Renaissance Music on Synthesizer

video upload by Elhardt

"This is old stuff I did back in 2004. All sounds synthesized and performed on the Synthesis Technology modular synthesizer. They are various short pieces from a book of German keyboard music, if I remember correctly. I'll be in the process of making Youtube videos of my older synth work over the next several months so that more people can hear them."

Upcoming SP-2400 is Real and It's Not From Behringer?

What is the SP2400 and is it real? Ken Flux Pierce Fluxwithit

It's not an SP-1200 x2 and it is currently working.  Filters on every channel.

Update: Soviet Space Child joked it could be an elaborate April Fools spoof as the images look rendered. It has been a while since we've seen Elhardt. Maybe he's making a comeback like Jexus. :)

Update2: also see the update in the original post here.

via Flux

"What if I told you the SP 2400 is real… its not Behringer and It is going to be build as a proper spiritual successor to the classic sampler many of us have grown to love so dearly. This is no clone, this is something more…"

"So what is speculation and what is fact?

FACTS…..24bit AND 12 bit, Aluminum construction, Classic sound with the Classic workflow. Each pad will play cowbells (if you sample a cowbell to it) its not behringer… it is real, and it IS COMING SOON


How do I know all of this? am I making it all up? did a little birdy tell me? There is still so much we don’t know… how much will it cost? when will it hit shelves? Time will reveal all.

I can tell you… I have heard it… it sounds fantastic. It is going to make many of us very happy… and the corksniffers… so mad. I will be dropping random tid bits about this as they fall out the back of the secret laboratory this is being built in."

Interesting...

This is a follow-up to this post.

Seekers? Rare SKY Soundlab VoiceSpectra VOCODER SN AAB003898

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

via this auction

OK, here's an interesting find. If you take a look at this post from 2012, you will see the same vocoder branded Seekers. You'll also find a demo video of it.

A funny side note: Some of you that followed the site early on may have remembered a gentleman by the name of Elhardt. He was a bit of a prankster who would release images of new product teasers. One was the Bahn Sage back in 2005, and his follow-up was the Seekers SMS 2000. People caught on to him with the Sage, so he likely went with Seekers as an unknown but verifiable brand, that or he just came up with the name by sheer coincidence.

CLICK FOR MORE »

Seekers Voice Spectra 12 band analog vocoder

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.
YouTube Published on Aug 22, 2012 by TallmanJosh

"For sale on Ebay" Be sure to see the very bottom of this post for a note on Seekers.


via this auction

"This has a very clear sound for an analogue vocoder, a big part of why it makes voices so intelligible is the syllable function which inserts noise bursts into the signal for “s” and “sh” syllables. This is a pretty rare feature on an analogue vocoder, and it really helps with intelligiblity. The syllable function is also really cool for creating rhythms.

Here’s some info on it pulled of the interwebs [appears to be via Analogue.org]:

The Voice Spectra has good reputations in Japan for clear extent, high timbre, and for Speech Tracking Function (STF). STF is basically a pitch- to-voltage converter which functions by reading the glottal pulses of the speech signal. The control voltages from the output of the pitch extractor are fed to the VCO, so that this follow the cadences of the speech signaI. STF is an interesting additional facilities only to be found on more expensive vocoders like EMS.

Everyone familiar with vocoding will appreciate the Voice spectras compressor and Voiced/Unvoiced detector*.

The Voice spectra is a high quality studio-vocoder, appreciated by the staff at music studios, professional musicians, etc. in Japan. The articulation of the output signal is extremely good, being distinguished by remarkable clarity and distinctiveness. This quality of articulation, among other things, is what distinguishes SKY soundlab from other less sophisticated vocoders like the MAM VF11. The Voice spectra comes with an inbuilt power supply as well.

*If the air from the lungs is not forced through the vocal chords, but simply expelled through the mouth, then so ralled UNVOICED sounds are produced, such as `f' or `h'. These are basically similar to the type of sounds which can be produced by a noise generator. Most excitation signals do not have a sufficiently wide dynamic spectrum to synthesise the sound of sibilants (`s', `h', etc.). For this reason the voiced/unvoiced detector ensures that the noise generator provides the synthesiser section with the appropriate `raw material' whenever the excitation signal cannot do so.

