SPITFIRE's eDNA EARTH Organic Synthesis

Published on Sep 3, 2014 Spitfire Audio

"Spitfire successfully pilots next-gen soundware back to EARTH with elemental eDNA release

LONDON, UK: compositional tools creator Spitfire Audio is proud to announce availability of the first phase in its eDNA (Electronic DNA) project, EDNA01 - EARTH — a mouth-watering, once-in-a-lifetime collection of electronic sounds served up from the most valued collection of orchestral recordings on the planet, creating the next generation of soundware for the next generation of music makers, as of September 12...

Fact: Spitfire Audio has spent the last decade creating the world’s finest orchestral library. But the simple fact is that this was never its prime objective. Often words are never enough, in fact, yet the tantalising EDNA01 - EARTH teaser did just that with a carefully chosen few: SPITFIRE DIRECTIVE: MAY 2004... PROJECT CODENAME: GAIA... OBJECTIVE: INFILTRATE THE WORLD’S GREATEST ORCHESTRAS... MINE SONIC ORE... TO CREATE RAW COMPONENTS FOR... eDNA... PHASE #ONE... EARTH ORGANIC SYNTHESIS.

Intriguing, isn’t it? So what on earth is EDNA01 - EARTH, exactly? Easy answer. For the last five years Spitfire Audio has been cherry-picking its way through the best musical moments from seven years’ worth of orchestral recordings and placing them through a series of extraordinary analogue and digital signal-warping chains to create the largest sound set of jaw-dropping, next-generation, organic-sounding electronics ever heard anywhere on earth. Either this is some of the best hyperbole ever written or something special has been happening behind closed doors, waiting for the right moment to be unleashed upon the unsuspecting music-making masses, more often than not already jaded by the morass of identikit, mainstream, and clichéd dance and pop sounds already available elsewhere. EDNA01 - EARTH is far from this, and far more besides, however. Hearing will be believing, believe us. Now that’s another fact to chew on! And here’s some more serious food for thought...

While Spitfire Audio has been hard at work recording the finest orchestral players for several years now, practising its collective craft of carefully creating the best strings, brass, woodwinds, and percussion libraries in the world to let loose on musicians the world over, coming from a background of the first wave of EDM (Electronic Dance Music), many here have hungered to get their hands on those superb sounds for further ill-gotten gains — hence the best orchestral recordings being saved to an above top secret hard drive to act as a repository for raw material. The elemental ore or set of polished diamonds, waiting to be roughed up all over again, if you will. While this proved to be a drawn-out process, it was well worth waiting for, that’s for sure!

Indeed, five long years were spent experimenting with orchestral warping techniques, finding the most rarefied analogue outboard and synths with which to filter, mangle, and much more besides, as well as commissioning and creating bespoke digital signal paths. Sounds were pulled up from that top secret hard drive, fed through an awesome multistage signal path, then left simmering overnight to create the most delicious and sometimes just plainly ‘wrong’ sets of sounds. Spitfire’s supremely talented team of multi-award-winning composers, producers, technicians, and engineers subsequently set about pairing down over a terabyte of data to more manageable musical chunks — the very best of the best with which to create a set of multi-sampled sound-sets that became the very building blocks of EARTH itself. Indeed, these were then meticulously organised by sound type into even more manageable sound banks, ready for future release when the time was right.

Rightfully so, Spitfire Audio — in partnership with Blake Robinson — has been hard at it for the last several years or so, cleverly creating some of the most intuitive and ingenious scripts, simple to use GUIs, and attractive front ends for its ongoing series of virtual instruments for Native Instruments’ industry- standard KONTAKT platform for Mac (OS X 10.7 or higher) and PC (Windows 7). Around a year ago, Spitfire Audio wiped the slate — or should we say script? — clean, and set about creating a monstrous new script engine, called eDNA (Electronic DNA), into which those ear-opening EARTH sound banks were effectively transplanted. ‘EARTH - Beta’ was then duly distributed around Spitfire’s state-of-the-art studio complex in central London, where the team truly went to town to create a quite frankly jaw-dropping selection of the most original, haunting, beautiful, epic, fat, angry, and downright unpleasant sounds you’re ever likely to set ears upon — here, there, or anywhere (else). EDNA01 - EARTH’s ingenious GUI genuinely fosters exploration into hitherto uncharted sonic vistas, all of which are a knob or slider away from being tweaked to belong to the user as they themselves see fit. Mangle (via the main MIX window) and add effects galore (via the main FX and MOTORISED FX windows)... it’s all there for the taking and more!

