via D60
MOOG 3P
Roland SYSTEM 700
ARP 2500
BUCHLA 100
Roland SYSTEM 100M
via leave luck to heaven
Japanese Synth Gathering
Anyone know more about this one?
Showing posts sorted by date for query Buchla 700. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query Buchla 700. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Japanese Synth Meet
Friday, March 20, 2009
SmartAV Tango Control Surface 2
YouTube via audiomidicom.
Not directly synth related, but I'm curious if anything is assignable.
"Houston Haynes demos SmartAV's large-format touch screen surface mixer controller with Steinberg Nuendo. Part two of two. Call audioMIDI.com at (866) 286-4601 for more info!"
reminds me of the Buchla 700 - similar color scheme
SmartAV Tango Control Surface
Thursday, November 06, 2008
What do These Have in Common?
Oberheim OB-Mx and Buchla 700
Note the OB-Mx pictured is the original pre-production design.
Update: aside from both of them being designed by Don Buchla.
Update: quad and rick got it in the comments. The connection is:
Lynx Crow
Scroll down to the two posts with the corresponding individual image. The other posts mention Lynx as well.
Note the OB-Mx pictured is the original pre-production design.
Update: aside from both of them being designed by Don Buchla.
Update: quad and rick got it in the comments. The connection is:
Lynx Crow
Scroll down to the two posts with the corresponding individual image. The other posts mention Lynx as well.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Buchla 700 Preservation Page
The page includes newly added source code for the Buchla 700: "Source code for the Buchla 700, courtesy Lynx Crowe. This code is provided as-is with no guarantees of completeness or correctness; it's a compilation of various bits of relevant code that Lynx found going through his archives. If you want to delve into this, you are "on your own." Development was done with an Alcyon C compiler on an Atari 1040ST, although it should be feasible to find a modern compiler that will handle this code. Knowledgeable people with time on their hands could potentially do all sorts of neat things with this, such as (a) create some sort of hardware/software upgrade to the 700 that would allow users to bypass the trouble-prone and difficult-to-find video chip, (b) add features to and fix bugs in the software, and (c) create a softsynth rendition of the 700. It's also a fantastic chance to look at the design of a synth OS by one of the pioneers in the field. Please give Lynx proper acknowledgement on anything you do this this. If you have any commercial aspirations, i.e. you plan to actually sell anything based on this, you should contact Lynx to talk about some sort of licensing arrangement."
click here and scroll to see prior posts on the Buchla 700 including video.
click here and scroll to see prior posts on the Buchla 700 including video.
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Ode to Gravity: Introducing the Buchla 700 (March 21, 1988)
"Donald Buchla's newest synthesizer, the 700, is introduced to the San Francisco community at a gathering held at the Sake Factory. Charles Amirkhanian interviews the inventor as well as numerous local composers about their experiences with Buchla's creations while we hear in the background people trying out the newest version."
via http://www.archive.org/details/OTG_1988_03_21 via ghostdog
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Buchla 700 Rare Synthesizer
via this auction
"It has been rumored that there are 12. I have heard that number a bit higher and a bit lower depending on who you ask. There is a Buchla 700 Yahoo group for enthusiasts so there has to be at least a few of them. It is an awesome and truly unique piece of synthesizer gear.
The condition is good. There is a tiny bit of tape residue from the time it spent at JL's repair shop many years ago on the black top and a few of the screws holding down the top panel are missing but easily replaced. The external video monitor output does not work (like about 99% of Buchla 700s). You do not need the monitor to make it work - just touch the panels and off you go. It makes amazing sounds - spatially rich and unlike anything you've heard before. You can hear a LIVE sampling on my myspace site - mainstreetelectricalparade. All the blinking lights work on the bottom and the sensors appear to work well - although it is such a bizarre instrument I am never sure what I am triggering and what is automatic.
It is being sold as a rare vintage instrument. 'As is' condition with no refunds. This is your chance to own an extremely rare experimental instrument. Please do not bid on it if you have no idea what it is.
There is a ton of info on the Buchla here:
Buchla
VSE
Included in the auction: The Buchla 700, a power cable, whatever 3.5" disks I got when I bought it many years ago...a working system 3.5" disk is in the drive currently. "
More via echo7even on AH: "a 700 in this particular condition is a very crippled instrument. The 700 is based around a Graphical User Interface which requires the VSDD chip be operational and a compatable monitor be connected. Otherwise you only get access to the single basic preset and a few of the parameters for the Osc Freq, Index and Filter...the strength of the 700 are the various Osc routings, 12+ X 96 Breakpoint Envelopes (per voice (12)) and user "Timbre Table" generation and the sequencers. other 700 woes are the *sealed membrane*, CEM chips, powersupply, disk drive & backlight. if it works tho it is one of the craziest FM synths ever developed... even has its own phase shifter."
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Buchla
via christian mirande
"here's a picture of a buchla 500 that i've never seen posted before. it's most buchla 200 stuff, that 500 series keyboard controller, and the 300 series patchbay (same as in ciani's) and osc bank (i think, i forget what david told me it was, it's in his 300 too). got it from the buchla 700 group. there's some other shots there too.
top: 281, 292, 227, 207, 257
middle: #, 296, %, 266, 285, 230
proprietary 500 keyboard controller
# - 500/300 series wavetable osc right? i forget, corrections?
% - 500/300 series patchbay, for get the numbers, similar two the 228-2 (228-1?) or the strips; used in Ciani's 300
Here's a link to a set i played with easel player charles cohen if your interested. i've been trying to get him to do some sound samples or youtube vids. its under br'er and Charles Cohen" [under Music on the right - the track features the Buchla Music Easel]
images:
charles playing out recently, his other 200, the easel (and some guys laptop)
Monday, January 14, 2008
Synthesizer Von Gestern - Roland System 700 Recording
This one via Jeff and Mark Pulver on AH. The direct link to the recording is here, courtesy of Jeff and posted on the MIDIWall gear page by Mark Pulver. Be sure to check out the MIDIWall gear page for more synth goodness. You might recognize the name Synthesizer Von Gestern from these prior posts.
