye-catching, for sure, but R1 has much more layers. When we started this project, we were here to solve the problems in instrument learning. We did not add lights just because we thought it was cool, or stack those features because we thought they were cool. We added features because they can be helpful to our goal. That’s why those features can be put together as an organic whole. Think about the experience we designed for the customer: you receive it at Christmas; you say, ‘Wow! It’s cool!’; you follow the user guide and learn about it with our [JamKoo] app; and in 15 minutes you suddenly know how to play a new instrument. After two weeks you went from being someone who knows nothing about musical instruments to a confident performer — with lights and style. We are changing peoples lives with something that has so many fancy features, but doesn’t feel overwhelming at all since it still appears to be a simple and intuitive instrument.”
While Wind Synthesizer R1 is already available to buy as a commercial product in mainland China for CN¥2,999.00 RMB, Robkoo is currently working with a number of KOL (Key Opinion Leaders)/KOC (Key Opinion Consumers) on overseas firmware and other adjustments (including sound banks) with a view to making it available worldwide with a projected price tag of around $500.00 USD later this year when it is likely to become available to buy from Robkoo’s website (http://www.robkoo.com/en/) and also some selected retailers.
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