Electric Independence: Vince Clarke and the Temple of Synth

via Pea Hicks and Matt Musick of Motherboard.TV. Click here and scroll for prior posts.
"The new episode of Electric Independence documents a visit to Vince Clarke's incredible home studio that features more analog gear than, well, probably anyone we've ever encountered. The founding member of Depeche Mode, Yazoo, and Erasure is enjoying the country life in Maine but still cranks out the jams, or as he likes to put it 'making something from nothing.'"
Vince Clark of Depeche Mode, Yaz/Yazoo and Erasure.

Vince Clark's studio synth list via here:
ROLAND SYSTEM 700
ROLAND 100M
ROLAND JP8
ROLAND JP4
ROLAND MKS80
ROLAND SH1
ROLAND VP330
ROLAND JP8000
ROLAND JUNO 60
ROLAND JUNO 106
ROLAND SUPER JX
ROLAND D550
ARP 2500 MODULAR
ARP 2600
PPG WAVE 2.2
WALDORF MICROWAVE
WALDORF PULSE
MOOG MODULAR
MINI MOOG
MOOG SOURCE
EMU MODULAR SYSTEM
PROPHET 5
PRO ONE
OSCAR
SYRINX
KORG MS20
KORG MS10
KORG 700
KORG M1
KORG DVP
SERGE MODULAR
POLYFUSION MODULAR
OBERHEIM XPANDER
OBERHEIM SEM SYSTEM
RSF KOBOL
SYNTHI VCS3
SENNHEISER VOCODER

Modular Analog Synthesizers of Sun Mountain Studios

Published on Mar 17, 2019 David Baron

"A one by one piece that goes through the Roland System 700, Emu Modular, Moog Modular, Roland System 100m, Arp 2600, EMS Synthi, Fenix Modular, Serge Modular and the Arp 2500. Realized at Sun Mountain Studios in Boiceville, NY"

More videos from David Baron

Sr. Presidente - Improvisando con el Emu modular

Published on Dec 18, 2012 Sr. Presidente·10 videos

"Grabando con el Emu, el pasado mes de Mayo de 2012, en el estudio/laboratorio "Siesta del Fauno", para nuestro primer LP, próximo a salir!
Sr. Presidente somos:
Emiliano Llere, Rodrigo Perez de Pedro, Raquel Antruejo y Mariano Llere. (Todos en el Emu modular)
Procesadores de efectos en tiempo real: Ernesto Romeo
Mezcladora: Pablo Gil."

emu & serge for xmas

Published on Dec 25, 2016 zack dagoba

"Merry Xmas!

A Christmas patch on the Emu and Serge modulars. This was not an easy sequence to set up due to the extremely quirky nature of the early Emu digital logic implementation, but I wanted to test the step sequencer which is capable of generating 32 control voltages if you set it up correctly. There is very little info out there on these modules, and what I could find (the 1978 Emu Systems Catalog, and a more detailed manual called the Emu Modular Synthesiser Operation Manual Retrospective) which had some very oblique references to the patch required. Suffice it to say that it took me about 3 days to work it out and plenty of phone calls to Big Al (who knows a lot about early digital logic). It goes something like this: take a clock source and patch it out to the 8 Position Address Generator taking the 'Carry' output trigger (which happens at the end of the 8th step) and mult it out to the 3 clock inputs of a Triple Latch which needs to act as a ring counter. So use the 3 'Q' outputs to feed into the next Data input of each latch with Q3 feeding back into Data 1 to make it cycle. That gives you 3 steps. The clever bit is making the 4th step which means taking the 3 '-Q' outputs and multing them together to generate a clock on every 4th cycle (whenever an "all zero" state occurs). Patch the 4 outputs of the Voltage Source Unit into the 4 ins of the Analog Switch and use the newly created 4 stage ring counter to step through them. PHEW! The rest of this patch uses the Serge to generate some percussive sounds including the Wilson Analog Delay and Spring Reverbs. Its a live single take jam-up. See http://myblogitsfullofstars.blogspot...."