Who better to extol the many musical virtues of EDNA01 - EARTH than Spitfire Audio co-founder Paul Thomson. “There’s huge scope for you to get in and start making your own sounds with all this stuff,” says the working composer. “We are really excited about this one. It’s very useful, and it’s the kind of thing that we’ve been hankering after for a long time — especially Christian [Henson] and myself, who are always looking for some great, unusual synth sounds. The advantage of the way that we’ve put this library together is that you won’t hear the same sound that you’re using on your one- hundred-million-dollar blockbuster on the documentary about the lifecycle of the fruit fly the following day! So you can really dig in and create sounds that are your own signature in here.”

There you have it, then. An awesome-sounding collection of 1,900-plus basic instruments mangled into 1,001 custom patches across several so-called factory and artist ‘cartridges’ by Spitfire Audio’s award-winning team of composers, sound-smiths, producers, and engineers. eDNA (interface) and EDNA01 - EARTH (cartridges)... what a beautiful combination. Everything needed to take anyone ‘out there’ — and back to earth again!


EDNA01 - EARTH can be purchased and downloaded directly from Spitfire Audio for an attractive introductory price of £129.00 GBP (subject to VAT within the EU) — rising to £149.00 GBP (subject to VAT within the EU) on October 1, 2014 — from here: http://www.spitfireaudio.com/products-page (Note that this is a free Native Instruments KONTAKT PLAYER library — no additional purchases necessary to run this product to its full potential.)

For more detailed information, please visit the dedicated EDNA01 - EARTH webpage here: http://www.spitfireaudio.com/edna01-earth"

Imogen Heap - Me The Machine (Official Video)

Published on Apr 22, 2014 imogenheap·78 videos

"Two years to the day since Imogen unveiled the first version of 'Me The Machine' with her Mi.Mu Gloves, here's the official music video!

Back the Gloves on Kickstarter: http://immi.fm/mimukick
Pre-order the "Sparks" deluxe box set: http://immi.fm/ihdeluxe

New album "Sparks" coming soon...

Imogen said: "Today is Earth Day and 2 years ago I performed the first version of Me The Machine written with and for my Mi.Mu gloves. I am dying to let you hear the album but I have to wait, but today I want to let you hear and see the studio version and the additional music video. Hope you really enjoy it! Most of the visuals are being manipulated live using my Mi.Mu gloves as I didn't just want to mime. So I went one step further and worked with the team on getting the gloves ready for visual manipulations."

CLICK FOR MORE »

"Poetry at the core of arts" with a Dedication to Pierre Henry by Marc-Henri Arfeux & the Access Virus

Many of you will be familiar with the Access Virus compositions by Marc-Henri from previous RADIOKLOW posts. Marc-Henri bridges the gap between electronic music and other forms of art. His most recent work is a poem in tribute to Pierre Henry accompanied by the Access Virus. The tribute is hosted on La poésie au cœur des arts : le Blogart which translates to "Poetry at the core of arts". Click through and click on the Access Virus image to get to the piece.

via Marc-Henri:

"This site called 'Poetry at the core of arts' is the net the extension of a book of the same title, an anthology of poetry published by the french publisher : Editions Bruno Doucey. The book contains a poem I wrote about electronic music. The site was conceived to developp an exploration for some of the poets and artists of the book. I am one of them for, poetry , music and painting.

You will find the poem I wrote for the book, three pieces of music composed in january 2014, four poems by other authors of the anthology, three improvisations performed in early february 2014, a former composition called De Haute Vallée you have seen in the form a video in late 2012, an interview in french and some photographs taken at my flat when I was interviewed."

The following is Marc-Henri's poem translated into English:

"Orpheus veil"

Fly down into Orpheus ear,
Where roll clockworks
Of the forbidden stars
And voices shreds seeking vision.

Listen at the well of walls
Echoes of illuminated faces
In their bronze palaces.

Pavings, folds of roses,
The naked heels
Playing the freshness game
With embers
And the childhood kisses.

Travelling back to horizon,
In the limestone of nights,
Is now the prophecy of the spices,
With its tissue gifted with red
And the sobbings of an initiation.

