NAMM 2015 - Sequential Prophet-6 - How DSI Got the Sequential Name Back from Yamaha

Published on Jan 24, 2015 Future Music Magazine

"Future Music have teamed up with Andertons Music for NAMM 2015. Here we check out the new Prophet-6 analogue polysynth from Dave Smith, back under his original Sequential brand name."

NAMM 2015 - Waldorf NW1 eurorack wavetable module

Published on Jan 24, 2015 Future Music Magazine

"Future Music have teamed up with Andertons Music for NAMM 2015. Here we check out the new wavetable eurorack module from Waldorf"

NAMM 2015 - Roland Promars Plug-Out synth for System-1

Published on Jan 25, 2015 Future Music Magazine

"Future Music have teamed up with Andertons Music for NAMM 2015. Here we check out the new Plug-Out synth for the System-1, the Roland Promars."

I would love to see desktop System-1 for any size keyboard controller with velocity & aftertouch.

Obsolete?

Obsolete? from Pixelh8 on Vimeo.

follow-up to this post
"Pixelh8’s work “Obsolete?” is a audio and visual study of the people, machines, history of The National Museum of Computing, Bletchley Park and looks closely at the themes of mathematics, logic, code-breaking and enciphering. The project was funded by the PRS Foundations new music award and commissioned by The National Museum of Computing.

The music itself is composed using some of the oldest and rarest computers in the world such as the WWII code-breaking machine Colossus Mark 2 Rebuild, and the 1960’s Elliott 803 largely used for mathematics and some of the more commonplace machines such as the BBC Micro. With over thirty machines studied and utilised within the music, it is a combination of both sounds from the internal sound chips and the external electro-mechanical sounds. In addition to this, the piece also utilises such items as the early non-electrical mechanical adding machines.

The project was comprised of twelves pieces of music and accompanying visuals and culminated in two performances at the prestigious Bletchley Park Mansion on March 20th and 21st, 2009.

The project attracted widespread media attention and has been featured on BBC New 24, BBC Look East, BBC South Today, New Scientist Magazine, Dazed & Confused Magazine, Games TM Magazine, Future Music, BBC Radio 4, BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio Suffolk, BBC Three Counties and covered on several news websites including The Register, MacWorld, bit.tech, Slashdot, The IET, IT Pro and several more.

Available on iTunes, Napster, Spotify and more.

You can watch a interview with me about the making of Obsolete? here vimeo.com/3847750 [below]

Enjoy!"

Pixelh8 Chip Concert at National Museum of Computing from Alper Cagatay on Vimeo.

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!

CLICK FOR MORE »

“MIDI Creators and Innovators” Panel Coming to NAMM

"MIDI Creators and Innovators Alan Parsons, Tom Oberheim, Dave Smith, Jordan Rudess, George Duke and Craig Anderton to Discuss Past, Present and Future of MIDI at 2013 NAMM Show H.O.T Zone Session

Who:

Alan Parsons is British-born audio engineer, musician, and record producer. Parsons has been involved with some of the biggest recordings of all time, including The Beatles Abbey Road and Let It Be, in addition to Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon. He has been involved in all aspects of the music business and is well known for his own work, The Alan Parson's Project. When not engineering and producing, Mr. Parson's is a highly sought after guest lecturer, product and technology consultant and is the co-creator of the highly- acclaimed educational DVD series called The Art & Science of Sound Recording.

Tom Oberheim is a synthesizer pioneer having created several legendary synths, effects processors, and drum machines as the founder of Oberheim Electronics, Marion Systems, and SeaSound. Oberheim was a key contributor to the original MIDI specification and was an early evangelist of the technology.

Dave Smith was the co-author of the original MIDI specification with Roland's CEO and founder Ikutaro Kakehashi. Mr. Smith was the founder of Sequential Circuits while developing the MIDI specification, and has since developed dozens of synthesizers, drum machines, and effects processors. His current company, Dave Smith Instruments, continues to develop cutting edge MIDI-based instruments that enjoy a worldwide following.

Jordan Rudess, is an American keyboardist, clinician, composer and software entrepreneur best known as the keyboardist in the band Dream Theater and the progressive rock supergroup Liquid Tension Experiment. Rudess is a graduate of the Julliard School of Music and is an extremely well respected consultant to many music instrument companies, and has his own music software company called Wizdom Music, which designs innovative tablet- based musical instruments.

George Duke is a legendary musician, keyboard pioneer, composer, singer and producer in both jazz and popular mainstream musical genres. Duke has composed, produced, and played on dozens of gold and platinum records, received numerous GRAMMY awards, and has toured extensively as a band member, music director, and as a solo artist.

