Thief (1981) complete "Igneous" scene (music by TD)

video upload by kovalmoog

"The whole scene of Thief (1981) with TD's re-edition of 'Thru Metamorphic Rocks' theme, renamed as 'Igneous' in the OST release.
The film version is by far more extensive than Thief CD version.
Enjoy that sequence !"

TD = Tangerine Dream.

Curious what they were using back then. According to this thread, they used the following on tour during that time period:

Live in East Berlin, 31st Jan 1980

Chris Franke:
Custom modular synthesizer (comprising of about 50% Moog and 50%
Projekt Electronik):
Moog Oscx2/R.M./VCF/VCAs
Projekt Elektronik VcEnvx2 & Proj. Elek. 2VCO/W.Noise/R.M./Waves (for Drums)
Digital sequencer & trigger selector
Programmer for above (SCI model 700 programmer)
Synth sound bank (for above)
Moog 960 sequential controller x2
Projekt elektronik sequence controller x2
Moog 3-band parametric
Moog 12 stage phaser
Moog 920 programmer
Moog 16-channel vocoder
Rhythm robot sequencer
Emu Oddity voice card
12 analogue drum sounds
Drum envelope unit
Drum EPROM sampled sounds
and more...

Oberheim OB-1
Prophet 5 (rev 2)
Minimoog
Korg PE-2000 polyphonic Ensemble
Elka Rhapsody 610 string machine.

Edgar Froese:
custom Moog modular synthesizer (3 box units comprising Moog modules and sequencers plus sequence controllers from Projekt Electronic)
Prophet 5 rev 2
PPG Sonic Carrier 1003 programmable duophonic DCO/DCF/DCA based synthesizer
PPG Wavecomputer 360 polyphonic digital synthesizer
PPG 350 keyboard sequencer
Arp Pro-DGX monophonic preset synthesizer
Korg PE-2000 polyphonic ensemble
Roland MC-8 microcomposer
Roland VC-10 vocoder
Arp/Solina string ensemble
Mellotron mk V

Johannes Schmoelling:
- Minimoog
- Yamaha CP-80 electric grand
- Oberheim 4-voice
- Elka Rhapsody 610
- Polymoog
- Korg PS-3100
- Synthanorma sequencer

-----------

European tours (Nov-Dec 1980 & Jan-Feb 1981):

Equipment used:

Chris Franke:
Moog/PE modular tower as above
Minimoog
Arp Odyssey mk III
Elka Rhapsody 610
Prophet 5 rev 2

Edgar Froese:
Projekt Elektronik modular synthesizer & sequencers (used by Peter Baumann during '76 and '77)
PPG 340 A Generator Unit, PPG340 B Processor Unit, PPG380 Event Generator, PPG x 2 Terminals, PPG x 2 Computer Keyboards,
Oberheim OB-X

He may have used some more keyboards during these tours but I'm not sure which ones (possibly the Arp pro-DGX, the PPG Sonic carrier or the PPG
360 wavecomputer?)

Johannes Schmoelling:
Moog modular synthesizer (usually handled by Edgar Froese on stage)
Minimoog
Polymoog
Prophet 5 rev 2
Yamaha CP-80 electric grand

-----------

British Isles tour (Oct-Nov 1981):

Equipment used:

Chris Franke:
Moog/PE modular tower as above
Minimoog
Arp Odyssey mk III
Elka Rhapsody 610
Prophet 5 rev 2

Edgar Froese:
PPG 360 wavecomputer
PPG Wave 2
Arp Pro-DGX
Korg PE-2000 poly-ensemble
PPG 5-octave keyboard controller
Custom sequencer (by Helmut Groethe)

Johannes Schmoelling:
Minimoog
Oberheim OB-X (handled by Froese on previous tours)
Custom sequencer (like Edgar's)

YAMAHA CS60 - COMPILATION VIDEO

video upload by Vintage Audio Institute Italia

"The Italian term to describe this synth would be blasonato:
Someone so noble they have a their own coat of arms.

we give you the Yamaha CS60 :
45 kilos of heavy duty Japanese build quality.
We just couldn't pass this one on although it's not typically the machine of our choice it sounds incredible.
Put on your headphones and you'll get it.
The range of sounds you get out of this synth seems frankly endless and the general interaction with an important instrument always makes us want to sell all our other machines and just keep this one instead.
We have to think about this - meanwhile it's going to a Yamaha CS-series specialised repair man for a new ribbon control and a general calibration since it's never been tuned or serviced in its 45 year old life - also kind of incredible - the build-quality is insane.
We got two drummers in this video: first songs are backed up by the elusive CRB Computer Drums (the drum section from the Computer Band 2000) and the second half of the video the rhythm unit is the EKO Ritmo 20.
Both machines have individual sound options - mute switches on the Computer Drums and volumes on the EKO Ritmo 20.

