Black Corporation Announces DECKARD’S DREAM MK2

via Black Corporation

"We are excited to announce DECKARD’S DREAM MK2!

MK2 delivers everything the previous versions of DDRM have done in a new light, sleek tabletop unit with wood sides or rack-ears (both included). It also brings additional controls over Sustain modes and length.
DECKARD’S DREAM (DDRM), features eight voices, each with two identical layered parts consisting of a completely analog voltage controlled oscillator made with discrete waveshapers, analog lowpass and highpass filter, each with their own cutoff and resonance settings, noise generator, unique multisegment filter envelope, and VCA + ADSR envelope. Each layer also features its own independent programming section for MPE-based velocity and polyphonic aftertouch control of its filter cutoff and amplifier settings.

DDRM’s perfomance section features global pitch control with coarse & fine-tuning sliders, layer 2 detune slider, independent keyboard range control for each layer, mix balancing between layer 1 and layer 2, global filter cutoff and resonance offsets, and a global LFO to control both layers’ filter/pitch/amplifiers simultaneously.
DDRM was created with full expressive performance control in mind, boasting programming sections with global MPE-based control over LFO parameters + pitchbend, as well as global key tracking control over the filter and amplifier settings of both layers. Finally, there is a global portamento/glissando slider affecting both layers simultaneously. The level of expressive control these parameters give over performance is something found in very few synthesizers, and the results are stunning!

DDRM features full MIDI control and the ability to store 128 presets per bank across 3 banks, integrating this classic synth concept seamlessly into the future of your modern studio needs.

$3749 / deposit is $1199, delivery is expected in June 2020.

Price includes free worldwide shipping with Japan Post International Priority. Courier delivery (UPS, DHL, FedEx etc) is available but will be charged at an additional cost. @ Shibuya, Tokyo"

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Deckard's Dream DIY Build 05 - Mainboard Thru-Hole

Published on Feb 4, 2020 Molten Music Technology

"After the surface mount components are done it's time for the good old through-hole bits and pieces including resistors, capacitors, diodes, IC sockets and those 9 card slots. This was split over a few sessions with a few weeks in between but probably could have been done in a day.... ish.

http://www.patreon.com/robinvincent
http://www.moltenmusictechnology.com
http://www.deckardsdream.com

Intro - 0:00
Resistors - 2:22
Diodes - 12:22
IC sockets - 12:47
Capacitors - 14:41
Bits and pieces - 19:59
Card slots - 23:25
Thoughts - 24:33"

You can find all parts in this series here.

Deep & dark jam w/ Deckard's Dream, Octatrack, ContinuuMini, modular (collab w/ Crooked Walking)

Published on Jan 31, 2020

"A live, semi-improvised hardware performance, and inspired by late-night collaboration. Tim Rich (aka Crooked Walking) was kind enough to host me as we stumbled our way into making a song from scratch. I handled some of the bones of the structure, and Tim was masterful in detailing the song with rich, unpredictable modular sounds. He also took advantage of the ContinuuMini (and its EagenMatrix internal synth engine) to make a great lead voice. I'm super pleased with the results of our night of hanging out.

At the end of the session, we decided we'd both take the audio and video and mix it in our respective ways. As such, please check out Crooked Walking's version of the audio and video here!: [below]

Written and performed in a 3-hour period, and uploaded as is, with only a little compression/limiting on the master.

Elektron Octatrack MkII — Drums, bass, ambience, MIDI sequencing for the Deckard's, effects for the Deckard's, master-level effects and scenes
Black Corporation Deckard's Dream — Three synth lines

Crooked Walking's setup, in order of appearance (thanks to Tim for writing this):

Morphagene – I caught an interesting loop in the 4ms Dual Looping Delay while I was running a different Quanta patch and recorded a couple variations of the patch into Morphagene. The Gene Size and Slide parameters are being manually controlled from the left two sliders on the Intellijel Tetrapad. The morph and Organize parameters are being modulated by the Malekko Voltage Block.

