Fully Serviced Rhodes Chroma with CC+ MIDI

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"Offered for sale is this Rhodes Chroma in excellent cosmetic condition and as near perfect working order as could be hoped for. It has had an extensive service and been thoroughly-upgraded for trouble-free use (*remember it is a Chroma!) with no expense spared. The work was carried out by James Walker at Synth Repair Services who even exceeded his usual high standards - we requested that everything possible that could be done should be done.

It has had the CC+ CPU upgrade board installed, which adds additional functionality (including Midi) and stability, and a new SPSU power supply kit by Luca Sfregola. Many original ageing parts have been replaced and the synth has been calibrated and PAT-tested for electrical safety. The results are better than we'd hoped for and the synth autotunes without error practically all the time (we cannot guarantee that it won't fail now and again, it is a Chroma).

It comes loaded with four banks of 50 sounds courtesy of the CC+ kit and sounds fantastic; the wooden keys are a delight to play and overall the synth looks beautiful. This Chroma has had a quiet life and is consequently in very good cosmetic order, with no major flaws to the finish. The wooden end cheeks have some scuffs, dings and staining - as you'd expect from a vintage synth - but there was nothing overly detrimental to its appearance. Some people like a modern re-finish, but we prefer where possible to leave the original and appropriate vintage patina on vintage equipment. There has been no touching up of the paint/metalwork anywhere - a few minor nicks and chips are present. A couple of keys have some very light pitting and the control panel finish is starting to lift around the screws at the very edges. Old Chroma flightcases are notorious for the foam distintegrating and this one was no exception - it has been professionally refoamed to a high standard by 3D cases. Included in the sale is the original dual pedal set, the bound manuals, various program cassettes, and of course the Midi breakout box.

There are no known faults with this synth."

Midi / Error!! Alternate MIDI Max/MSP Controllers

Midi / Error!! /// phulebox2012 \\\ Multi-Effects Unit - playstation controller + MaxMSP

YouTube Uploaded by midierror on Mar 22, 2010

"This is my final year uni project from a few years back. Its a software multi-effects unit I built in MaxMSP. It is controlled using a playstation controller, and is designed to be used while DJing. That said, it can be used with any input device such as a guitar, mic, drum machine, commodore 64, or minidisc player.

It has had changes made to make the screen more functional and user friendly. The 'engine' routing matrix is now hidden and all its settings can be changed using the directions.

Each of the effects can be fed through one another, or used singularly. The analog sticks control four parameters that can be locked to store placement.

At the time this was amazingly difficult to program, and the front end was a full screen. Its looking swish in MaxMSP5 !"

MIDI / error !! /// Xitar \\\ Xbox 360 Rock Band Guitar as Midi Controller

Uploaded by midierror on Jul 7, 2010

"Pronounced "Zitar" this is a Xbox 360 wireless controller sending messages to a hardware synth.

The tune on the intro is: Autologue - Last (Midi/error!! jungle mutation)"

Midi / Error !! /// Walyx \\\ Wacom Tablet + Max MSP - Controls Amen Break pitch and loop points

Uploaded by midierror on Mar 24, 2010

"This is an illustration of what can be done with a wacom graphics tablet and max msp. Using a max external it picks up the x y axis of the pen and converts it to the pitch (x-axis) and loop end (y-axis). It took about 2 minutes to make this patch. . . . .

The tablet has 3 buttons for on/off states and features pressure sensitivity......therefore a total of 9 parameters can be changed using it. Im going to dig a bit deeper with this idea, and see what I can make; particularly in terms of synth playback."

Midi / Error !! /// X-bovst \\\ Xbox Midi Controller for FM VST using Max MSP

Uploaded by midierror on Mar 23, 2010

"I wrote this patch for MaxMSP to control the amazing YMVST synth. As you can hear its a great little vst; based on the old YM2149 chips.....you can get it from here:

http://www.preromanbritain.com/ymvst/

Im not too happy with the way this worked out as its controlled mainly by buttons......but im sure someone might appreciate this.

I have also written a patch to control an Astation synth using a Playstation controller......but that is currently getting an overhaul.

respect to gareth morris for a wicked peice o kit !"

More: https://www.youtube.com/user/midierror

HexaChrom Adds Support for The Missing Link and OSC

HexaChrom - Somascape

"HexaChrom turns your iPad into a musical performance controller, enabling you to play your OSC or MIDI (#) electronic musical instruments — virtual instruments running on a laptop/desktop computer, or hardware MIDI instruments.