emu octave

Published on Oct 1, 2016 zack dagoba

"This is a demonstration of the Emu Modular doing something unique. It has a module called the Triple Latch which if patched in a certain way will divide down the pitch of an audio input by one octave. As there are 3 latches available it can create 3 downward octaves. So I patched an oscillator into latch one, then into 2 and 3, and the original signal and the divided ones into an Emu mixer to get 4 octaves from one VCO. Pretty cool! I used the ARP2500 sequencer to send the Emu a pattern, and used the Emu Voltage Controlled Transient Generator to vary the envelopes (using other outputs from the ARP Sequencer as CV sources, which locks it into rhythm). There is also an LFO'd notch filter and a very early Ibanez digital delay mixed in"

Analog Synth

flickr by jmricks

EMU modular

Update via 7ate9 in the comments: "bode freq.shifter and vocoder in rack below the emu modular! these are rarer than hens teeth"

Tour Of The Universe - Analog Modular Synthesizer Journey

Published on Sep 24, 2012 by David Baron

"David Baron goes through vintage analog modular synthesizers one by one. Moog Modular, EMS Putney, Emu Modular, Roland System 700, Arp 2500, Serge, Fenix, Roland 100m, Arp 2600. www.edisonmusiccorp.com"

Inverted Grapefruit - for Emu modular synthesizer, and drum set with electronics

Published on Jan 14, 2013 coolbluefire·21 videos

"A performance of my composition "Inverted Grapefruit", at the UCSC graduate composition colloquium.

This is a piece for Emu modular synthesizer, and drum set with electronics. The electronics on the drum set are a Max/MSP patch, miking, korg nano slider, and soft step midi foot controller.

Listen with headphones, or with nice bass-y speakers. Get all that analog deep bass."

Black Face Racked Oberheim FVS Four Voice System SN E418186

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.
via this auction
See the seller's other items

Update: via lars on FB: emu patch panel. You can see the classic emu modular blue.

"For sale is a one of a kind Oberheim FVS Four Voice System SEM analog synthesizer. These are the original vintage ones. Custom black face rack mounted. I believe there may be only 8 black faces out there?? Very very rare. An oberheim tech who built these told me these were once part of an Eight Voice System. There is no keyboard, it's four SEMs racked, but fully patched out, modular style interface with 1/4" jacks (full patch points listed below). Awesome sound, these vintage SEMs have their own sound and it's a little more raw than the newer ones. With the modular patching this makes it much more flexible than having to use the keyboard. You can run separate sequencers in each voice, stack them as one four voice mono synth, or split them in 2/2 3/1 combinations, or play it as four separate mono synths. I've always wanted to build a nice case for this, but never found the time. I leave that project tho the future owner. This was serviced two years ago and is fully functional, lightly used in my smoke free home studio.

Patching from left to right:
Mod Out, Mod In, VCO CV1 in, CV2 in, VCO2 CV1 in, CV2 in, Gate Env1 in/out, Env2 in/out
VCA IN, LFO IN/OUT, VCF CV1/CV2, MOD IN, FREQ, and 5 Multi jacks. Ext. in, voice volume and panning is on the back of the synth."

CLICK FOR MORE »

EMU Modular Test Video

Published on Jan 21, 2013 Umi Hoshijima·19 videos

"I am not a piano player. I am a sound nerd.

Playing around with my school's prototype EMU modular for the first time in a while."

Sampling modular synth oscillators with E-MU E5000 & Sample Aid

Published on Sep 27, 2014 Phil Tipping

"...or how to prove emu + ocd = rsi
Looping & truncating raw VCO waveforms with no attack, decay or filtering - previous video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87TS2...) [video 2 in the playlist below] showed how to sample complete voices so no looping was reqd. These waveforms can be used for building new voices inside the E-MU or by routing them back through the modular. They were captured earlier using Sample-Aid to step through each note, so the repetitive Arm & Place button pushes are still needed, but this time no auto-truncation was used so all samples are 1 sec. long.

The example shows one of the 40 pulse-width variations (10%, 12%, 14%... 88%, 90%) taken from the pulse output. Each sample is looped & truncated to approx. 2000 samples using E-MU's auto-correlate function plus manual tweaking by ear & watching the graph. The waveforms are simple so the tweaks were fairly consistent until the lower octaves where the size had to be increased. The lower notes were also harder to judge by ear, but it was easy to spot incorrect loop points on the graph.

Sampling this way may seem overkill but it avoids all compromises... you just need patience :)
Easier options would be to only sample every few notes, and/or truncate them to a single wave cycle, but you'd need to experiment with each waveform first to avoid audible artefacts.