QuantaPercussion – This is a drone coming from Quanta on the iPad running one of the new Hainbach test equipment patches. The Quanta is set to drone a few notes that are then run into the modular. They are patched through a VCA with a Intellijel ADSR envelope being triggered by the Monome Grid running the Kria software on the Ansible module. The output of the VCA is then run into the 4ms Dual Looping Delay which is being controlled manually throughout the video (top right of the eurorack). The output of the Dual Looping Delay is going into the Intellijel Planar for some panning effects modulated by an LFO from the Monome Arc4. Finally, it’s being output into the Make Noise QPAS. The stereo width controls are being modulated by the Malekko Voltage Block. The filter cutoff is being controlled manually from the right most slider on the Intellijel Tetrapad. The high pass output from the QPAS is then recorded.

ContinuuMini – The ContinuuMini is running a choir preset from the EaganMatrix directly into Ableton. There are several plugins on the patch, most notably Ableton Echo for delay and the XLN RC20 Retro Color emulating an old cassette tape to lower the fidelity of the otherwise pristine sounding ContinuuMini.

Kick – The Intellijel Plonk SubKick preset is being triggered by the Monome Grid (running the Kria program on the Ansible module as described above in the Quanta Percussion description). The output is running through the LoFi Junky and, most importantly, through the Klangbau Rohren Tube VCA.

https://jayhosking.bandcamp.com"

Crooked Walking x Jay Hosking | Modular, Deckard's Dream, ContinuuMini, Octatrack +

Published on Jan 31, 2020 Crooked Walking

"This is my first full track in a long time, and I'm so excited that I got to make it with Jay Hosking. Some recent major (positive) life changes have kept me from making music, but I've finally got my new space setup and am back to making sounds.

Jay is a wizard with the Octatrack and really built the structure of this piece. The first two minutes are mostly him performing with Deckard's and the Octatrack."

NAMM 2020 Keith McMillen Instruments K-Board Pro with Deckard's Dream

Published on Jan 17, 2020 sonicstate

"Keith McMillen were at the NAMM show this year to show off their K-Board Pro 4 using MPE to control the Deckards Dream synthesizer. We got a quick demo, and then we spoke about the configuration options of the K-Board to tailor it to your playing needs."

Black Corporation Deckard's Dream

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

via this auction

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Moog One,Deckard's Dream,Octatrack,Prophet X,Analog 4,Buchla in session

Published on Jan 3, 2020 therudyrude

"My first session of 2020 with the Moog One,Deckard's Dream in Ventris Dual Verb,Octatrack, Analog 4,Buchla in H and Prophet X"

Fugue Machine jam with Deckard's Dream, OB-6, Novation Peak, Dreadbox Abyss, Polymoon, Big Sky

Published on Dec 19, 2019 Jay Hosking

"A live, semi-improvised performance, all on hardware, and inspired by the maudlin moods of the holidays. This is something of a sequel to the last video, in that I'm using exactly the same hardware synths and have only swapped out the sequencer. My point: by simply changing how you sequence your music, you can radically change the kind of music you make. Fugue Machine's limitations (a single line of note data played in different ways by four different "tape heads") are really inspiring, and the constraints end up a major benefit to creativity.

Alexandernaut's Fugue Machine (via iOS) — Sequencing
Sequential/Oberheim OB-6 — Bass string thing
Novation Peak — Arp thing
Black Corporation Deckard's Dream + Meris Polymoon — High melody pad thing
Dreadbox Abyss + Strymon Big Sky — Fast arp

Written and performed within a 24-hour period, and uploaded as is, with only a little compression/limiting on the master.

https://jayhosking.bandcamp.com/"

Ambient poly synth jam with the NDLR, Deckard's Dream, OB-6, Peak, Dreadbox Abyss, Polymoon, Big Sky

Published on Dec 12, 2019 Jay Hosking

"A live, semi-improvised performance, all on hardware, and inspired by winter looming. I've long wanted to make a couple of videos about how the sequencer really determines where the music goes, and I thought there was no better example of this than the NDLR, which is such a beautiful little inspiration device. In my opinion, I think the NDLR thrives at making interesting ambient explorations, and I hope I've demonstrated that here.

I've also wanted to make a "poly synth jam" and show each of the poly synths I currrently have next to each other. Some really interesting things revealed themselves here: 1) the Peak is the clear winner for bass; 2) I like the OB-6 a lot better for plucks or shorter decays than I do for pads; 3) the Abyss holds its own among these bigger names and is a real gem with lots of personality; 4) the Deckard's Dream isn't particularly rich or versatile, but adds the most beauty to the track, and it's a joy to make a patch from scratch.