More videos with these two will go up soon so subscribe if this is your thing and follow us on Instagram for first dibs vintage gear sales and much more."

Yamaha CS60 / CRB Computer Drums

video upload by Vintage Audio Institute Italia

"45 kilos of heavy duty Japanese build quality - we give you the Yamaha CS60.

We just couldn't pass this one on although it's not typically the machine of our choice it sounds incredible. Put on your headphones and you'll get it.

The range of sounds you get out of this synthesizer seems frankly endless and the general interaction with an important instrument always makes us want to sell all our other machines and just keep this one instead. We have to think about this - meanwhile it's going to a Yamaha CS-series specialised repair man for a new ribbon control and a general calibration since it's never been tuned or serviced in its 45 year old life - also kind of incredible - the build-quality is insane.

On drums we got the elusive CRB Computer Drums - the drum section from the Computer Band 2000."

The links directly above will take you to additional posts featuring each.

INTRODUCING THE CRB COMPUTER DRUMS

video upload by Vintage Audio Institute Italia

"Very obscure rhythm box from 1980 - the CRB Computer Drums is the stand-alone drum machine from the CRB Computer Band 2000. Lovely analog drum sounds - 9 sounds in total - each with its own mute option dip switch.
This makes these machines quite interesting, we would have preferred individual volume sliders instead but there probably wasn't enough free real estate for that.
One rhythm preset at a time - no mixing and matching.

20 rhythm pattern presets rock, mambo - you name it.
An additional 20 pattern variations - selectable to occur either on every 4th or 8th bar.
And last but not least, a Break button with an additional 20 fill-ins.
So this little box actually sports 60 rhythm patterns in total.

Have a look at our other CRB-related videos - they made a small production run of cool gear in the late 70s and early 80s of which few units survive today."

You can find additional drums featuring the CRB COMPUTER DRUMS here.

CRB Voco Strings and CRB Computerband 2000

video upload by Vintage Audio Institute Italia

"CRB Elettronica was one of many organ manufacturers in the Marche region in Italy in the 1970s.
They did however branch out to produce a very limited number of synthesizers and drum machines for a domestic market where, due to a weak lira and high import taxes, synths manufactured in Japan and America were rare treats.
Speaking of rare - these CRB machines are today incredibly so - having already been manufactured in numbers in the low hundreds - very few survive today.

The CRB Computer Band 2000 is an analog auto-accompaniment unit with a range of chord and arpeggiator sounds.

1. Analog Drum Machine Section with individually mutable sounds
2. Bass section with three sounds and two modes
3. Two separate chord sections with a total of seven sounds, decay and volume controls.
4. And at last the arpeggiator section with four different sounds and decay control.

These sections were originally made for big home-organs, they're incorporated into the CRB 910 organs and a few Solton branded ones as well.

The CRB Voco Strings is an Italian take on the Roland VP-330 - a string and vocoder machine. It has a great sounding string section as a carrier - maybe one of the very sweetest sounding string machines that came out of Italy?
Change my mind in the comment section :)

In this video we're letting the CRB Voco strings process the CRB Computer Band 2000 via the audio input. During the first two compositions, a third player, the Siel Cruise - a lovely Mono / Poly machine, is connected as an external carrier signal instead of the Voco-Strings String Sounds, via the external instrument input in the back.

This video is a compilation of previously released videos on our channel - there are lots more videos of the Computerband 2000 unit as well.

The CRB Computerband unit is currently for sale on Reberb."

See the CRB label below for more.

CRB Computerband 2000

video upload by Vintage Audio Institute Italia

"Introducing the wonderful CRB Computer Band 2000 - a mainly analog auto-accompaniment machine from the the late 70s and early 80s with four sections:

1.Drums with individually mutable sounds and fill-in and variation options
2.Bass section with three sounds, decay controls and two modes
3.Two chord sections with a total of seven sounds, decay and volume controls.
4. And an arpeggiator with four different sounds and decay control.