Update via peterwendt in the comments:
"Great. I have the vol. 1 and vol. 2 CDs that include this track. I love listening to them and I think they give a good account of the characters of the instruments that I know. Vol. 2 includes the System 700 and a wonderful performance by Oskar Sala on his Mixtur-Trautonium.
There is a vol. 3 disc that I really want (Buchla, Prophet VS, ...).
The German CD label has interesting pages on the CDs and the project here:
http://www.originaltonwest.de/vintage%20synths%20vol.1.html
http://www.originaltonwest.de/vintage%20synths%20vol.2.html
http://www.originaltonwest.de/vintage%20synths%20vol.3.html
Dang. If only I had bought that System 700 cheap in Japan."
links also via Jeff on AH.
Update via peterwendt in the comments:
"Great. I have the vol. 1 and vol. 2 CDs that include this track. I love listening to them and I think they give a good account of the characters of the instruments that I know. Vol. 2 includes the System 700 and a wonderful performance by Oskar Sala on his Mixtur-Trautonium.
There is a vol. 3 disc that I really want (Buchla, Prophet VS, ...).
The German CD label has interesting pages on the CDs and the project here:
http://www.originaltonwest.de/vintage%20synths%20vol.1.html
http://www.originaltonwest.de/vintage%20synths%20vol.2.html
http://www.originaltonwest.de/vintage%20synths%20vol.3.html
Dang. If only I had bought that System 700 cheap in Japan."
links also via Jeff on AH.
Monday, January 07, 2008
Analog Synthesizers アナログシンセサイザー
video upload by kiewmission
"TOKYO GEIJUTSU DAIGAKU THE 120TH ANNIVERSARY
Buchla, MoogIII, ARP2500, Roland System 700 & 100M.
東京藝術大学 創立120周年企画
音響研究室アナログシンセサイザー展示"
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Serge Modular System
images via this auction and this auction.
Auction 1:
QUANTIZER MODULE
ASR MODULE
ASR MODULE
DUAL TRANSIENT GENERATOR MODULE
RANDOM SOURCE MODULE
SMOOTH STEPPED GENERATOR
CV PRO MODULE
DUAL UNIVERSAL SLOPE GENERATOR
EXTENDED ADSR MODULE
SMOOTH FUNCTION GENERATOR
NOISE SOURCE MODULE
DUAL PROCESSOR MODULE
DUAL PROCESSOR SLOPE GENERATOR
PHASER MODULE
VOLT CONTROLLED STEREO MIXER
NEW TIMBRAL OSCILLATOR MODULE
PRECISION VCO (2 MODULES)
WAVE MULTIPLIER MODULE
VARIABLE QVCF MODULE
DUAL TRANSIENT GENERATOR
DUAL AUDIO MIXER MODULE
TOUCH ACTIVATED KEYBOARD SEQUENCER
Auction 2:
"PREAMP DETECTOR
FREQUENCY SHIFTER
C/M MODULE
WILSON ANALOG DELAY MODULE
MIXER MODULE
VARIABLE SLOPE VCF
RESONANT EQUILIZER MODULE
DUAL PHASER MODULE
DUAL CHANNEL STEREO MIXER MODULE
Serge gets its name from Serge Tcherepnin (pronounced "Cher - epp - nin"), a multitalented composer and electronic designer born of Russian-Chinese parents and raised in France. Self-taught in electronic design and circuit building, Serge enjoyed doing 'junk electronic' projects early on, making tape compositions using various electronic noisemakers cobbled together out of transistor radios and the like.
After studying music and physics at Harvard and Princeton, he taught music composition at the California Institute of the Arts. This was the early 70's, the heyday of Moog, ARP, and Buchla synthesizers. Calarts had a few Buchla-equipped studios. These were expensive, highly sought-after instruments, kept under lock and key. Getting studio time on one at Calarts meant being either a recognized staff composer or someone who maneuvered themselves into favor. The Buchla, ARP, and Moog synthesizers were interesting in their way, but could be improved upon. They were both expensive and bulky, a system with a decent number of functions could take up a whole wall in a small room. Serge and students Rich Gold and Randy Cohen wondered what they could do about this. After kicking around some ideas, they decided they were going to do their own synthesizer.
The first modules were designed, soldered, and built at Serge's home in what was essentially a kitchen tabletop operation. Before long, the word got out to other professors, students, and musicians about this new synthesizer. They wanted a piece of the action. Serge set up a strange sort of guerrilla manufacturing operation at Calarts on a second-story courtyard balcony. People paid $700 upfront for parts, worked on the 'assembly line' soldering and building modules, and eventually got themselves a six-panel system. Somehow, the Calarts administration either didn't find out or wasn't too bothered by this.
Another interesting player in this drama was composer Morton Subotnik, a professor at Calarts. He had a long association with instrument designer Don Buchla in the early 60's, the two of them collaborating on fundamental aspects of synthesizer design. When Mort spoke, Don listened. Serge caught on to this, and sought to woo Morton away from the Buchlas, but that was difficult. Eventually, Serge did build Mort some custom equipment.
In the 70's Serge collaborated on the design and construction of TONTO, a large polyphonic modular system. TONTO had the ancestry of many early Serge designs, some packaged behind faux-Moog front panels, including the NTO.
Serge eventually quit teaching and began to build synthesizers more seriously, using the first designs as a springboard. The Serge company was started in 1975, in the West Hollywood area, then headed north to San Francisco's Haight Street a few years later. It was always a humble bohemian concern, running more on enthusiasm and the love of making music than money and hardheaded business sense. Business tapered to a trickle in the middle 80's, and Serge, to support his family, started doing various outside electronic consulting projects. In 1992 Serge decided to move back to France. It was at this point that he sold the closely-guarded circuit designs to longtime associate Rex Probe, who then founded Sound Transform Systems. Production record keeping was pretty informal; it's estimated that "hundreds" of Serge systems were produced in the early years.