Marc-Henri Arfeux - 2013

----------

Update: the following an English translation of the interview with Marc-Henri Arfeux on "Poetry at the core of arts". It is a fascinating read and reminds me of why I initially got into synths. My first synth was a brand new Oberheim Matrix-6 back in 1986. When I first started exploring the Matrix-6 I had no idea what the parameters did, so I just dived in. For me it was an exploration of sound for the sake of sound and a fascination in creating musical instruments never heard before. The focus was on that exploration rather than the attempt to mimic real world instruments. Much of this spirit is covered in the world of musique concrete and is captured in the interview below. Do not miss the part on the short wave radio. Truly fascinating and an inspiration for sonic exploration.

CLICK FOR MORE »

An Interview with Joel Chadabe on Astronauta Pinguim

via Astronauta Pinguim where you'll find the full interview.

"Joel Chadabe, native of New York, studied with Elliott Carter at the Yale School of Music. Following three years in Europe, he returned to New York and established an electronic music studio at the State University of New York at Albany.

In 1967, he created the design for an analog-programmable Moog synthesizer and commissioned Robert Moog to build it. In 1977, Joel Chadabe and Roger Meyers developed the PLAY Program, the first software music sequencer. From 1983 to 1994, Joel Chadabe was the president of Intelligent Music, the first company to develop and distribute software and hardware for interactive composing, In 1994, he founded Electronic Music Foundation (EMF), a non-profit organization dedicated to the history and creative potential of electronic music. In 2006, he founded Ear To The Earth, a worldwide network for environmental sound..."

via Fabricio Carvalho aka Astronauta Pinguim on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge

After checking out the interview with Joel Chadabe, click here and scroll for other interviews with synth legends on Astronauta Pinguim.

MOOG LITTLE PHATTY STAGE EDITION 2 TOXIC GREEN 22 OF 30

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

via this auction - learn how to sell on eBay here

"FROM THE STUDIO OF EARTH EMPIRE (SYNTH-POP / INDUSTRIAL / TECHNO ARTISTS)
reverbnation/earthempire"

CLICK FOR MORE »

DAVE SMITH PROPHET 08 PE EDITION

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

via this auction - learn how to sell on eBay here.

"FROM THE STUDIO OF EARTH EMPIRE (SYNTH-POP / INDUSTRIAL / TECHNO ARTISTS)
reverbnation/earthempire

DAVE SMITH PROPHET 08 PE EDITION 8-VOICE ANALOG SYNTHESIZER
WORKS & SOUNDS GREAT! HAS SOME COSMETIC THINGS TO MENTION-
MISSING LEFT-FRONT FOOT, SMALL GAP BETWEEN KEYS, MISSING ONE SCREW
ON RIGHT FRONT FACE COVERED WITH BLACK ELECTRICAL TAPE. IT HAS SOME SMALL
SCRATCHES & DINGS ON THE FACE & SOME KNICKS ON THE WOOD SIDE PANELS.
IT HAS SOME WORN & SLIGHTLY BENT KNOBS THAT DON'T ROTATE ON THE KNOB POST PERFECTLY
STRAIGHT BUT DO TURN CLEAN & DO NOT EFFECT THE PERFORMANCE OF THE SYNTHESIZER.
THERE ARE DINGS & SCRATCHES ON THE TOPS OF THE KNOBS & LIGHT SCRATCHES AROUND THE FACE.
IF YOU NEED THE POWER & SOUND OF A PROPHET 08 PE & DON'T MIND A FEW DINGS & SCRATCHES
AT A LOW PRICE THEN THIS SYNTH IS FOR YOU!! I THINK REPLACING THE KNOBS WILL MAKE
A BIG DIFFERENCE ON HOW SHE LOOKS! I SEE THEM HERE ON EBAY ALL THE TIME!
8.9 OUT OF 10 IN LOOKS! GET IT BEFORE IT GETS AWAY!!!

COMES WITH ORIGINAL POWER SUPPLY!!!"

CLICK FOR MORE »

OBERHEIM MATRIX 6 ANALOG POLYPHONIC SYNTHESIZER

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

via this auction - learn how to sell on eBay here.

"FROM THE STUDIO OF EARTH EMPIRE (SYNTH-POP / INDUSTRIAL / TECHNO ARTISTS)
reverbnation/earthempire

OBERHEIM MATRIX 6 ANALOG SYNTHESIZER! COMES WITH POWER SUPPLY
AWESOME ANALOG SOUND! PHAT SWEEPS, LEADS & BASS!
GREAT CONDITION FOR IT'S AGE! HAS SOME LIGHT RUST LINING THE TOP FRONT COVERED IN BLACK INK.
(SEE PICS) IT ISN'T AN EYESORE TO ME, I HAVE NEVER KEPT THIS SYNTH IN A BRIGHT ROOM ANYWAY.
SMALL DINGS, SCRATCHES & SMALL STICKER WEAR ON FRONT RIGHT SIDE (CAN BE REMOVED)
SYNTH KEYS, BUTTONS, OUTPUTS, POWER, DISPLAY WORK GREAT! 8.9 OUT OF 10 IN LOOKS!
AWESOME TO HAVE PURE OBERHEIM POWER IN YOUR COLLECTION!
GET THIS ANALOG CLASSIC NOW!!!!"