The voice can be seen as a complex sound generating instrument, consisting of a frequency and amplitude-controlled oscillator (the vocal chords and lungs), a noise generator (the lungs) and a set of tone filters (the mouth and nasal cavities).

Technical specifications

Mic-line inputs: MIC -40dBm / 47K Line: 0dBm / 20K

Synthesis/Instrument Input: 0dBm / 100K
Output: +0dBm

Filterbank:12 Analysing filters and 12 Synthesizing filters

#01 90 - 130 (Hz)
#02 130 - 190
#03 190 - 280
#04 280 - 410
#05 410 - 610
#06 610 - 900
#07 900 - 1340
#08 1340 - 1950
#09 1950 - 2800
#10 2800 - 4100
#11 4100 - 6070
#12 6070 - 8900

Internal excitation sources: white noise generator and sawtooth oscillator (20-900Hz). Both may be gated by the voiced/unvoiced detector. Oscillator frequency fixed or tracking mode.

Metering: LED for speech and excitation levels"

So, regarding Seekers, some of you might remember this beauty. See the Seekers label below for more. There was a real Seekers manufacturer that made this vocoder and then there was Elhardt.

Alesis Andromeda 2011 Demos & the Custom Alesis Aurora

YouTube Uploaded by JupiterSynth on Feb 27, 2011

"Demo of Alesis Andromeda analog synthesizer. Its power is simply impressive...Andromeda can sound like many of the famous vintage synthesizers and also different from all others. In these 10 minutes I could only cover a very very small fraction of its capabilities. Sound quality might not be very good due to the relatively poor recording equipment. Photos of my own A6 with modified side pannels.Enjoy !"

Alesis Andromeda 2011 Demo Part 2

Uploaded by JupiterSynth on Nov 21, 2011

"Part 2 of the Alesis A6 demo. Most of the patches used this time are made by myself. Hope you like it...Enjoy!"

The custom A6 pictures is the Alesis Aurora. You can find another custom tilted panel A6 here.

Update: Part of me wondered if it was an Elhardt hoax. some of you might remember the SMS 2000: here and here to start, as well as the Bahn Sage. See the Seekers and Bahn labels under each for follow-up posts if interested or the KH label. Yes I actually created a label for his antics.

Update via urge in the comments: "I can guarantee that the Aurora isn't an Elhardt hoax as its sitting in my studio.I purchased it from Khris a few years back; the top panel with the joystick and mixer section doesn't exist...."

New John Bowen Solaris Demos by Ken Elhardt

Also see the first set of Elhardt's Solaris demos here.

New Solaris Demos by Ken Elhardt

Solaris Synth · Solaris Demo1 Elhardt(192)

http://www.johnbowen.com/

John Bowen Solaris Modular Comparisons via Elhardt

Below are some notes on the John Bowen Synth Design Solaris posted on the AH email list by Kenneth Elhardt, reposted here with Elhardt's blessing. One thing that can be argued as standing out the most on the Solaris is it's ability to freely rearrange various components of the synth engine. Typically synths have a basic signal path that goes something like this: oscillator --> mixer --> filter --> output, with various modifiers for each section. Not so with the Solaris. The Solaris is a bit closer to a modular. The beauty of a modular is that you typically have each component of the sound creation process as a separate module with input and output jacks that can be arranged however you like. You connect the various inputs and outputs of modules with patch cords. Apparently the same concept applies to the Solaris, minus the cords of course.

via Elhardt (be sure to read my note on the Oscillators and Rotors further below):

"Since John Bowen reads my posts on AH, I'll have to give you a positive biased rundown. :-) Almost every possible thing you can think of can act as a mod source to just about anything else, including external audio inputs (there are 4 of them) and virtually any component in the synth. So you could mix two Supersaw waves, run them through a filter and use that to modulate an Osc. Virtually everything can become an audio input to anything else, so you could take that above example and run it through a ring modulator. It has 4 simultaneously available filters (each with its own VCA) and mixers, each with a choice of what you want going into them, meaning you can configure them anyway you want without limits, just like a modular synth. There are lots of filter types. 4 lag processors are provided that you can use to smooth out any signal which I'm currently using to provide analog drift to the Osc's, though analog drift may be a future feature. I used the included envelope follower with a Mic to get an expressive Mic controlled trumpet sound. Because of the number of VCOs, filters, VCAs, LFOs and EGs, sounds that required a bi-timbral synth can be done on a single Solaris voice.