Today, Serge is again doing musical composition and is involved in helping Russian Jews move to Israel.
As Moog was a powerful East Coast influence that inspired ARP and Polyfusion, Buchla was the West Coast influence on Serge. Several Buchla designs, including the use of touch sensitive nontraditional keyboards, sequencers, random voltage generators, function generators, and matrix mixers found their way into Serge's repertoire. But that's not to say that Serge is merely a Buchla clone. Serge made many unique contributions, including the wave multiplier module, and some ideas were taken to new heights. Serge's oscillator designs have extraordinary accuracy and stability, especially considering their discrete nature. His philosophy of allowing the easy interplay of audio, control, and trigger signals, combined with the use of banana plugs, makes these systems wonderfully flexible.
There's no denying the amazing staying power of the Serge designs. Largely because of the development of convenient microprocessor-based keyboard synths, the 80's were a nasty time for analog synthesizer makers, practically all of them throwing in the towel. Serge's business slowed way down but never completely went out of production. With the recent clamoring for analog gear fueling successful production, Rex Probe and Sound Transform Systems look poised to carry the cream of analog modular music synthesis over the threshold of the 21st century, into their fourth decade of realization.
Sound Transform Systems has done a great job of continuing the analog modular lineage. Most of the traditional Serge modules are there, a few old ones were dropped, a few new ones added. The details are constantly being improved in many visible and invisible ways. They are still laboriously handmade, though the entire build process has been improved. Turnaround time has been improved from several months to 'just a couple'. All the components are top notch. The panel graphics and layout of many of the modules have been redesigned to make them more compact while keeping or improving the functionality. The circuit designs on many modules have been updated."
Auction 1:
QUANTIZER MODULE
ASR MODULE
ASR MODULE
DUAL TRANSIENT GENERATOR MODULE
RANDOM SOURCE MODULE
SMOOTH STEPPED GENERATOR
CV PRO MODULE
DUAL UNIVERSAL SLOPE GENERATOR
EXTENDED ADSR MODULE
SMOOTH FUNCTION GENERATOR
NOISE SOURCE MODULE
DUAL PROCESSOR MODULE
DUAL PROCESSOR SLOPE GENERATOR
PHASER MODULE
VOLT CONTROLLED STEREO MIXER
NEW TIMBRAL OSCILLATOR MODULE
PRECISION VCO (2 MODULES)
WAVE MULTIPLIER MODULE
VARIABLE QVCF MODULE
DUAL TRANSIENT GENERATOR
DUAL AUDIO MIXER MODULE
TOUCH ACTIVATED KEYBOARD SEQUENCER
Auction 2:
"PREAMP DETECTOR
FREQUENCY SHIFTER
C/M MODULE
WILSON ANALOG DELAY MODULE
MIXER MODULE
VARIABLE SLOPE VCF
RESONANT EQUILIZER MODULE
DUAL PHASER MODULE
DUAL CHANNEL STEREO MIXER MODULE
Serge gets its name from Serge Tcherepnin (pronounced "Cher - epp - nin"), a multitalented composer and electronic designer born of Russian-Chinese parents and raised in France. Self-taught in electronic design and circuit building, Serge enjoyed doing 'junk electronic' projects early on, making tape compositions using various electronic noisemakers cobbled together out of transistor radios and the like.
After studying music and physics at Harvard and Princeton, he taught music composition at the California Institute of the Arts. This was the early 70's, the heyday of Moog, ARP, and Buchla synthesizers. Calarts had a few Buchla-equipped studios. These were expensive, highly sought-after instruments, kept under lock and key. Getting studio time on one at Calarts meant being either a recognized staff composer or someone who maneuvered themselves into favor. The Buchla, ARP, and Moog synthesizers were interesting in their way, but could be improved upon. They were both expensive and bulky, a system with a decent number of functions could take up a whole wall in a small room. Serge and students Rich Gold and Randy Cohen wondered what they could do about this. After kicking around some ideas, they decided they were going to do their own synthesizer.
The first modules were designed, soldered, and built at Serge's home in what was essentially a kitchen tabletop operation. Before long, the word got out to other professors, students, and musicians about this new synthesizer. They wanted a piece of the action. Serge set up a strange sort of guerrilla manufacturing operation at Calarts on a second-story courtyard balcony. People paid $700 upfront for parts, worked on the 'assembly line' soldering and building modules, and eventually got themselves a six-panel system. Somehow, the Calarts administration either didn't find out or wasn't too bothered by this.
Another interesting player in this drama was composer Morton Subotnik, a professor at Calarts. He had a long association with instrument designer Don Buchla in the early 60's, the two of them collaborating on fundamental aspects of synthesizer design. When Mort spoke, Don listened. Serge caught on to this, and sought to woo Morton away from the Buchlas, but that was difficult. Eventually, Serge did build Mort some custom equipment.
In the 70's Serge collaborated on the design and construction of TONTO, a large polyphonic modular system. TONTO had the ancestry of many early Serge designs, some packaged behind faux-Moog front panels, including the NTO.
Serge eventually quit teaching and began to build synthesizers more seriously, using the first designs as a springboard. The Serge company was started in 1975, in the West Hollywood area, then headed north to San Francisco's Haight Street a few years later. It was always a humble bohemian concern, running more on enthusiasm and the love of making music than money and hardheaded business sense. Business tapered to a trickle in the middle 80's, and Serge, to support his family, started doing various outside electronic consulting projects. In 1992 Serge decided to move back to France. It was at this point that he sold the closely-guarded circuit designs to longtime associate Rex Probe, who then founded Sound Transform Systems. Production record keeping was pretty informal; it's estimated that "hundreds" of Serge systems were produced in the early years.
Today, Serge is again doing musical composition and is involved in helping Russian Jews move to Israel.