CLICK FOR MORE »

MOOG MICROMOOG ANALOG MONOPHONIC SYNTHESIZER SN 7493

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

via this auction - learn how to sell on eBay here.

"FROM THE STUDIO OF EARTH EMPIRE (SYNTH-POP / INDUSTRIAL / TECHNO ARTISTS) reverbnation/earthempire

Moog MicroMoog Analog Synthesizer! Clasic synth from the mid-to-late '70's in FANTASTIC
Condition!!! (Just see the pics!!) Everything works! Sounds ANALOG & PHAT!!!!
Pitch Ribbon works great but need to apply stronger pressure compared to my Kronos
Ribbon controller. 1 key (see pic 3) plays great but needs it's contact cleaned.
Holding it down for a bit SOMETIMES it cuts in & out. Otherwise it is a near perfect
MicroMoog specimen! I use it for long drones, bass, sweeps & S&H modulation!
Run this thru good effects & you are a MOOG ANALOG GOD!..."

CLICK FOR MORE »

Earth Empire Custom SCI Themed DAVE SMITH INSTRUMENTS MONO EVOLVER

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

via this auction

"This is not a video game. You win you buy! :)

FROM THE STUDIO OF EARTH EMPIRE (SYNTH-POP / INDUSTRIAL / TECHNO ARTISTS)
reverbnation/earthempire

DAVE SMITH INSTRUMENTS MONO EVOLVER KEYBOARD / MEK ANALOG / DIGITAL HYBRID MONOSYNTH
HAS "STYLE-FLIP" CUSTOM "PRO-ONE" / "PROPHET 08" BLACK, WHITE & SILVER STYLE FACE INSTEAD
OF THE ORIGINAL EVOLVER BLUE. HAS PROPHET 08 KNOBS. BOX IT CAME IN SAYS IT'S A "PE" EDITION,
BUT DOESN'T THAT MAKE THE KNOBS ALL GO ALL THE WAY AROUND & DON'T STOP? THESE KNOBS
ARE THE ORIGINAL BECAUSE THEY MOSTLY ALL STOP AT 5 O CLOCK TO THE RIGHT. I GUESS IT ISN'T
A "PE" EDITION THEN. BUT YOU CAN STILL FIND IT'S UPGRADE HERE ON EBAY! STILL SOUNDS FANTASTIC
& WORKS LIKE A DREAM!! 100% AWESOME!! STYLE-FLIP'S WEBSITE SAYS YOU CAN REMOVE THEIR DECALS
& NOT REMOVE OR DAMAGE THE ORIGINAL UNDERNEATH! SO REMOVE IT IF YOU WANT THE GOOD-OLD
BLUE DECAL BACK :) HARDLY ANY DINGS OR SCRATCHES, LOOKS GREAT BLACK WITH THE BLUE LED'S!!

A+ SHAPE! COMES WITH ORIGINAL OWNERS MANUAL, BOX & POWER SUPPLY!!!"

CLICK FOR MORE »

ROLAND JP-8000 with Jupiter-8 Colored Knobs

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

via this auction

To go with the Roland Juno-106 with Jupiter-8 colored buttons.

"FROM THE STUDIO OF EARTH EMPIRE (SYNTH-POP / INDUSTRIAL / TECHNO ARTISTS)
reverbnation/earthempire

FANTASTIC WORKING / SOUNDING ROLAND JP-8000 VIRTUAL ANALOG SYNTHESIZER!
IT HAS JUPITER-8 STYLE COLORS! WISH THE SYNTH ACTUALLY WAS MADE THIS WAY
WITH THESE COLORS. COLOR JOB IS GOOD! DONE WITH COLOR SHARPES, NOT PAINTED.
EASY TO REMOVE IF NEEDED. IT DOES FOLLOWTHE JP-8 STYLE.
ALL KEYS, SLIDERS, KNOBS & OUTPUTS WORK EXCELLENT!!
HAS SOME LIGHT SCRATCHES, NOT MANY. MOST SCUFFS & SCRATCHES
ARE ON THE BOTTOM FRONT (SEE PICS)

BONUS! COMES WITH VENGENCE X-PLORATIONS SOUNDSET VOLUME #3
PERFECT FOR TRANCE, DANCE, TECHNO, INDUSTRIAL, E.B.M., DUBSTEP, ETC
HERE IS THE WEBSITE WITH THE AUDIO DEMO FOR THE SOUNDSET!
refx.com/products/vengeance/soundsets/
JUST LOOK NEAR THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE TO PLAY THE DEMO FOR IT!"