I'm also liking the way the OS and patches are all stored on a Compact Flash card. This means no more limits as to how many presets you have available to you. If you have 2000 sounds, then they're all there on the synth. It also makes it easy to back up patches on computer and easy to upgrade the OS because [there's] no more need to connect Midi to a computer, pull up a sequencer, and send streams to data back and and forth. I'd like to see more companies use this method.

-Elhardt"


With that in mind, one thing I thought worth pointing out here is that the Solaris has four oscillators, and each oscillator can have a completely different type of sound source including standard analog modeled waveforms, Prophet VS waveforms, Waldorf and PPG wavetables, samples and more. Via the specs page:

"Four (4) oscillators. Each can be of the following types:

MultiMode (standard waveshapes, combinations, plus saw stack)
WaveTable (wavetables 1-64 from the Waldorf Microwave synthesizers) [1 - 30 are PPG]
Sample playback (.raw format)
CEM VCO chip model (like those used in the later Rev. 3.x versions of the Prophet 5)
All of the waveforms used in the Prophet VS
(temperature stable) model of the oscillator used in the MiniMoog."

There is also a new form of synthesis called Rotors "Two (2) rotors which are special sound sources, implemented as a looping wavesequence of four (4) assignable inputs, played successively." In short think of a sequencer you can assign to trigger any sound source which you can speed up to the point it oscillates and produces sound. You can watch John Bowen give an example of it at the PNW SynthFest starting at 9:28 in this video (the link should take you to the 9:28 mark). You can also find some audio demos on the Solaris samples page starting with sample #5.

As for other components / "modules" on the Solaris, you can find the complete (massive) spec list on http://www.johnbowen.com/.

Now take all that and think of how you can apply it in a flexible modular fashion.

One synth the Solaris frequently gets compared to in interface is the Oberheim Matrix-12. The Matrix-12 has a reputation for being highly modular in editing as well. It might be worth doing some digging to see which is more flexible.

Be sure to also check out Elhardt's first audio demo of the Solaris here.

John Bowen Solaris Demo1 Elhardt(192)

Solaris Synth · Solaris Demo1 Elhardt(192)

"I have a Solaris on loan and have been learning my way around it for the past two weeks. Figured I'd just throw down a few tracks to demo a few sounds I've come up with. No Waldorf or VS wavetables were used, it's all subtractive synthesis.

There are three short snippets of Stairway to Heaven, Baba O'Riley, and some U2 style maneuvers based around chords from Where The Streets Have No Name. All played by hand without a click track. Excuse the Baba O'Riley marimba repeat organ sound as I used echo in there to fill in missing notes in the difficult to play double strike main sound and so it's a little messy. Normally it should be sequenced. I'll do better demos after I create more sounds."

http://www.johnbowen.com/

Sound Design Samples by Kenneth Elhardt

click here for some samples of sounds designed by Ken Elhardt. As of this post you'll find samples for the Alesis ION, Andromeda A6 and Roland Jupiter-8. If you click on the Elhardt label below you'll find some previous posts with more samples and some of his own synth creations.

Binson Echorec Explanation

YouTube via hiwattbob | May 26, 2008

"here's how the binson echorec works."

Also see this video.

via Elhardt on AH

Behringer's First Synthesizer UB-1

via Elhardt on the AH list

Would be interesting...

The look reminds me of the RMI Harmonic Synthesizer.