As Moog was a powerful East Coast influence that inspired ARP and Polyfusion, Buchla was the West Coast influence on Serge. Several Buchla designs, including the use of touch sensitive nontraditional keyboards, sequencers, random voltage generators, function generators, and matrix mixers found their way into Serge's repertoire. But that's not to say that Serge is merely a Buchla clone. Serge made many unique contributions, including the wave multiplier module, and some ideas were taken to new heights. Serge's oscillator designs have extraordinary accuracy and stability, especially considering their discrete nature. His philosophy of allowing the easy interplay of audio, control, and trigger signals, combined with the use of banana plugs, makes these systems wonderfully flexible.
There's no denying the amazing staying power of the Serge designs. Largely because of the development of convenient microprocessor-based keyboard synths, the 80's were a nasty time for analog synthesizer makers, practically all of them throwing in the towel. Serge's business slowed way down but never completely went out of production. With the recent clamoring for analog gear fueling successful production, Rex Probe and Sound Transform Systems look poised to carry the cream of analog modular music synthesis over the threshold of the 21st century, into their fourth decade of realization.
Sound Transform Systems has done a great job of continuing the analog modular lineage. Most of the traditional Serge modules are there, a few old ones were dropped, a few new ones added. The details are constantly being improved in many visible and invisible ways. They are still laboriously handmade, though the entire build process has been improved. Turnaround time has been improved from several months to 'just a couple'. All the components are top notch. The panel graphics and layout of many of the modules have been redesigned to make them more compact while keeping or improving the functionality. The circuit designs on many modules have been updated."
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Technosaurus Selector Literature and a Selector "Review".
This one in via Mike Peake on AH:
"This may exist in other spots on the web. Good, the more the better. Not enough attention is paid to this machine, regardless of any complaints regarding no new modules etc. It's excellent as it is, as the Minimoog is, for those who can make music without the latest bells and whistles. Remembering that the VCF, with resonance at minimum, cuts very nearly as well as the Moog 904a.
VCO
VCF2
TRES
LFO/Noise
VCA
Cabinet
Technosaurus
This was just submitted to Harmony-Central but here it is for you.
Ease of Use:
This is a very easy to use synthesizer owing to clear descriptions and individual module delineation. It's rather more of an East Coast machine along the lines of the Moog Modular, being more of a keyboard player's instrument for jamming than the Buchla-style machines. If you know the Moog and Moog-based systems such as the Synthesizers.com, you'll have no trouble using the Selector.
Perhaps the only suprise is that some CV modulation values are bipolar, requiring a voltage that can swing to the negative, to access certain parameter ranges (very low oscillator frequencies and PW). This works well with the LFOs, which are bipolar, but the envelopes are unipolar (although they can be switched to negative-going, this is still unipolar but in the opposite direction).
I suggest using a Frostwave MIDI to CV converter to drive it, or of course the Technosaurus MIDI/CV module. This is because the oscillators and filters have an impedance that doesn't match the Encore Expressionist I'd planned to use it with.
Features:
Features are limited to the amount of available modules, which does not include a "control module" with manual voltage outs, offsets, etc. Don't worry about the lack of bells and whistles, there is plenty here to keep synthesists and musicians busy owing to the wonderful sonic character and ease of use.
Good features include the fastest (D)ADSRs on the planet (70uS minimum rise time on the Attack). The VCA is built to withstand such speed, and does not click and thump. Reference: The Minimoog will start to click with rise times faster then around 750uS, and the Mini and Modular envs are around 1ms as a result. Due to this, the Selector obviously allows for extreme percussion sounds. The ADSRs can also be switched to AD types as well. Very thoughtful, very handy. The VCA has extreme dynamic range and is very quiet, so you'll end up with powerful percussion and firm, quiet, very dark bass sounds.
The oscillators are very stable, perhaps too much for my ultra-sloppy vintage Moog pinings, but stand at attention when you switch octaves, etc. The hard synch is good-sounding, and there is a thoughtful output on each oscillator for driving others in HS, so that you don't have to mult out an audio waveform to attain it. The pulse waveforms are very stable, even at the extreme values.
The oscillators are similar to the Moog in that they are not incredibly loud, and as such, don't do extremely deep FM. I haven't using a VCA to try boosting the gain on one yet... The LFOs have high output levels, and go up to around 2KHz, so it's easy to use them for nice FM effects. They are also very wide-range, so you can cross-modulate their CVs from nearly standing still, up into the audio ranges. Very nice. I despise LFOs with "range" switching, which always seems to be right in the middle of a place I wish to modulate through, so these are very pleasing.
The Sample and Hold is extremely stable; I know that Jurg is very happy with it, if he'll pardon me for saying so. It features external and internal clock and sampling source. You can drive it with the LFOs and sample the LFO module based Noise source, and produce modulations that will vary across the entire audible range (very wide CV swings). You do not have to be polite here if you do not wish to be. The S/H module has a smooth random source which is nice to use as the sample input as well. It's not the Buchla SOU, but it's musical and useful (which is how I'd characterize this entire synth).
The envelopes may be driven from the LFOs. A varying trigger voltage produces varying envelope output levels (I used the SH output into the triggers for the amplitude-varying drum sounds in my track "Seance". Search Soundclick.com for that if you're intersted.).
The TRES is an excellent module, both sonically and functionally. Although each band is only variable from 32Hz through 8KHz, each is individually controlled by CV, has individual resonance up to and including self-oscillation, and individual volume. Then the overall volume may be modulated by CV if you wish. There is a handy On/Off switch if you want to tune your oscillators to intervals etc. in the midst of a complicated patch, then switch the RES back in.
The TRES is very musical. I love the way it sounds. I applaud Cwejman and others for their new multiple CV resonator modules, but I prefer the resonant character of the TRES over the MP3s that I've heard. It can sound woody, phasey, whispery, and outright nasty as well. It's the key to the male choral sound I like so much, which requires different CV modulation to two of the bands, as well as each band sitting right at the edge of self-oscillation (that magic place that the digital gear has yet to master).