A great song writing tool when you're stuck and simply a very inspiring instrument, the sounds on these are really cool.

The Computerband 2000 was originally made for big home-organs, they're incorporated into the CRB 910 organs and a few Solton branded ones as well.
These stand-alone units are very rare."

Addtiional CRB Computerband 2000 posts

V.A.I. 80 CRB Voco Strings / CRB Computer Band 2000

video upload by Vintage Audio Institute Italia

"The CRB Voco Strings is an Italian take on the Roland VP-330 - a string and vocoder machine. It has a great sounding string section as a carrier - maybe one of the sweetest sounding string machines that was made in Italy? Change my mind in the comment section :)

The CRB Computer Band 2000 is an analog auto-accompaniment machine with a range of chord and arpeggiator sounds with decay controls, as well as a bass section and a drum machine with individually mutable sounds.

For phasing we pulled out a Schulte Compact Phasing A - kind of a legendary german (duh) effect that still mystifies us a bit - sometimes it's amazingly swoopy - and sometimes it doesn't really do that much at all, no matter how hard you tweak those dials."

V.A.I. 78 : CRB VOCO STRINGS / CRB COMPUTERBAND 2000 / SIEL CRUISE

video upload by Vintage Audio Institute Italia

"CRB Elettronica was one of many organ manufacturers in the Marche region in Italy. Starting in the mid 70s they did however branch out to produce a very limited number of synthesizers and drum machines for a domestic market where, due to a weak lira and high import taxes, Japanese or American manufactured synths were rare treats.

The CRB Computer Band 2000 is an analog auto-accompaniment machine with a range of chord and arpeggiator sounds with decay controls, as well as a bass section and a drum machine with individually mutable sounds.

The CRB Voco Strings is an Italian take on the Roland VP-330 - a string and vocoder machine.

In this video we're letting the CRB Voco strings process the CRB Computer Band 2000 via the regular audio input, while a third player, the Siel Cruise, a lovely Mono / Poly machine, is connected as an external carrier signal, via the instrument input."

V.A.I. 77 : CRB VOCO STRINGS / CRB COMPUTERBAND 2000 / SIEL CRUISE

video upload by Vintage Audio Institute Italia

"Combining two very rare oddballs - both manufactured by CRB Elettronica in the late 1970s : The CRB Computer Band 2000 and the CRB Voco Strings.

The Computer Band 2000 is an analog auto-accompaniment machine with a range of chord and arpeggiator sounds with decay controls, as well as a bass section and a drum machine with individually mutable sounds.

The Voco Strings is CRBs take on the Roland VP-330 - a string and vocoder machine. Were there any other commercially produced vocoders in Europe apart from this one and the Sennheiser VSM-201? Let us know in the comment section.

We're letting the CRB Voco strings process the Computer Band, via the regular audio input, while a third player, the Siel Cruise, a lovely Mono / Poly machine, is connected as an external carrier signal, via the instrument input.

More videos of this lovely combination will be going up soon.

Vintage Audio Institute is a gear vendor and recording facility in Florence Italy."

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

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

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

Details on the book from Hiromichi Oohashi follow.

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

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

Contribution from Mark Mothersbaugh (DEVO)

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

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

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



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

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V.A.I. 64 - CRB Oberon / CRB Computerband 2000

video upload by Vintage Audio Institute Italia

"Another little video with some neat CRB equipment, the CRB Oberon is a two oscillator monophonic synth from the late 70s.
The CRB Computerband 2000 came out a few years later and is a classic auto accompaniment machine with 4 sections"

Note it's branded Computer Band 2000.

V.A.I. 63 CRB Computer Band 2000 / CRB Oberon

video upload by Vintage Audio Institute Italia

"Introducing the wonderfully quirky CRB Computer Band 2000 - a mainly analog auto accompaniment machine from the early 80s with four sections:

1.Drums with individually mutable sounds
2.Bass section with three sounds and two modes
3.Two chord sections with a total of seven sounds, decay and volume controls.
4. And an arpeggiator with four different sounds and decay control.

These sections were originally made for big home-organs, they're incorporated into the CRB 910 organs and a few Solton branded ones as well.
The stand-alone units are quite rare.
The CRB Oberon is a two oscillator monster synth from roughly the same era, it has some interesting features and is probably the most complicated Italian mono synths out there."