Background music was a quick lash-up just to show what the raw pulse waveforms sound like with no further processing apart from the E-MU voice defaults. The E-MU was set to multi mode, with a few pulse variations assigned to different channels, and driven by Sequetron."

Sample Aid


Playlist:
Sample Aid 13.15 part 1 of 4
Sample Aid 13.16 part 2/4 - sampling a single velocity to EMU Ultra
Sample Aid 13.16 part 3/4 - sampling multiple velocities to EMU Ultra
Sample Aid 13.16 part 4/4 - sampling multiple velocities to EMU Ultra
Sample Aid 11.16 - Sample mode, microKORG, EMU Ultra E5000
Sample Aid 11.18 Velocity Cross-Fade microKORG on EMU Sampler

New Emu Modular - Work in progress...

via Senso on Facebook

Follow up to New Emu Modular In the Works.

Ben Babbitt on the EMU modular synth

Uploaded on Apr 6, 2015 Cardboard Computer

"Ben Babbitt working on the EMU modular synth at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Ben used this synth to record the music for the XANADU sequence in Kentucky Route Zero. Our line-out recording got corrupted, so this is audio from the room -- pardon the sound quality! This should at least still give you a sense of what it looks & feels like to work on this striking instrument."

Update via the comments: "Lovely interview with Ben Babbitt on Horizontalpitch.com"

Emu Modular Today

video upload by zack dagoba

"An abstract self-playing sketch on the Emu Modular by Benge"

Benge's Emu Modular

zack dagoba

"A nice vintage Emu modular system at Memetunes Studio. Random stutterings today!"

10 Minutes of DK Synergy and Emu Modular

video upload by zack dagoba

"10 minutes of random digital tonalities

A DK Synergy being played by random voltages from an Emu Modular by way of a CV to MIDI converter"

Evergreen Emu Modular for Auction

via Макс Петерсен on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge & Evergreen, up for auction at Public Surplus here where you'll find more pics.

Also see this post for a 1978 Emu modular catalog.

"Second system unit with powersupply,analog tape deck interface and memory systems.
This system was installed in the Music Technology Labs in the mid 80s, where it was used extensively by the advanced studio users. It was purchased by the UW in the 70s. When it was purchased all the modules worked, including the digital keyboard. The system was removed from service in the early 90s, and has been in storage since. This two panel system has dual power supplies, keyboard interface, and is pretty amazing. The power, some control voltages and triggers are routed between modules in the back via a ribbon cable/movable socket system, so you can rearrange the modules and recable the result. The modules typically have a daughter card housing the active circuits which are mounted on a locking pin system. The system has been disassembled, each module has been packed in bubble wrap, and the cases with attached supplies are crated. The cost included shipping in the continental USA. The total configuration includes
2 keyboard output panels
Hex Inverter
3 Sawtooth/Pulse Oscillators
2 Sample and Hold
VC Trigger Generator
2 Triple Latch
5 Memory units
3 VCO
3 Universal Active Filters
2 Quad VCA
Tape Interface and Control panel
Memory Address Generator
2 VC lopas filters
VC Hipas Filter
2 Resonant Filters
Resonant Filter Controller
2 Dual One Shot
2 Dual Reverbs
Triple Latch
4 VCA
Triple OR Gate
Dual ADSR
Quad Inverter
2 Ring Modulator
Memory Programmer
Lag Processor
2 Dual Transient Generators
Analog Switch
Voltage Source 8×4
8 Position Address Generator
Envelope Follower
Summing Amp
LFO
Noise Source
Manuals
Extra Parts, Ribbon Cables, Sockets."

Zom Zoms Synth P*rn on Flickr

Title link takes you there.

EMU Modular from set

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)

Emuverb

Published on Mar 6, 2018 zack dagoba

"I've added a vintage stereo spring reverb to my Emu Modular system. I bought the original Emu face panels ages ago on Vemia for pennies, and also an old 1980s D&R spring reverb. I got my friend Ross to wire up the Emu panels to the reverb unit, and also add CV to the really nice sounding eq that the unit has. Heres a patch with it integrated into the full system, using the memory modules for sequencing. Oh and some seals I filmed at the zoo last week. See http://myblogitsfullofstars.blogspot.... for more"

Vintage E-mu modular.