CLICK FOR MORE »

Theremin Terpsitone Bollards

Theremin Bollards vs Stimming
Published on Dec 10, 2012 by Theremin Bollards

"Theremin Terpsitone Bollard live in the Mix
Theremin Terpsitone Bollards freestyle house jam, the mix is by Andy Devine, the Bollard performance is by David Young. Location Bunker recording studio, York. Performance details, recorded live, no edits, a few little mistakes are present here and there. The Bollards are playing the bass line lead line and samples, hopefully this compliments what Andy is doing on the decks? Please leave me some feedback. And keep coming back as i am going to be adding more videos over the coming months."

"Digital Earth Theremin Terpsitone Bollards are a fun interactive sound sculpture that anyone can play. A fantastically innovative experience for improvisational performance and designed for multiple creative uses, these amazingly inspiring instruments produce a rich tapestry of expressive sounds. Please visit the films section of our site to see them in action."

via Theremin Terpsitone Bollard on Facebook: "The Theremin Bollards are interactive sonic sculptures that will blow your mind. All ages and abilities are invited to throw their best shapes around these other worldly posts – your movements will be translated back to you in 4 octaves, with a selection of generative sound bouncing around in the mix."

Exclusive Moog Minitaur Review - All the Bass & More for Less

This is a MATRIXSYNTH review...

A brand new Moog Minitaur will set you back $599, a Slim Phatty, $795, an RME Voyager, $2695. So how does the Minitaur sound compared to its siblings? Pretty darn incredible.

For this review I had access to both a Minimoog Voyager and a vintage Minimoog Model D for comparison, and the Minitaur more than held its own. Actually it was capable of sounding identical to the Voyager with roughly equivalent settings. The Model D, whether due to age or physical design, has a brighter, fizzier, more unstable characteristic to it compared to both. It's kind of like the original Minimoog has a wild beast inside it while the Voyager and Minitaur have managed to keep that beast under control. I used to think of an analogy where the Model D sounds like it has a Tasmanian Devil inside it, while the Voyager has Darth Vader. Well, the Minitaur adds a massive fat bull. All three are extremely powerful sounding synths. The bass the Minitaur produces is as full as it gets and the filter gets wide open. It was a bit shocking when I first heard it. The Minitaur might be slimmed down in price, but sonically it has all the fat you will ever need.

As the Voyager sounded closest to the Minitaur, I primarily focused on it for comparison. For the most part I could get the Minitaur to sound identical, but there were subtle differences. An interesting thing I noticed was that the filter on the Minitaur seemed to open more than the Voyager, but then I realized that on the Voyager the filter opens up more if you apply the envelope to it. Once I adjusted the envelope on the Voyager, they sounded nearly identical. The saw waves were identical and the pulse waves varied a little, but I believe this was likely due to additional pulse width settings on the Voyager that the Minitaur does not have. I found myself spending more time attempting to get the Voyager to sound like the Minitaur vs. the other way around. This was clearly due to the extra parameters on the Voyager, and it reminded me that sometimes less can be more. With pulse waves, the Minitaur sounded a little more rounded, smooth and fuller. In many cases where I couldn't sonically hear a difference, I could feel it. A funny side note is I have an overhead lamp in the studio I did my testing in. The lamp has a metal hood over a small glass dome for the bulb enclosure that rattles with significant bass. It rarely happens but I noticed it happening quite a bit with the Minitaur. I decided to take the Minitaur, Voyager and Model D to town with a rattle test. The Minitaur won. It consistently produced the most intense lamp rattle. :) This is not too surprising considering Moog's reputation for bass, and that the Minitaur is based on the Moog Taurus 3 bass pedals, which in turn was based on the original Taurus I released back in 1975 (note the Taurus II unlike the I & 3 was based on the Moog Rogue - this is significant, and I'll comment on this in the summary). It's worth noting that although there are other dedicated bass synthesizers out there, there are essentially two types - TB-303 emulators and thundering bass pedals. The Minitaur of course is based on the latter, and few synths sound as full. The Novation BassStation keyboard which is also analog, for example, was geared more towards TB-303 emulation and does not really compare to the Minitaur.