Very nice are the mults on each module where there is space, such as the TRES. Also nice are the multiple inputs on the Filter and TRES, meant to use as unity-gain intput mixing (the oscillators waveforms have individual volumes!). Multiple outs on the TRES etc. are nice too, for easily patching to multiple destinations, ala' the Buchla!
Sound:
The sounds are very good, although the envelopes or the VCA slopes have their own character, a touch off of what I'm used to on the Moog. It's a very interesting instrument to play, and to find new characters in the filter and TRES. Note: The 12dB Filter 2, with the resonance down, cuts very nearly as well as the Moog 904a, which is my standard for happiness. The filter sounds great, and does very interesting audio-rate FM that sound like no other filter I've used (in a good way, of course).
It's a very responsive instrument. You'll need a CV converter with a built-in LFO, however, as it has no DC-capable VCA.
I am very happy with how easily musical it sounds, and knowing that there is much more there waiting to be found.
Reliability:
The envelopes had a mod, a small daughter board, to ease the load on the power supply. This is because they drain the power supplies... I chose a supply with plenty more amps than the system would require, being a believer in headroom anyway.
My fifth envelope has burned up two chips twice now. You cannot fire all five at once. To be very fair, Jurg has sent out replacement parts in no time flat when I've asked. I have full faith in him and the company in support of the product.
This is the only ugly aspect of this beautiful synth. However, I would not turn down a date with that supermodel, the one with the mole, whose name I can't remember, the smart one who was on Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, just for the fact that she has a mole...
I bought the system knowing about this, and it's not a big problem. It's disappointing to not be able to fire all five envelopes at once, but I'll survive by creating two individual sounds on the one instrument, that fire individually. And I know that Jurg is there if the need should arise.
Otherwise, the machine has been absolutely brilliant. No bad jacks, no bad pots, no dirty pots after several years of use, etc. The Zebra patch cords I bought from him with the system have never worn out either.
There is an overall cage for the modules inside the case; each module slides in on guides and a socket seats at the rear; machining of the front panels is akin to the System 700, in that it's really good. Very tight. In comparison, the original Moog modules were sometimes as sloppy as their pitches. I don't worry that the PCBs would suffer injury unless the entire case were to be somehow crushed.
Customer support:
Jurg is one of the good guys and deserves your attention and respect. I'm happy to have chosen his synth, and having had contact with him.
Conclusion:
The TRES and filter self-oscillate but only if there is an audio input going on. This is a bit unusual, and limits certain things, however, that is very very minor. It would be nice if the TRES had additional 1V/8va inputs, to ease situations where you want instant keyboard tracking.
I'd certainly buy another, and would add to my current system given the chance. I recommend it to anyone who is into modular synthesis, as the filters and TRES are still unlike other systems.
Looking for a slightly different sonic character???
It's been here since 1996.
A note: System C and D owners know that the empty space in the middle rack can be filled with Eurack-compatible modules. Analogue Systems make a nice LFO/DC VCA keyboard module that would be quite nice in there. Also, a "control" module."
"This may exist in other spots on the web. Good, the more the better. Not enough attention is paid to this machine, regardless of any complaints regarding no new modules etc. It's excellent as it is, as the Minimoog is, for those who can make music without the latest bells and whistles. Remembering that the VCF, with resonance at minimum, cuts very nearly as well as the Moog 904a.
VCO
VCF2
TRES
LFO/Noise
VCA
Cabinet
Technosaurus
This was just submitted to Harmony-Central but here it is for you.
Ease of Use:
This is a very easy to use synthesizer owing to clear descriptions and individual module delineation. It's rather more of an East Coast machine along the lines of the Moog Modular, being more of a keyboard player's instrument for jamming than the Buchla-style machines. If you know the Moog and Moog-based systems such as the Synthesizers.com, you'll have no trouble using the Selector.
Perhaps the only suprise is that some CV modulation values are bipolar, requiring a voltage that can swing to the negative, to access certain parameter ranges (very low oscillator frequencies and PW). This works well with the LFOs, which are bipolar, but the envelopes are unipolar (although they can be switched to negative-going, this is still unipolar but in the opposite direction).
I suggest using a Frostwave MIDI to CV converter to drive it, or of course the Technosaurus MIDI/CV module. This is because the oscillators and filters have an impedance that doesn't match the Encore Expressionist I'd planned to use it with.
Features:
Features are limited to the amount of available modules, which does not include a "control module" with manual voltage outs, offsets, etc. Don't worry about the lack of bells and whistles, there is plenty here to keep synthesists and musicians busy owing to the wonderful sonic character and ease of use.
Good features include the fastest (D)ADSRs on the planet (70uS minimum rise time on the Attack). The VCA is built to withstand such speed, and does not click and thump. Reference: The Minimoog will start to click with rise times faster then around 750uS, and the Mini and Modular envs are around 1ms as a result. Due to this, the Selector obviously allows for extreme percussion sounds. The ADSRs can also be switched to AD types as well. Very thoughtful, very handy. The VCA has extreme dynamic range and is very quiet, so you'll end up with powerful percussion and firm, quiet, very dark bass sounds.
The oscillators are very stable, perhaps too much for my ultra-sloppy vintage Moog pinings, but stand at attention when you switch octaves, etc. The hard synch is good-sounding, and there is a thoughtful output on each oscillator for driving others in HS, so that you don't have to mult out an audio waveform to attain it. The pulse waveforms are very stable, even at the extreme values.
The oscillators are similar to the Moog in that they are not incredibly loud, and as such, don't do extremely deep FM. I haven't using a VCA to try boosting the gain on one yet... The LFOs have high output levels, and go up to around 2KHz, so it's easy to use them for nice FM effects. They are also very wide-range, so you can cross-modulate their CVs from nearly standing still, up into the audio ranges. Very nice. I despise LFOs with "range" switching, which always seems to be right in the middle of a place I wish to modulate through, so these are very pleasing.