Conductive Labs NDLR — Sequencing
Black Corporation Deckard's Dream + Meris Polymoon — Pad
Sequential/Oberheim OB-6 — Motif 1 (brighter arp)
Dreadbox Abyss + Strymon Big Sky — Motif 2 (mellower arp)
Novation Peak — Drone (bass monster)

Written and performed within a 24-hour period, and uploaded as is, with only a little compression/limiting on the master.

https://jayhosking.bandcamp.com/"

Black Corporation Deckard's Dream

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via this auction

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Deckard's Dream DIY Build 04 - Mainboard SMT

Part 4 added here.

Black Corporation Deckard's Dream

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

via this auction

"In excellent condition with current firmware"

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machinedrum / deckard's dream

Published on Oct 19, 2019 ljs8888

"Sunday morning muck around :)"

Reimagined jam w/ Elektron Octatrack MkII, Deckard's Dream, Empress Zoia

Published on Sep 22, 2019 Jay Hosking

"A sort-of-not-really remix of a great song and soundscape by Ian T. Lyckland. Performed live, semi-improvised, and all on hardware.

I loaded Lyckland's song into four slots of the Octatrack, and grabbed snippets for different purposes (piano and essential vocal melody from the original, bass, glitchy ambience, deeper vocals). Then I mangled an additional high piano part into a lead line, then added drums, and finally the Deckard’s Dream through the Empress Zoia (which is the obvious synthy part). I'm pleased with how different the composition is from the original, while also retaining the spirit of Lyckland's emotive track.

The original song is called 'You Are Not A Data Scientist' and is on an album of the same name. Listen and buy it here!: https://lyckland.bandcamp.com/

Elektron Octatrack MkII — Sampler (seven tracks: piano + vox, ambience, bass, and deep vocals from Lyckland's song; higher piano lead; drums from Woody Woodmansey sample), audio effects processor and sampler (for the Deckard's), audio effects processor (for the scenes on the master)
Black Corporation Deckard's Dream + Empress Zoia — Classic synth galore

Written by Ian T. Lyckland and Jay Hosking. Uploaded as is, with only a little compression/limiting on the master.

https://jayhosking.bandcamp.com/"

Deckard's Dream Synthesizier + Expander With ASM Hydrasynth Polyphonic Aftertouch Keyboard

Published on Sep 16, 2019 Perfect Circuit

"The Black Corporation Deckard's Dream synthesizer has a sound inspired by the legendary Yamaha CS-80 synthesizer. It supports polyphonic aftertouch like the CS-80, and since the new ASM Hydrasynth has polyphonic aftertouch on its keyboard we used the Hydrasynth to play the Deckard's Dream.

Deckard's Dream Expander adds ring modulation, chorus, tremolo, delay and reverb to the Deckard's Dream, or anything else you plug into it."

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Supporters of MATRIXSYNTH get %10 off at Perfect Circuit! See the support page for details. Thank you to all who support the site!

Black Corporation KIJIMI Gets a Software Update

See the demo with Ricky Tinez posted here.

"Some great news from Black Corporation, we have just released a firmware update for KIJIMI to REV1.1.0. This update expands the overall filter range of Kijimi and takes modulation capabilities even further to allow for even more exciting directions to control modulation destinations.

Release Notes:

Individual attenuation of modulation amount in the mod matrix option selectable in the menu. (AMOUNT MODE -> INDIVIDUAL). To use, press lit mod matrix selector button and turn AMOUNT knob to attenuate to each individual destination. This allows the user to control modulations with increased detail.

LFO can now be synced to MIDI. (MENU -> LFO -> LFO1/2 -> SYNC)

Dividers and multiplayers are set by the LFO RATE knobs rate pots which range: 1/32, 1/24, 1/16, 1/12, 1/8, 1/6, 1/4, 1/3, 1/2, 1, 1.5, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8. This is only in MONO LFO mode and when AD Destinations are set to amplitude.

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Autumnal jam w/ Elektron Octatrack MkII, Deckard's Dream, Moog Sirin, Minitaur, Strymon Ola, Big Sky

Published on Sep 9, 2019 Jay Hosking

"A live, semi-improvised performance, all on hardware, and inspired by the changing of the seasons here. On this track, I make good use of its fantastic compressor, as well as the Octatrack's ability to incorporate external gear into the scenes and an overall mixed, cohesive sound.