CRB Computer Band 2000

video upload by M&M

"In this video i show you the restoration and test of CRB Computer band 2000 ."

You can find additional CRB Computer Band 2000 posts here.

The Forgotten Synthesizers Of Marche Region

video upload by HAINBACH

Update: you can find additional posts featuring The Museo Del Synth Marchigiano here.

"The Marche Region in Italy was home to a thriving industry of music instrument production from the 1950s to the mid-90s. Tens of thousands of people made organs, accordions and small runs of synthesizers that were like nothing else in the world. Much production closed in the 90s, leaving only a few companies around, and many people lost their jobs. The history of Marche synths was not talked about, too bitter were the memories. The Museo Del Synth Marchigiano aims to change that - a motley crew of synth lovers work together to get the story about this special time in music instrument history out.

I was invited to play a show at Acusmatic Festival in Ancona and visit the collection before. I was overwhelmed by the amazing sounds these machines made, so I captured them on tape and for use in my performance. I also just had to film every synth I could get my hand for you to enjoy. You will find instruments by Siel, Elka, Elgan, Farfisa, Crumar, CRB and more here.

https://www.museodelsynth.org"

Timeline:

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Waldorf Kyra Now Available

Waldorf Kyra Sounddemo Published on Oct 7, 2019 WaldorfMusicChannel

Waldorf's Kyra is now available at a suggested retail price of €1,843.00 EUR (excluding tax). That comes out to roughly $2000 US, £1600.

"Waldorf Music announces availability of 128-voice, FPGA processing-powered Kyra VA Synthesizer sensation

REMAGEN, GERMANY: having teased the musical masses last year, then turned heads and opened ears when unveiling a preproduction prototype at The 2019 NAMM Show in Anaheim, California earlier this year, with repeat showings Stateside (at Synthplex 2019 in Burbank, California) and closer to home (at SUPERBOOTH19 in Berlin), high-quality synthesizer developer Waldorf Music is proud to announce availability of Kyra — its eagerly-awaited 128-voice, FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) processing-powered VA (virtual analogue) synthesizer sensation — as of October 7…

Accompanying documentation proudly proclaims that Kyra “...is one of the most powerful music synthesizers ever built.” But this is not hardware hyperbole on Waldorf Music’s part. Put it this way: with 32x oversampled hardware sound generation and 96kHz floating point sound processing providing guaranteed contention-free 128 voice channels, Kyra is guaranteed to make its musical mark as a sensational synthesizer that is as easy to use and easy on the eye as it is powerful and flexible.

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I Hired A Kitty Backing Band, And Payed Them In Tinned Tuna

Published on Jun 30, 2019 LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER

POWERTRAN TRANSCENDENT 2000, vintage test equipment/oscillators, stuffed cats & LMNC.

"I got some session #cat #musicians to play my song, they are surprisingly good!

The song is called Modern Gas : CHECK OUT MODERN GAS ON SPOTIFY :-
http://bit.ly/LMNCSpotify

shot by JOHNNY GODDARD, this all came from use trying to work out how to have the solo playing whilst i played guitar...."

Crb Computer Band 2000

Published on Jun 26, 2019 Riccardo Pietroni

"Playing Around the rare Crb Computer Band 2000 one of the first rhythm drum computer with 20 different rhythms presets a double octave bass line synthesizer, and four different sections"

MATRIXSYNTH Review and Overview of the Novation UltraNova

Hi everyone, you might remember, back in July I posted some pics of my newly acquired UltraNova, and mentioned that review posts would eventually follow. Well, I’m happy to tell you the first post is here. The UltraNova is one powerful synth, so to make the overall review a bit more consumable, it will be broken up over time. This first section includes an Overview, the Oscillators, and the Mixer sections. When new sections go up, I will be sure to let you know via a new post.

As with most of my reviews, I will say this one goes pretty deep into the synth engine and all editable parameters. If you are the type of person that likes to dissect and explore all of the available parameters on a synth, then this post is for you. I will touch on what each parameter does and will call out any interesting features and limitations as I do so. There are some pretty special parameters on the UltraNova that give you control beyond most other synths. Hopefully this review will give you some insight into what makes the UltraNova special.