The Sample and Hold is extremely stable; I know that Jurg is very happy with it, if he'll pardon me for saying so. It features external and internal clock and sampling source. You can drive it with the LFOs and sample the LFO module based Noise source, and produce modulations that will vary across the entire audible range (very wide CV swings). You do not have to be polite here if you do not wish to be. The S/H module has a smooth random source which is nice to use as the sample input as well. It's not the Buchla SOU, but it's musical and useful (which is how I'd characterize this entire synth).
The envelopes may be driven from the LFOs. A varying trigger voltage produces varying envelope output levels (I used the SH output into the triggers for the amplitude-varying drum sounds in my track "Seance". Search Soundclick.com for that if you're intersted.).
The TRES is an excellent module, both sonically and functionally. Although each band is only variable from 32Hz through 8KHz, each is individually controlled by CV, has individual resonance up to and including self-oscillation, and individual volume. Then the overall volume may be modulated by CV if you wish. There is a handy On/Off switch if you want to tune your oscillators to intervals etc. in the midst of a complicated patch, then switch the RES back in.
The TRES is very musical. I love the way it sounds. I applaud Cwejman and others for their new multiple CV resonator modules, but I prefer the resonant character of the TRES over the MP3s that I've heard. It can sound woody, phasey, whispery, and outright nasty as well. It's the key to the male choral sound I like so much, which requires different CV modulation to two of the bands, as well as each band sitting right at the edge of self-oscillation (that magic place that the digital gear has yet to master).
Very nice are the mults on each module where there is space, such as the TRES. Also nice are the multiple inputs on the Filter and TRES, meant to use as unity-gain intput mixing (the oscillators waveforms have individual volumes!). Multiple outs on the TRES etc. are nice too, for easily patching to multiple destinations, ala' the Buchla!
Sound:
The sounds are very good, although the envelopes or the VCA slopes have their own character, a touch off of what I'm used to on the Moog. It's a very interesting instrument to play, and to find new characters in the filter and TRES. Note: The 12dB Filter 2, with the resonance down, cuts very nearly as well as the Moog 904a, which is my standard for happiness. The filter sounds great, and does very interesting audio-rate FM that sound like no other filter I've used (in a good way, of course).
It's a very responsive instrument. You'll need a CV converter with a built-in LFO, however, as it has no DC-capable VCA.
I am very happy with how easily musical it sounds, and knowing that there is much more there waiting to be found.
Reliability:
The envelopes had a mod, a small daughter board, to ease the load on the power supply. This is because they drain the power supplies... I chose a supply with plenty more amps than the system would require, being a believer in headroom anyway.
My fifth envelope has burned up two chips twice now. You cannot fire all five at once. To be very fair, Jurg has sent out replacement parts in no time flat when I've asked. I have full faith in him and the company in support of the product.
This is the only ugly aspect of this beautiful synth. However, I would not turn down a date with that supermodel, the one with the mole, whose name I can't remember, the smart one who was on Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, just for the fact that she has a mole...
I bought the system knowing about this, and it's not a big problem. It's disappointing to not be able to fire all five envelopes at once, but I'll survive by creating two individual sounds on the one instrument, that fire individually. And I know that Jurg is there if the need should arise.
Otherwise, the machine has been absolutely brilliant. No bad jacks, no bad pots, no dirty pots after several years of use, etc. The Zebra patch cords I bought from him with the system have never worn out either.
There is an overall cage for the modules inside the case; each module slides in on guides and a socket seats at the rear; machining of the front panels is akin to the System 700, in that it's really good. Very tight. In comparison, the original Moog modules were sometimes as sloppy as their pitches. I don't worry that the PCBs would suffer injury unless the entire case were to be somehow crushed.
Customer support:
Jurg is one of the good guys and deserves your attention and respect. I'm happy to have chosen his synth, and having had contact with him.
Conclusion:
The TRES and filter self-oscillate but only if there is an audio input going on. This is a bit unusual, and limits certain things, however, that is very very minor. It would be nice if the TRES had additional 1V/8va inputs, to ease situations where you want instant keyboard tracking.
I'd certainly buy another, and would add to my current system given the chance. I recommend it to anyone who is into modular synthesis, as the filters and TRES are still unlike other systems.
Looking for a slightly different sonic character???
It's been here since 1996.
A note: System C and D owners know that the empty space in the middle rack can be filled with Eurack-compatible modules. Analogue Systems make a nice LFO/DC VCA keyboard module that would be quite nice in there. Also, a "control" module."
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Synths in TV and Film
Note: some of the videos below have been pulled from YouTube, but I'm keeping mention of them up as a reference that they are out there.
Let the page load before scrolling - it's a long one.
Be sure to see the Synth Movies list and see the Synth Movies and Synth TV and Film labels for more.
1. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Synths: ARP 2500 played by Phillip Dodds, head of ARP Engineering, Yamaha CS-?.
2. Fame Synths: ARP 2600, MOOG Minimoog
Let the page load before scrolling - it's a long one.
Be sure to see the Synth Movies list and see the Synth Movies and Synth TV and Film labels for more.
1. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Synths: ARP 2500 played by Phillip Dodds, head of ARP Engineering, Yamaha CS-?.
2. Fame Synths: ARP 2600, MOOG Minimoog
LABELS/MORE:
ARP,
E-mu,
Eventide,
Featured,
Korg,
MOOG,
Roland,
Sequential Circuits,
Stocking Stuffers,
Synth Babes,
Synth Movies,
Synth TV and Film,
TONTO,
Video,
Yamaha
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Serge Modular
Click here for shots via this auction.
Details:
"SMOOTH FUNCTION GENERATOR, NOISE SOURCE, DUAL ANALOG SHIFT REGISTER, DUAL UNIVERSAL SLOPE GENERATOR, DUAL PHASER, UNIVERSAL EQUAL POWER AUDIO PROCESSOR, TIMBRAL OSCILLATOR, PRECISION VCO (TWO OF THESE), WAVE MULTIPLIER, VARIABLE Q VCF, DUAL TRANSIENT GENERATOR, DUAL AUDIO MIXER, TOUCH ACTIVATED KEYBOARD SEQUENCER.