Craig Anderton, is a musician, author and music magazine editor/writer who is well known to anyone who has ever picked up a music technology magazine. As the editor of Electronic Musician and author of hundreds of articles on music technology, Anderton is an esteemed journalist and expert in all aspects of MIDI and MIDI technology.

Tom White, (MC) is the President of the MIDI Manufacturers Association, and a highly- regarded contributor and consultant to several industry trade and technology groups including but not limited to CES, USB, IEEE, AES, IASIG, and as long-standing president of the MMA. White has had a long career in the music industry, including a lengthy period in marketing and business development for Roland Corporation.

What: Panel discussion “MIDI Creators and Innovators” For 30 years, MIDI has been always been at the forefront of music technology even as musical trends changed. Come hear from a star-studded panel of MIDI creators and innovators -- stories and opinions about the past, present, and future of MIDI.

When: Sat. Jan. 26, 2013 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Where: The NAMM Show, Anaheim Convention Center Room 204B (Inside NAMM H.O.T. Zone)

Presented by the MMA

The MIDI Manufacturers Association (MMA) is a non-profit organization formed in 1985 to encourage companies implementing MIDI to make their products interoperable through compliance with MMA Recommended Practices. MMA publishes the official MIDI Specification, provides education about MIDI, licenses MIDI trademarks, and promotes the use of MIDI technology for new applications and in various industries. For more information, please visit www.midi.org"

Modular synths - Future Music presents - preview

Published on Feb 1, 2013 FutureMusicMagazine·231 videos

"On sale now - Get the full 40- minute interview, tutorial and studio tour by purchasing the February issue of Future Music Magazine. Buy this print magazine from http://bit.ly/T4mr6w or purchase digitally from http://bit.ly/vTsHr2"

Billy Cardine: Looking Forward, Looking Back & The Moog Lap Steel

Playlist:
Billy Cardine: Looking Forward, Looking Back
Improvisation for Moog Lap Steel, Synthesizers & Effects
Billy Cardine on the Moog Lap Steel & the MakeNoise René (previously posted)
The Moog Lap Steel (previously posted)
The Moog Lap Steel [2nd vid]

"Moog Lap Steel powers groundbreaking EP exploring uncharted expanses of Ameritronica

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (September, 2011) Mix cutting-edge electronic vibration control technology with an instrument born on a train track, put it in the hands of musical omnivore Billy Cardine and the result is music with one foot in the past, one foot in the future and both ears wide open. Refining a lifetime of musical influences and liberating them with a combination of string and studio wizardry, his new EP Looking Forward, Looking Back shines a light on a musical future true to its roots yet constantly growing and evolving.

To know where you’re going though, you have to know where you’ve been…

The story goes that the lap steel guitar was invented in the 1880s by seven-year-old Joseph Kekuku as he walked along a Hawaiian railroad and experimented with playing his guitar using a metal bolt he found. By the 1930s, Hawaiian music had become one of the first waves of American interest in exotic “world music” and the lap steel became the first stringed instrument to be electrified, predating Les Paul’s first electric guitar. Also in the ‘30s, the Sacred Steel tradition was born in African-American House of God churches, fueled by the low cost and highly expressive nature of this new instrument. From there it spread to many far-flung homes, including Indian classical music and American country and bluegrass, the genres in which it and its musical progeny, the dobro and pedal steel guitar are most closely associated.

Fast-forward to the present… While a spin across the radio dial today results in very little country music featuring the lap steel, the instrument has been embraced by a number of innovative players pushing musical boundaries, including U2 producer Daniel Lanois and Wilco guitarist Nels Cline.

The lap steel guitar itself is now even more suited to “boundary pushing” with the introduction of The Moog Lap Steel, an instrument that brings state-of-the-art control technology to the instrument born on a 19th century Hawaiian train track. It incorporates the same electronics that earned The Moog Guitar numerous industry accolades including Guitar Player Magazine's Reader's Choice Award, Electronic Musician Magazine's Editor's Choice Award, NAMM "Best In Show" honors, a “Best of What’s New Award” from Popular Science magazine and a Mix Foundation TEC Award.

Billy Cardine is an Americana/Bluegrass phenomenon who has performed everywhere from Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center to the Ryman Auditorium and Bonnaroo. He is a member of the renowned Americana band Acoustic Syndicate and leader of the new music ensemble The Billy Sea. He also studied in India and will perform at the 2011 Bangaluru International Arts Festival with chitravina master Ravikiran. Billy was instrumental in the development of the Moog Lap Steel and played an early prototype for its debut at Moogfest 2010.