Overview & Quick Comparison to Previous Nova Synths

The Novation UltraNova, released back in 2010, is a 20 voice virtual analog & wavetable synth with three oscillators, two ring modulators and one noise source per voice. The UltraNova also features two audio ins that can be assigned to the oscillator section and/or a 12-band vocoder. It’s worth noting that the Novation Nova from 1999 featured a 40-band vocoder, while the Supernova II from 2000 featured a 42-band vocoder. The UltraNova is a monotimbral synth while the 12 voice Nova was six part multitimbral and the Supernova II (24, 36, or 48 voice) was eight part multitimbral. The UltraNova supports up to 5 simultaneous effects per patch. The Nova supported 42 simultaneous effects, while the Supernova II supported up to 56. The Supernova II also supported FM synthesis while the Nova and UltraNova omit it.

The UltraNova, however, is the first Nova synth to feature wavetable synthesis. An interesting side note is that all of the oscillators on the UltraNova are actually stored as wavetables, including the standard waveforms. According to Novation, “The wavetables in the Supernova series are all calculated. The wavetables in the UltraNova, even the standard analogue waves are wavetable oscillators. This change in oscillator generation was first used on the A-Station and K-Station and subsequently in the KS series, X-Station and Xio.” This allows the UltraNova to have some advanced tricks when it comes to the oscillator section, which will be covered in detail below.

I asked Novation about the lack of FM synthesis and they told me, “FM would have been a lovely addition to the UltraNova, but it would have been asking too much of the DSP to be able to run everything the UltraNova can do and also add in FM. The wavetables were a really good way to introduce a new (to Novation) type of synthesis that is able to cater for some of the synth sounds that FM is known for and also to be able to create lush evolving pads.”

The UltraNova features two routable filters per voice with a total of 14 filter types to chose from including 6dB (no resonance), 12dB, 18dB, and 24dB with Lowpass, Bandpass and Hi-pass modes. The Nova and Supernova II lacked a 6dB mode.

As for hardware, although the UltraNova may have fewer knobs per function than its predecessors, it is extremely well laid out and super intuitive to use. Along with both keyboard velocity and aftertouch, the UltraNova has touch sensitive knobs. They literally respond to touch and can be assigned to various parameters. Worth noting, velocity is configurable, however, aftertouch is not. I found the aftertouch to be good, but it does require a little extra force than I prefer; it’s good for not accidentally triggering it, but not so good for subtle, natural performance.

Please note the above comparisons with the Nova and Supernova II were only for quick reference. The UltraNova of course is its own synth with a few tricks up its sleeves that are lacking in the original Nova line, including a level of control over the synth engine often only found in the modular realm. It sounds incredible, and for the price, currently only $599 new, it is an extremely flexible and powerful synth. You get the current top-of-the-line Novation Nova synth engine with new wavetables and more. The UltraNova is both a performance oriented synth as well as a synth programmers dream. It can be configured for easy access to specific parameters for a live situation, or you can dig as deep as you want with a clearly well thought out interface.

That said, let’s dig in.

The following review and overview will essentially go over the signal flow of the UltraNova followed by performance controls including the arpeggiator and the hardware interface. I’ll go into a little detail on what each feature can and cannot do in an attempt to give you a detailed idea of what the synth is capable of. Because my reviews tend to be a bit on the longer side, I will be posting the sections in chunks over time to make it easier on you to consume and for me to compose.

First we start with…

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Roland Museum Germany Massive Synthesizer Selloff - Most Gear for Sale in a Single Auction

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

This one in via Marko of Retrosound.de.

26.000,00 Euro gets it all.

via this auction

Someone needs to contact the Guiness Book of World Records. Longest list of gear for sale ever:

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An Interview with Barry Schrader

Hi everyone! As you know Barry Schrader will be giving his farewell concert at CalArts on September 26. The following is the beginning of my interview with him. I opted to post the questions and answers as they come in.  New QAs will get a new post so you do not miss them and they will be added to this post so we have one central post for the full interview. This should make it easier for all of us to consume in our busy lives, and it will allow you to send in any questions that may come to mind during the interview process.  If you have anything you'd like to ask Barry, feel free to send it in to matrixsynth@gmail.com.  This is a rare opportunity for us to get insight on a significant bit of synthesizer history, specifically with early Buchla systems, and I'd like to thank Barry for this opportunity. Thank you Barry!

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