HexaChrom takes an alternative approach to the majority of MIDI keyboard controllers in that it uses an isometric note layout, where the notes are presented as a hexagonal matrix of keys. There are many such isometric layouts, though HexaChrom uses the Harmonic Table layout, which is a modern variation of the Tonnetz (tone network), devised by the famous mathematician Euler.

This note layout has particularly useful musical intervals between adjacent keys, ie along the 3 major axes : minor thirds, major thirds and perfect fifths. In the Western musical tradition, the intervals of the major and minor thirds dominate chordal structures. Consequently, this layout offers a number of advantages over the more conventional clavier-style keyboards : consistent chord shapes irrespective of key, the ability to span several octaves with one hand, and to play basic major or minor triads with a single finger. Together resulting in an easier learning curve.

It also encourages the user to approach music differently, just as the different note layouts of pianos and guitars engender different playing styles.

(#) HexaChrom can send MIDI data either via the OSC protocol (wirelessly), or via CoreMIDI (wired or wirelessly). When using OSC to control MIDI devices (whether hardware or software based) you will need to translate the OSC messages to MIDI, using either additional software (eg OSCulator on a Mac) or hardware (Jabrudian's Missing Link).

FEATURES :
- Isometric 'harmonic table' note layout keyboard, based on a 52-note matrix (just over 4 octaves).
- Play simple chords with a single finger.
- Consistent chord shapes irrespective of root key.
- Octave transposition provides a total span of just over 7 octaves.
- Dual view : Portrait mode offers a single 52-note matrix (easy play); Landscape mode has a 104-note dual matrix, with optional split channel operation.
- Assignable controllers (sliders and buttons).
- Control any software or hardware MIDI synthesizer, sampler, drum machine, etc. using OSC or MIDI protocols (additional software and/or hardware is required - see Requirements).
- OSC (wireless) support for both the 'M' data type (as used by OSCulator), and the Missing Link's proprietary message format. With automatic connection using Bonjour, or manual connection when Bonjour is not an option.
- CoreMIDI support (wireless or wired).
- Multitouch interface.
- iOS 4 multitasking compliant.

REQUIREMENTS :
- iPad running iOS 3.2 or later (4.2 is required for wired MIDI, whilst 4.3 is required for wireless MIDI).
- To use wired MIDI : A CoreMIDI compliant MIDI interface (eg Yamaha's i-MX1), or Apple's Camera Connection Kit along with a class compliant USB-MIDI interface.
- To use wireless MIDI : a wireless network with access to a MIDI Server.
- To use OSC : a wireless network with access to an OSC Server, eg OSCulator or a Missing Link device.
- A Mac running OS X 10.4 or later (if using OSCulator or wireless MIDI).

NOTES :
- HexaChrom is a dedicated iPad app and cannot be used with iPhone or iPod Touch.
- HexaChrom is a controller. It does not of itself produce any sound.
- OSCulator, Missing Link and Camera Connection Kit are 3rd party commercial products."

Note the bottom image if from Hans of The Missing Link who gave it a try. He had the following tip for others that might want to give it a spin: "When I tried it out, the "Connect to Missing Link" slide switch put the right numbers in the boxes but it gave me an error as if they weren't there so I had to slide the switch back to 'OFF' and enter them manually. Not a big chore, but it's not necessarily an obvious workaround."

HexaChrom - Somascape
iPads on eBay

Build: Mini-Theremin in under a minute

YouTube via makemagazine
"Assembly of the Gakken Mini-Theremin kit @ warp-speed - complete with error correction!
http://www.makershed.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=MKGK"
Note this is from the magazine Gakken, who brought us the Gakken SX-150. Each issue comes with a DIY kit that requires no soldering.

Pitch shifting & Amplitude Modulating a Drum Sample with a

YouTube via isotopeofme
"In the interest of learning more about the electronics I use, I put together this simple beginners DIY electronic kit from Maplin. I modified it slightly, where there should have been a small condenser microphone I put in a wired input so that I can route sounds from the modular and computer through it. This is an example of the (ahem) high quality pitch shifting algorithm you can get your hands on for 10 GBP and what it does to a drum sample. This little battery powered gizmo pitch shifts up or down 3 octaves, amplitude modulates with a square wave and and has what I assume to be a ring modulation mode. Im using my Doepfer VCA to attenuate the signal. I put it together in about an hour last weekend but botched the job. This morning I went back and traced my error to ignoring the polarity on the LED and a diode. Unfortunately I think I fried the LED because its not doing what it is supposed to do. More on http://www.isotopeofme.com"