While exploring the Octatrack further, a used Deckard's Dream went up for sale in my town for a very good price. It is no exaggeration to say the Deckard's Dream (or rather its inspiration, the Yamaha CS-80) has been the sound of my musical imagination for my entire life. When I brought it home and paired it with the Octatrack, this improvisation finally made sense and came together. And yes, I think the Deckard's sounds just as good as I'd hoped. I'll probably show it in some more "traditional" ways soon.

Elektron Octatrack MkII — Sequencer, samples (drums, weird loops), effects for external devices, master effects
Black Corporation Deckard's Dream + Strymon Ola + Strymon Big Sky — Pad
Moog Minitaur — Bass
Moog Sirin — Lead

Written over fragments of the last couple of weeks, performed live, and uploaded as is, with only a little compression/limiting on the master.

https://jayhosking.bandcamp.com/"

Hydrasynth Patch Demos by Paul Schilling

"(Note: The first sound, GXUltraPad, uses none of the FX...only WaveStack and PWM are used to create the lush character)

Proud to have been part of the sound design team for one of the most exciting new synths and controllers to come out in a long time: Hydrasynth - Digital Wave Morphing Synthesizer with Polyphonic Aftertouch. It has an amazing internal synth engine and can also be used as an affordable poly-AT controller for any synth that is able to receive it. This includes pretty much all DSI / Sequential synths, Deckard's Dream, Kijimi, Xerxes, and of course all kinds of soft synth.

These are sound demos for the patches I have created for the Hydrasynth. It has a very broad sound palette, check out more sounds here: https://soundcloud.com/ashunsoundmachines"

Check out the announcement post for the ASM Hydrasynth here.

K-Board Pro 4 meets Deckard's Dream

Published on Aug 27, 2019 Keith McMillen Instruments

"We play a bit of the old classic Blade Runner soundtrack on the Deckard's Dream synth. Really beautiful sounding machine, and responds wonderfully to the subtle MPE stylings of the y-axis and x-axis vibrato."

Black Corporation Introduces RACHEL - 2nd Module Inspired by the Yamaha CS80 & Deckard's Dream

Black Corporation shared a pic of their next module based on their Deckard's Dream, Yamaha CS80 inspired polysynth. While Deckard's Voice is based on the  This one is based on the Ring mod section of the core sound engine (VCO, Noise, VCF, ENV, & LFO sections), RACHEL is based on the Ring Mod section.  Anyone that has been fortunate enough to play with a Yamaha CS80, CS50, or CS60, knows the ring mod is where a bit of the magic that sets it apart from other synths, happens. CV patching for integration with other synths and modules should take functionality to a new level. What's interesting is if the Ring Mod section on Yamaha's synths is mono in the sense of all voices go through one shared ring mod, this would be an affordable way to add ring mod to any of your synths. This one might be super interesting as a separate effects pedal as well.

Black Corporation's Deckard's Voice Eurorack Module Open for Pre-Order - Priced at $199

via the Deckard's Dream website:

"This is a preorder deposit for a Deckard’s Voice synthesizer

The total price is $699 with free worldwide shipping, the remaining balance of $500 is to be paid when the product is ready for shipping, we expect to ship all orders in November 2019.

Deckard’s Voice is an entry level semi-modular synth from Black Corporation for eurorack systems. Sharing the same paradigm and circuit as it’s bigger brother Deckard’s Dream, trimmed down for eurorack and supplemented with the flexibility available only in a modular format.

Features:

VCO with pulse, glitch saw and sine outputs
Dedicated LFO for PWM
Noise source
external audio input to a filter
Discrete hipass and lowpass filters with resonance and IL-AL-ADR envelope
LFO with sine, saw, ramp, square, smooth and stepped random output
output VCA with ADSR envelope and velocity control over volume
ADSR (0-10V) and LFO (-5V/+5V) outputs
master and line level outputs
32HP size
+12/-12V standard eurorack power

We offer free worldwide shipping with Japan Post. Courier delivery (UPS, DHL, FedEx etc) is available but will be charged at an additional cost."

Pic via Black Corporation's Instagram.