“In one of those moments of wonderful synchronicity, I met Billy about the same time I finished the first Moog lap steel prototype which I had dubbed “The Monster” said Moog Music’s Chief Engineer, Cyril Lance. “Billy and I got together and the first music he made on this crude instrument was stunning. It was immediately clear that not only was Billy perfect for this instrument, but the instrument was perfect for Billy. This began an extremely rewarding collaboration that resulted in the current Moog Lap Steel.”

Combining the unique expressive qualities of the lap steel with the innovations of the Moog Guitar results in an instrument with unlimited sonic potential. Like the Moog Guitar, it is in not a guitar synthesizer, but features an onboard Moog filter (with control voltage input) that places it firmly in the Moog family tree and allows for some amazing creative connectivity with devices ranging from theremins to massive modular synthesizers.

"For me the Moog Lap Steel represents the invention I've worked on for so many years finally taking flight on its own.” said Moog Guitar inventor Paul Vo. “Cyril Lance had the inspiration that really drove this project home. He expertly placed the same vibration control technology that I developed for the Moog Guitar into this beautifully crafted instrument, co-designed by luthier Wes Lambe. I mostly just watched. Now Billy Cardine, virtuoso of the lap steel and dobro, brings it all together and takes it to heights of musical expression that completely amaze me. I am a very grateful spectator!"

“Looking Forward, Looking Back”, the historic first EP of music for the Moog Lap Steel, is the creation of a composer and player at the height of his powers in control of an instrument that extends those powers like no other innovation since it was first electrified.

The EP kicks off with the opening track “Moolodious” whose soaring melodies and pulsating beats sweep the listener along so thoroughly that it is easy to miss the technology behind the magic. While the Moog Lap Steel plays long anthemic notes that seem to defy the laws of physics, its big brother The Moog Guitar cranks out rhythms that, although created using advanced modular synthesis techniques (routing beat-synced control voltage signals from ProTools to The Moog Guitar’s onboard analog filter), are still very much the product of strings, a pick and a guitarist’s callused fingertips… in this case, the fingertips of Moog’s Cyril Lance.

“Jet Li”, the second track moves from Americana to Asiana. Inspired by the fluid movements of martial artist Jet Li, it starts with the low rumble of Moog Taurus Bass Pedals and a unique melody created with a two-handed phrasing technique impossible on an instrument without the precise sustaining abilities of The Moog Lap Steel. This may be the first recording in history in which a lap steel gets mistaken for an erhu.

The title track “Looking Forward, Looking Back” takes the Moog Lap Steel and Moog Guitar in a new direction. As it unfolds, the Lap Steel’s timbre is more reminiscent of a dobro while the Moog Guitar takes on a surreal, funky banjo-like role. When the long, sustained-note melody comes in, being played on the same instrument with the same strings creates a pleasing timbral cohesiveness.

“Stacks”, the most electronic of the tracks, showcases the instrument at play with its other Moog siblings. Built on an analog filtered drum beat, the Moog Lap Steel intertwines with the sounds of the Moog Guitar and Slim Phatty synthesizer while a Little Phatty synth generates a beat-synced control voltage making the Lap Steel’s filter dance in time with the rhythm. Meanwhile other keyboards and vocal processors fill out a soundscape proving that analog and digital can get along quite nicely.

The closing track, “The Curious Boo” was written on the original Moog prototype and combines sacred steel feel with an Indian approach to slide guitar phrasing. A Moog MF-102 ring modulator adds a unique metallic edge to these fluid lines.

The Roman god Janus, for whom the month January was named, is depicted as having two heads, one looking into the past and the other into the future, making him the archetype of beginnings, transitions and gateways (and New Year’s parties). When listening to “Looking Forward, Looking Back”, it’s hard not to hear the music in a similar light… as a harbinger of new beginnings, transitions and gateways… as a new voice… as “Ameritronica”. It’s also hard not to hear it as just damn good music.

Looking Forward, Looking Back is available from Indidog Records through bandcamp at:

http://billycardine.bandcamp.com/album/looking-forward-looking-back



Visit billycardine.com for more information."

Via Chris Stack of experimentalsynth.com

Nevile Watson - Studio Tour

Published on Mar 26, 2014 Future Music Magazine·407 videos

"Producer, DJ and electronic live act, Neville Watson shows Future Music around the gear that creates his signature sound."

NAMM 2014: Verbos Electronic Modular Synthesizer

Published on Jan 25, 2014 Future Music Magazine·353 videos

"Future music meet Mark Verbos and get a demo of his unique eurorack synthesizer modules."

Surfing the ASM Hydrasynth at NAMM 2020

Published on Jan 19, 2020 Red Means Recording

"I touched an ASM Hydrasynth for the first time at NAMM 2020. I like it a lot. It's very well laid out and sounds really good. I REALLY like the arp patch at the end.

Here's the footage of me surfing presets and making tweaks while playing.