Testing the Polymoog Resonator clone prototype

via JH

"http://www.jhaible.de/resonator/polymoogresodemo1.mp3 Playing with tiny potentiometers and aligator clips instead of a switch ... Sound comes from the OB-8, and these is some reverb. Mainly checking if everything works as intended ... for a *good* demo, lisen to Kenneth Elhardt's demo on youtube:




Website with PCB preview: http://www.jhaible.de/resonator/resonator.html

Blank PCB will be 27.00 Euros + 6.00 Shipping, as usual. (Available in a few week.)"

Bob Moog on Synthesizers - String Tone Simulation

via Elhardt here

Jupiter-8 Cymbol

via Elhardt:
"I created a really good cymbal patch on the Jupiter-8 about 25 years ago. I
was lost when the backup battery went dead. I finally got around to
creating it again today. I takes advantage of the JP8's unison mode to turn
a whimpy metallic sound into a thick metallic harmonic spectrum leading to a
realistic sounding cymbal. MP3 below. First is the sound with unison
turned off completely dry, then with it turned on completely dry, then the
same sound with a longer decay and some reverb."



JP8_Cymbal.mp3

Polymoog Resonator Section

YouTube via Elhardt. follow-up to this post.

"This is an unplanned demo I threw together today of a Polymoog 3 Band Resonator that I ripped out of my Polymoog and built into a stand-alone unit for processing sounds. It consists of three filters in parallel which all be switched to lowpass, bandpass, or highpass modes. Each filter has three controls: frequency, resonance, and amplitude. It's one of the unique things about the Polymoog synthesizer which you don't find in any other polyphonic analog synth.

What happened to the rest of my Polymoog? I used the Polymoog case to built a coffee table, of which you can see a few pictures at the end of the video. That was sold off. The rest of my Polymoog was sold for parts to quite a few people. My Polymoog just had too many problems to bother putting in the time and effort to fix."

Polymoog 3-Band Resonator for Sale/Auction

via Elhardt on the Moog Forum
"I've been going back and forth as to whether I want to sell this thing because even though that was my original intention, the end result is a beautiful, one-of-a-kind, stand-alone unit, that I put quite a bit of work into extricating from my Polymoog and getting it built. It's essentially a 3 Band Variable Formant Filter for all kinds of tonal modifications, similar to the Polyfusion module that somebody just put up on ebay, but the Polymoog Resonator can also switch the filters into lowpass and hipass modes in addition to bandpass, and it covers a greater range of frequencies. See links for Polyfusion comparison:

[http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/2009/08/rare-polyfusion-modular-moog-format.html - note the original link went to the Polyfusion formant filter auction, but that will expire in time so I added the post link]
http://www.flickr.com/photos/matrixsynth/30931197/

I was originally going to put it up at $550 + shipping (Paypal preferred, I'm located in Cary, NC and can also be picked up for cash), but the only way to give more people a shot at buying it, since there's only one of these on the planet, is to allow them to bid on it if they want to pay more than that amount. So it goes up here at the initial bid of $550. If somebody offers that amount and nobody else bids, it's yours. I'll give it about a week (bid increments of a minimum of $10). For anybody not a member of the Moog Forum, you can email me with a bid and I can post that to the thread. If it doesn't sell, it will probably go on ebay, or maybe I'll end up keeping it for a while. A bunch of pictures are at the link below, and it includes everything you see in the 3rd photo down (Resonator, Power Supply, and a couple of 1/4" cables).

http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/search?q=polymoogerfooger [Note this is a search on polymoogerfooger which will bring up this post as well. The prior two posts are here and here].

I can be contacted at my last name, which is my Moog Forum user name, same as my last name, followed by @att.net (just to avoid those internet scanning spambots) for those not registered on the Moog Forum who might have questions or want to bid.

-Ken Elhardt"

THE UNUSUAL CLASSICAL SYNTHESIZER

Mike Hankinson and The Putney VCS 3 Synthesizer

"Side one: 1 Toccata and Fugue in D minor (Bach) [7:05] 2 Variations - Mein junges Leben hat ein End (Sweelinck) [3:29] 3 Sonata in D major (Scarlatti) [2:46] 4 Sonata Rondo (Clementi) [3:20] Side two: 1 Concerto in A minor (Bach) [2:59] 2 Eine kleine Nachtmusik (Mozart) [3:37] 3 Italian Concerto (Bach) [3:37] 4 Moonlight Sonata (Beethoven) [5:08]"

via Amazon

Back cover via Elhardt on AH. Click the image to read the details.