Serge gets its name from Serge Tcherepnin (pronounced "Cher - epp - nin"), a multitalented composer and electronic designer born of Russian-Chinese parents and raised in France. Self-taught in electronic design and circuit building, Serge enjoyed doing 'junk electronic' projects early on, making tape compositions using various electronic noisemakers cobbled together out of transistor radios and the like.
After studying music and physics at Harvard and Princeton, he taught music composition at the California Institute of the Arts. This was the early 70's, the heyday of Moog, ARP, and Buchla synthesizers. Calarts had a few Buchla-equipped studios. These were expensive, highly sought-after instruments, kept under lock and key. Getting studio time on one at Calarts meant being either a recognized staff composer or someone who maneuvered themselves into favor. The Buchla, ARP, and Moog synthesizers were interesting in their way, but could be improved upon. They were both expensive and bulky, a system with a decent number of functions could take up a whole wall in a small room. Serge and students Rich Gold and Randy Cohen wondered what they could do about this. After kicking around some ideas, they decided they were going to do their own synthesizer.
The first modules were designed, soldered, and built at Serge's home in what was essentially a kitchen tabletop operation. Before long, the word got out to other professors, students, and musicians about this new synthesizer. They wanted a piece of the action. Serge set up a strange sort of guerrilla manufacturing operation at Calarts on a second-story courtyard balcony. People paid $700 upfront for parts, worked on the 'assembly line' soldering and building modules, and eventually got themselves a six-panel system. Somehow, the Calarts administration either didn't find out or wasn't too bothered by this.
Another interesting player in this drama was composer Morton Subotnik, a professor at Calarts. He had a long association with instrument designer Don Buchla in the early 60's, the two of them collaborating on fundamental aspects of synthesizer design. When Mort spoke, Don listened. Serge caught on to this, and sought to woo Morton away from the Buchlas, but that was difficult. Eventually, Serge did build Mort some custom equipment.
In the 70's Serge collaborated on the design and construction of TONTO, a large polyphonic modular system. TONTO had the ancestry of many early Serge designs, some packaged behind faux-Moog front panels, including the NTO.
Serge eventually quit teaching and began to build synthesizers more seriously, using the first designs as a springboard. The Serge company was started in 1975, in the West Hollywood area, then headed north to San Francisco's Haight Street a few years later. It was always a humble bohemian concern, running more on enthusiasm and the love of making music than money and hardheaded business sense. Business tapered to a trickle in the middle 80's, and Serge, to support his family, started doing various outside electronic consulting projects. In 1992 Serge decided to move back to France. It was at this point that he sold the closely-guarded circuit designs to longtime associate Rex Probe, who then founded Sound Transform Systems. Production record keeping was pretty informal; it's estimated that "hundreds" of Serge systems were produced in the early years.
Today, Serge is again doing musical composition and is involved in helping Russian Jews move to Israel.
As Moog was a powerful East Coast influence that inspired ARP and Polyfusion, Buchla was the West Coast influence on Serge. Several Buchla designs, including the use of touch sensitive nontraditional keyboards, sequencers, random voltage generators, function generators, and matrix mixers found their way into Serge's repertoire. But that's not to say that Serge is merely a Buchla clone. Serge made many unique contributions, including the wave multiplier module, and some ideas were taken to new heights. Serge's oscillator designs have extraordinary accuracy and stability, especially considering their discrete nature. His philosophy of allowing the easy interplay of audio, control, and trigger signals, combined with the use of banana plugs, makes these systems wonderfully flexible.
There's no denying the amazing staying power of the Serge designs. Largely because of the development of convenient microprocessor-based keyboard synths, the 80's were a nasty time for analog synthesizer makers, practically all of them throwing in the towel. Serge's business slowed way down but never completely went out of production. With the recent clamoring for analog gear fueling successful production, Rex Probe and Sound Transform Systems look poised to carry the cream of analog modular music synthesis over the threshold of the 21st century, into their fourth decade of realization.
Sound Transform Systems has done a great job of continuing the analog modular lineage. Most of the traditional Serge modules are there, a few old ones were dropped, a few new ones added. The details are constantly being improved in many visible and invisible ways. They are still laboriously handmade, though the entire build process has been improved. Turnaround time has been improved from several months to 'just a couple'. All the components are top notch. The panel graphics and layout of many of the modules have been redesigned to make them more compact while keeping or improving the functionality. The circuit designs on many modules have been updated."
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
The Top 100 Synths According to the A-Z of Analog Synths
via Ethan Callendar in the comments of this post. Thank you Ethan! Click the image to shoot Peter an email on the availability of the A-Z Books. I have them and they are very, very good - an absolute must have for synth enthusiasts.
"Here are the top 100 according to Peter Forrest's "A-Z of Analogue Synthesisers:
1. Moog Memorymoog (LAM)
2. Roland MKS-80 (w/MPG-80 + MKB-1000)
3. Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 (Rev 3)
4. Moog Memorymoog Plus
5. Sequential Circuits Prophet-10
6. Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 (Rev 2)
7. Oberheim Matrix-12
8. Sequential Circuits Prophet-T8
9. Moog Original Prototype
10. Oberheim Xpander
"Here are the top 100 according to Peter Forrest's "A-Z of Analogue Synthesisers:
1. Moog Memorymoog (LAM)
2. Roland MKS-80 (w/MPG-80 + MKB-1000)
3. Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 (Rev 3)
4. Moog Memorymoog Plus
5. Sequential Circuits Prophet-10
6. Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 (Rev 2)
7. Oberheim Matrix-12
8. Sequential Circuits Prophet-T8
9. Moog Original Prototype
10. Oberheim Xpander
Monday, March 26, 2007
Electric Parade
Title link takes you to Electric Parade's MySpace page. I obviously found this via the previous post. You'll find tracks featuring Serge and Buchla 700. Be sure to check out his pics if you have a MySpace account.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
MSS2000 - New Flickr Shot
flickr by synthfanKH.