Before we get into specs and finally the summary, there are a few things you need to know off the bat regarding the Minitaur:

CLICK FOR MORE »

Boomstar 4075 Demo

Published on Sep 30, 2012 by StudioElectronics

"Studio Electronics Boomstar 4075 - ARP Filter Sneak n' Peak (Take 2)

Get the .aif.zip here: http://studioelectronics.com/assets/Audio/boomstar/Boomstar-4075-GSR-1.aif.zip (for you listening pleasure only).

Greg St. Regis' clever twists and turns launched the first 4075 Boomstar past "the surly bonds of earth," via a cheap audio interface that happened to be around. More Boomstar filter type demos, live footage and markedly superior D/A Converters to follow.

Headphones mandatory. Production units are mere weeks away!

MSR

Greg St. Regis comments:

We've spent the last month debugging the prototype pcbs and perfecting the analog circuits. At this point, I felt it was good enough to give you all a sneak preview of the sound. It has about 90% of it's hardware functional. Still to be implemented is the software LFO. This is raw BoomStar recorded though a Focusrite Scarlett interface (nothing special), into Reason with a Macbook Pro. We did this in about 20 minutes, one take. I played a small Akai controller with a built in arpeggiator with my left hand and turned knobs with my right. It's "kinda cool.

It was originally about 11 minutes long; Marc did a small amount of normalizing and edited it down to 8 minutes 30 some seconds.

Put some decent headphones on and listen to huge low booms end and searingly crisp filter sweeps. I tried to take it though a full compliment of waveforms, xmod, rmod, oscillator sync, feedback looping, resonance squeals and overdrive. There is quite a bit more to come when the LFO gets in on the action.

The chassis are getting screened this week. We'll post more demos in the days to come with video included. And no, this is not an SE1X or ATCX! They sound quite good, but there is nothing like the clarity and impact of pure discrete analog with hardware envelopes.

Enjoy!
GSR

p.s. Expect to see these in the shops in about 30 days... we're in love with this little beast.

Previous MSR comments:
'Four Boomstar hardware circuits: crossmod, ringmod, feedback, AND distortion are at play here at one time or another. The idea was to stretch out... and let things get greasy and messy.'

'The "feedback" feature (a la the Minimoog) is employed throughout this track so that distortion is an effect. If you are attempting to listen to this through your laptop speakers they will be overwhelmed quickly.'"

Modded ROLAND JUNO-106 with Blue LEDs

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

It's a shiny one too.

"FROM THE STUDIO OF EARTH EMPIRE & DAKHEAD (SYNTH-POP / INDUSTRIAL / TECHNO ARTISTS)
reverbnation/earthempire
reverbnation/dakhead

ROLAND JUNO-106 POLYPHONIC ANALOG SYNTHESIZER WITH BLUE LEDS, BLUE LIGHTED BENDER & BLUE LED 6 VOICE DSI POLY METER!!

ALL SIX VOICES WORK, IT WAS MODIFIED BY SYNTHSPA FOUND HERE ON EBAY. THIS UNIT HAS THE "Mk II" MOD THAT ADDS THE "DSI POLY METER" THAT LIGHTS UP WHEN A VOICE(KEY) IS TRIGGERED. THIS MUST HAVE BEEN A SYNTHSPA "Mk II" PROTOTYPE, BECAUSE IT DOES NOT HAVE THE ON/OFF SWITCHES FOR THE POLY METER OR THE BLUE LIGHTED BENDER. THE SURFACE WAS GLOSSED OVER, VERY WELL DONE I MUST ADD. IT IS VERY SHINY. THE WHITE PAINT ON THE KEYBOARD HAS YELLOWED A BIT, BUT NOT TOO BAD! IT GIVES IT A TRUE VINTAGE FEEL & MORE OF A JUNO-60 LOOK! IT HAS THE 3-PRONG POWER SUPPLY ADDED TOO. ALL 6 VOICE CHIPS WORK AND BATTERY WAS CHANGED OUT WITH A COIN BATTERY CLIP SO YOU CAN CHANGE THE BATTERY OUT WHEN IT GETS LOW. IT IS LOADED WITH A "BEST OF" JUNO-106 PATCH COLLECTION SO IT HAS JUST ABOUT EVERY ANALOG SOUND YOU COULD EVER NEED FOR STUDIO OR LIVE USE. BASS, LEADS, PADS, EFX, ETC.!!!