Silverwood v3.0

on Native Instruments User Library
Free and recommended by Doktor Future in the comments of this post: "The SilverwoodV3.ens does many wind instruments, and is great with the EWI. MP3 here.

Description
"Breath controlled physical model brass, woodwind, and Hammond organ synthesizer
*** Update: V3 now includes a model of a Hammond organ. The model includes percussion, key click, chorus, harmonic foldback, and a set of drawbars that can morph from one setting to another. ***

Silverwood is a synthesizer that mimics acoustic wind instruments. It contains no oscillators or envelope generators. Instead, it creates sounds using waveguide physical modeling synthesis, and is activated by a wind or breath controller. It is monophonic.

Please note that without a wind or breath controller, Silverwood will make no sound. Update: V3 includes a 'KB Test' button, which when activated will trigger the model whenever MIDI note-on events are received.

Six physical models are included: brass, saxophone, clarinet, flute, recorder, and organ. After a sound is created by a model, it passes through an equalizer that mimics the bell of an acoustic instrument.

The snapshots include these acoustic instrument emulations:

Brass: Trumpet, Trombone, French Horn, Tuba, Cornet, Flugelhorn, Euphonium
Saxophones: Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Baritone
Double Reeds: Oboe, English Horn, Bassoon
Clarinets: Clarinet, Bass Clarinet
Flutes: Piccolo, Flute, Bass Flute
Other Pipes: Pan Pipes, Irish Whistle, Shakuhachi
Other Reeds: Uilleann Pipes, Scots Pipes, Accordion, Harmonica
Organs: Various popular Hammond settings.

Each snapshot responds to MIDI breath pressure (on CC2) and pitchbend data. Various other MIDI control sources are supported.

Snapshot names indicate the instrument’s natural range and the pitchbend effects. For example, the snapshot “Trumpet F#3-D6 +screech –falloff” indicates that the instrument is a trumpet, that it’s natural range is from F#3 to D6, that bending the pitch up adds screech, and that bending the pitch down adds falloff.

The sample mp3 demonstrates the oboe and bassoon emulations.

Many of the mouthpiece and bore designs are based on STK, created by Drs. Perry Cook and Gary Scavone.

The graphic control elements were created by Vera Kinter, at http://www.artvera-music.com, and were provided by Bernd Keil.

I wish to acknowledge these whose publications have assisted me in the creation of this instrument:

Dr. Jim Clark
Dr. Perry Cook
Mr. Kenneth Elhardt
Mr. Rob Hordijk
Dr. Toshifumi Kunimoto
Dr. Gary Scavone
Dr. Julius Smith
Dr. Vesa Välimäki"

Polymoog Coffee Table Graphics

via Elhardt:
"In case anybody wants nice scalable graphics I drew up of the Polymoog synth's panel, I have pdf file links below. It's what I used for my coffee table. It took probably 2 to 3 full days of constant measuring and drawing in Corel draw. It's good for reference or you can send the file straight to your local printer and print a full size image to hang on your wall.

The 1st file I used the include fonts option option, but I never know for sure whether they're in there, or whether it's still using the fonts in Windows. It looks better on the screen at smaller sizes than the 2nd. The 2nd file is the same thing, but with fonts converted to curves, so it doesn't rely on fonts at all. That's what Express Printing told me to send them. The 3rd file is the same as the 2nd, but with the keyboard included, so for those who might want to make a polymoog coffee table, I've just saved you a bunch of work.

http://home.att.net/~elhardt3/PolymoogPanel_Fonts.pdf
http://home.att.net/~elhardt3/PolymoogPanel_Curves.pdf
http://home.att.net/~elhardt3/PolymoogPanelKeyboard_Print.pdf

-Elhardt"

mirrored here