When you see me not playing and being bothered it's because Mylar Melodies was next to me doing a video for Future Music and wouldn't stop talking to me. Dammit."

And here he is:

NAMM 2020: Building patches on the ASM Hydrasynth with Mylar Melodies

Published on Jan 19, 2020 Future Music Magazine

Moonlight Matters - Studio Tour

Published on Jan 8, 2014 Future Music Magazine·330 videos

"Future Music head to Bruges, Belgium to visit the amazing studio of Sebastiaan Vandevoorde aka Moonlight matters. See his vast collection of synths including the incredibly rare Yamaha EX1 and many other gems in our exclusive tour.

CREDITS
Producer - Chris Barker
Video Editor - Will Seelig
Videographer - Will Seelig"

Update: Synths featured in order with rough start times:

0:00:00 Studio Electronics Omega 8
0:06:30 Alesis Andromeda A6
0:15:28 Sequential Circuits Prophet-VS
0:19:56 SSB Syntec Banana Synth (like an SSM OB-Xa)
0:29:04 Sequential Circuits Prophet-5
0:30:53 Moog Memorymoog
0:36:10 Roland System 100
0:45:19 Yamaha EX1
0:56:30 Yamaha D85
1:00:18 Roland JD-800
1:01:30 Simmons SDS1
1:02:47 Oberheim OB-Xa
1:04:25 Roland Juno-106
1:05:15 Yamaha DX7 IID (has unison mode)
1:06:49 Yamaha YC45D
1:08:00 Roland TR-606
1:08:22 Boss Dr. Pads
1:08:37 Oberheim XPander
1:09:00 Roland SH-101
1:09:16 LinnDrum
1:09:53 Casio CZ-101
1:10:22 Simmons SDS9
1:11:53 Roland JX-8P

Legowelt - Why I Love My... Roland JV2080

Published on May 4, 2014 Future Music Magazine·425 videos

"Legowelt explains to Future Music why he loves his Roland JV2080"

See the Legowelt studio tour here.

NAMM 2014: Waldorf 2-Pole Analog Filter Video

Published on Jan 24, 2014 Future Music Magazine·351 videos

"Waldorf show Future Music their new analogue filter the 2-Pole. Hear it affect drums synths and more in this exclusive demo at NAMM 2014"

NAMM 2014: Nord Lead A1 Synthesizer

Published on Jan 27, 2014 Future Music Magazine·357 videos

"Future Music take a look at Nord's brand new Lead A1 synth at the NAMM show 2014"

Moog Werkstatt-Ø1 unboxed and built

Published on Nov 12, 2014 Future Music Magazine

"How hard is it to assemble Moog's new kit synth, the Werkstatt-Ø1? Not very – as we demonstrate in the video above. Full review coming in the January issue of Future Music. On sale 18 December 2014.

All audio created with the Moog Werkstatt-Ø1"

Moog Werkstatts on eBay

Monthly Modular: Beat making with the Tiptop Audio Trigger Riot

Published on Jul 7, 2015 Future Music Magazine

"Let’s make a funky Acid breakbeat with a complex ever-changing hi-hat pattern above it using Tiptop Audio's Trigger Riot. See more in Future Music issue 291: http://bit.ly/FMU291"

Future Music Magazine 30 years of synths Pt 2

YouTube Uploaded by FOCtv on Nov 3, 2011

"Part 2 of Future Music Magazines retrospective on vintage synthesizers."

Tons of synth spotting. Not seeing Part 1 on their channel yet.

Modular Monthly: Creating strange oscillators

Published on May 22, 2015 Future Music Magazine

"With careful patching and modulation, it’s possible to push modules that aren’t necessarily oscillators, into oscillator-like behavior. Let's examine some alternative noise generators...

Modular Monthly continues in every issue of Future Music."

The LinnDrum II

Looks like BoomChick will now be called the LinnDrum II. Images send my way via Aaron.
Some info via this VSE thread send my way via MG (note the images are from this month's Future Music magazine):

"LinnDrum II
So no BoomChik but the name now is the LinnDrum II!

Article is in the new Future Music with nice pics (it looks quite different from the Boomchik pics):
2 versions of the new Drum Machine to be Launched:
1 All Digital with Sample playback
2 Digital and Analogue (IE version above but with 4 Voice analogue synthesis-and Evolver type bits and pieces) and 27 extra knobs

Some details:
OS emphasises usability and realtime performance
MPC and 808 style programming on 16 sensitive pads
16 MB flash RAM expandable by compact Flash
Pitch-space synthesis on analogue side
4 outputs plus 4 Analogue outputs (on analogue model)
2 Audio Inputs for processing etc
USB/MIDI in/out
Various processing options and its own individual 'sound'"