SO ALL KEYS, SLIDERS, BUTTONS, KNOBS, LEDS, OUTPUTS, TAPE, MIDI, BENDER ALL WORK. IT WAS MODIFIED & FIXED UP FROM THE SYNTHSPA. THIS WAS MY 3RD JUNO-106 FROM THEM, SO I KNOW IT WORKS & ROCKS!!!"

CLICK FOR MORE »

Custom Earth Empire Roland JUNO-106

via this auction

"FROM THE STUDIO OF EARTH EMPIRE (SYNTH-POP / INDUSTRIAL / TECHNO ARTISTS)... It has DARK BLUE buttons & colored slider caps... To repair this JUNO-106 you will need to purchase 2 voice chips & do it yourself OR ship the JUNO-106 to SYNTH SPA (found here on Ebay) & have ALLEN fix it for cheap! He even repairs just the Voice board if that's all you can afford or want to replace."

CLICK FOR MORE »

The Electric Golem Live & New CD “Sky Snails"

The Electric Golem - STS Morrisville - 4-21-2011 - Part 1 of 2

YouTube Uploaded by KurtKarsin on May 26, 2011

"This video (Part 1 of 2) features The Electric Golem, an electronic improvisational synthesizer duo from Ithaca, NY. Here they are performing a piece titled "What Watson Doesn't Know" at Morrisville State College (NY) at the fifth annual Science, Technology and Society Symposium, titled "Technomusia: Science, Technology and Music" (more at www.morrisville.edu/sts). The program also featured Roy "Futureman" Wooten the synth drummer from Bela Fleck and the Flecktones.

The Electric Golem is composed of Trevor Pinch and James Spitznagel, who yield generative, modern psychedelic mindscapes thanks to Pinch's command of his Moog Prodigy and homemade modular synths, and Spitznagel's battery of similar devices like the Evolver, Mopho, Tenori-on, Nintendo DSi, iPod Touch, and Orb Sequencer. During his daylight hours, Pinch is Professor of Science and Technology Studies and Professor of Sociology at Cornell University, and the coauthor of perhaps the definitive book on synthesizer technology, Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer. Spitznagel is a true techno-polyglot, a digital computer artist, photographer, and sonic provocateur who has released all manners of twisted electronica on his Level Green imprint, and continues to raise the bar for circuit-based music as he craftily wrestles with the vagaries of tone, glitch, frequency, and pulsation."

The Electric Golem - STS Morrisville - 4-21-2011 - Part 2 of 2


via Trevor: "our new CD “Sky Snails" has just been released by Periphery records www.otperiphery.com [link]:

The CD was endorsed by our ginger cat, Mango, who loved Sky Snails – unfortunately the day after the record came out Mango vanished from this Earth!

Sky snails is also available on iTunes for downloading. It consists of three tunes: the melodic “What Watson Doesn’t Know”; the Space Noise medley, “Sky Snails Part One”; and the cosmic “Sky Snails Part Two”.

Shortly also to be released on Periphery is one track of our live collaboration with Macolm Cecil of Stevie Wonder and Tonto’s Expanding Headband fame. That CD comes out August 5

We plan a CD release party/concert on Saturday August 20 in Ithaca at The State of the Art Gallery – so mark that date in your diaries if you're in or near Ithaca

Meanwhile have a great summer. We are back in the studio working on our third album. And if you see a big ginger cat anywhere who likes electronic music please let me know! We miss him terribly!

Trevor"

Beat Thang Finally Arrives? At Best Buy?

Beat Thang from Rowdy BKE on Vimeo.

"LOS ANGELES, May 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- "We wanted everyone to be able to produce music the same way we do," says Dallas Austin of the idea behind the Beat Thang. The Grammy-winning producer-songwriter-"keyboard fanatic" and owner of Atlanta-based Rowdy Electronics is introducing this groundbreaking mobile music-making machine through a joint venture with Nashville's BKE (Beat Kangz Electronics.) The Beat Thang will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy July 17, 2011 as a limited edition with a suggested retail price of $1,500.

Dallas Austin is the man behind multiplatinum hits by the likes of Michael Jackson, Boyz II Men, TLC, Madonna, Pink and Gwen Stefani. At Austin's level, producing music the same way he does means access to a library of 3,000+ original sounds (live drums, bass, guitar, keyboards, strings, horns, Latin and African percussion); hundreds of beats, patterns and loops; 65 digital effects (EQ, compression, reverb, delay, filter, chopped, screwed, reverse record); sampling; waveform editing; and mixing and mastering functionality, among other marvels.