Update: More on the MSS2000 here.
Title link takes you to synthfanKH's set including the Kurzweil VA-1, Roland System 700, Buchla 200e, and SMS 2000.
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Move over Vemia
So we all know about Vemia, right? Well, somone took a look at what else was listed by the seller of the rack 808 I just posted today. So I decided to take a looksie. Umm... Umm... Just click here and scroll. No biggie? Click on the next page and scroll (might want to be sitting down). Damn....
You don't see these three together everyday. And... There is more.
Here are some shots saved for posterity including Buchla, RSF Kobol, ARP, Roland System 700, and a Korg EX800 (just never saw one with rack ends before).
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Buchla 200e on Sound on Sound
Word has it that the review is not favorable. Just might have to pick up a copy...
Update: The review is part 1 of 2. Some interesting notes in via Peter Genader on cost and complexity of the Buchla, via AH:
"On the 200's cost in general. Yeah - $1400 is a lot of money for a VCO.
$700 for four VCAs (LPGs) is kind of steep, too. But you've got to keep in
mind - the 200e is is basically a complex computer network - the modules
acting as the workstations and the 225e working as the server, all on a
customized bus --- all with an amazingly sophisticated musical instrument
laid on top. The technology in play here is mind-boggling. Once you see
one of the new modules out of the chassis, when you see how much componentry
is involved with even the 'simple' modules, the price point starts to make
sense and becomes practical - even inexpensive.. It seems like no big deal
to have a button that says 'save' which records all of the switch settings,
all but about 10 of the pot settings. It's like saying "bend light". Easy
to say, but you've got to be traveling faster than the speed of light to
pull it off.
"For anyone whose done synth DIY work or even produced modules products,
there are countless think tank meetings among the players in which they go
through this sort of mental diarrhea - it would be cool if it did this. How
about we make this control also do that? In the end you find that much of
that brainstorming ,while cool, would be completely impractical due to the
technology and $$ required to do some of it. It's obvious that the 200 was
no exception to this sort of brainstorming -the BIG difference is, he
actually pulled it all off. He DID the things most other designers scratch
off the list after two seconds of thought about the practicality of each
given feature."
Update: The review is part 1 of 2. Some interesting notes in via Peter Genader on cost and complexity of the Buchla, via AH:
"On the 200's cost in general. Yeah - $1400 is a lot of money for a VCO.
$700 for four VCAs (LPGs) is kind of steep, too. But you've got to keep in
mind - the 200e is is basically a complex computer network - the modules
acting as the workstations and the 225e working as the server, all on a
customized bus --- all with an amazingly sophisticated musical instrument
laid on top. The technology in play here is mind-boggling. Once you see
one of the new modules out of the chassis, when you see how much componentry
is involved with even the 'simple' modules, the price point starts to make
sense and becomes practical - even inexpensive.. It seems like no big deal
to have a button that says 'save' which records all of the switch settings,
all but about 10 of the pot settings. It's like saying "bend light". Easy
to say, but you've got to be traveling faster than the speed of light to
pull it off.
"For anyone whose done synth DIY work or even produced modules products,
there are countless think tank meetings among the players in which they go
through this sort of mental diarrhea - it would be cool if it did this. How
about we make this control also do that? In the end you find that much of
that brainstorming ,while cool, would be completely impractical due to the
technology and $$ required to do some of it. It's obvious that the 200 was
no exception to this sort of brainstorming -the BIG difference is, he
actually pulled it all off. He DID the things most other designers scratch
off the list after two seconds of thought about the practicality of each
given feature."
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Buchla 700
Shot of the Buchla 700 of the Audities Collection. Sent to me from rick, echo7even. Thanks rick!
Update: More on the Buchla 700
Snip from More on the Buchla 700:
"THE 700'S ARCHITECTURE includes four dedicated computers, each of a different nature, and each optimized to its particular function. The nerve center of the instrument is a general purpose digital computer. Responsible for user communication, data processing, and supervisory control, this "host" computer can be programmed to accommodate varied musical needs.
A second computer "massages" incoming data. It directs conversion of analog voltages into digital form, discards redundant information, and transmits essential data to the host computer.
Receiving instructions and data from the host, a third computer (called the multiple arbitrary function generator) directs the instantaneous progress of 190 acoustic variables, each with a time resolution of 1/2000 of a second. This facility enables specification of complex sonic detail and extends the possibilities for expressive control.
A fourth computer, essentially a pipelined digital signal processor (DSP), is responsible for producing the 700's twelve voices. Built into this computer are unusually powerful algorithms for sound generation, including frequency modulation, waveshape interpolation, and timbre modulation (unique to the Buchla, this technique significantly augments the electronic vocabulary."
Update: More on the Buchla 700
Snip from More on the Buchla 700:
"THE 700'S ARCHITECTURE includes four dedicated computers, each of a different nature, and each optimized to its particular function. The nerve center of the instrument is a general purpose digital computer. Responsible for user communication, data processing, and supervisory control, this "host" computer can be programmed to accommodate varied musical needs.
A second computer "massages" incoming data. It directs conversion of analog voltages into digital form, discards redundant information, and transmits essential data to the host computer.
Receiving instructions and data from the host, a third computer (called the multiple arbitrary function generator) directs the instantaneous progress of 190 acoustic variables, each with a time resolution of 1/2000 of a second. This facility enables specification of complex sonic detail and extends the possibilities for expressive control.
A fourth computer, essentially a pipelined digital signal processor (DSP), is responsible for producing the 700's twelve voices. Built into this computer are unusually powerful algorithms for sound generation, including frequency modulation, waveshape interpolation, and timbre modulation (unique to the Buchla, this technique significantly augments the electronic vocabulary."
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© Matrixsynth - All posts are presented here for informative, historical and educative purposes as applicable within fair use.
MATRIXSYNTH is supported by affiliate links that use cookies to track clickthroughs and sales. See the privacy policy for details.
MATRIXSYNTH - EVERYTHING SYNTH