Fully portable but also able to integrate with a Mac or PC, the Thang has a 3.5-inch color video LCD screen. It offers endless customization possibilities, including the option to tailor your setting to wherever inspiration strikes – at home, in the club, on the corner, onstage, even in the studio. Its cutting-edge features can be enjoyed anywhere courtesy of a rechargeable battery and sturdy metal frame no heavier than a laptop.

"We're musicians and beat-makers and artists, so the development of the Beat Thang got an extra layer of creativity and love," says BKE President Aja Emmanuel, formerly a globe-trotting product specialist for Sam Ash Music and Samson Technologies and an independent hip-hop artist (perhaps best known for the 2002 album It's Time.)

Emmanuel and Austin are proud to note that the Beat Thang has already won high-profile fans like Jermaine Dupri, P. Diddy, will.i.am, Jim Jonsin and "American Idol" in-house mentor Jimmy Iovine, who went so far as to introduce the handy piece of hardware to "AI" audiences. Austin will go even farther when he takes the Beat Thang with him to space aboard Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic in 2013.

Here on Earth, Austin is co-hosting pre-release parties with Best Buy in Nashville, Atlanta, New York and Miami to demonstrate the Beat Thang for industry VIP's. States Austin: "We'll be showing everyone how you can sing into it, play keyboards into it, put beats into it – anything," he says. "We'll also have a few for pre-order because once we hit the release date, it's anyone's guess how many will be available to the industry. We only produced 1,000 units and the buzz is running pretty hot."

Of course when Austin and Emmanuel started out in the music business, there was nothing like the Beat Thang. "It's like we made a list of everything we'd ever wanted as producers...and then went to work to put it all in one powerful machine that we could take with us whenever we wanted," states Emmanuel.

Notes Austin: "I remember being 11 or 12 and going to the music store every day to play the instruments. I couldn't afford any of them. And now Aja and I are going worldwide with the music machine of the future!"

To view the Beat Thang please visit http://beatthang.com/

©2011 PR Newswire. All Rights Reserved."

"Features:

One octave pad layout with 8 banks so you can bang out beats or play the keys.
16 tracks so you can create patterns that can be performed and remixed on the fly.
16 layers of velocity sensitivity for emotive performance.
High Quality Sampler & waveform editing. Onboard sampler & resampler.
Edit sample start and end times. Process samples using features like normalize, reverse and resample.
Easy to use Realtime Sequencer. Create patterns in real time using quantize, swing, individual bar lengths, tap tempo then string them together in SONG mode.
Mixer with built in FX Change track, pad and pan levels.
Add 24bit reverb, delay, flange, phaser, pitch shift, old record and many more.
Add BANG with onboard mastering.
Export your songs as .wav files or save them to your Beat Kangz Playa Thang equipped iPhone or iPod Touch.
Rechargeable internal battery.
Pitch and Mod wheel.
2 high speed SD card slots.
256 MB Ram Stock.
Connects seamless with Beat Thang Software.
Rugged all metal chassis"

See the BeatKangz label below for it's history.

Lainhart Live Online Audio/Video Performance Friday May 7

"Friends: Sponsored by the ImprovFriday group, I'll be performing a realtime audio/video set from my studio on Friday, May 7, at 9 PM EDST (GMT -4). In honor of ImprovFriday, I'll be playing structured improvisations for electric guitar and lapsteel processed with the Kyma System and laptop, and streaming live video and audio of the event with interactive chat on the ImprovFriday site:

http://improvfriday.ning.com/

To find your local time, go here

I hope you can tune in, and I encourage you to join the ImprovFriday group for more wonderful spontaneous music from around the world."

Richard Lainhart will also be performing Monday May 10 with Buchla and Haken Continuum along with Jessica Feldman and Michael V. Waller:

"LMAKseries - Live audiovisual performance event

Monday, May 10, 7:30 pm
Featuring: Jessica Feldman, Richard Lainhart and Michael V. Waller

Richard Lainhart is an award-winning composer, filmmaker, and author - a digital artisan who workswith sonic and visual data. Since childhood, he's been interested in natural processes such as waves, flames and clouds, in harmonics and harmony, and in creative interactions with machines, using them as compositional methods to present sounds and images that are as beautiful as he can make them. Lainhart studied composition and electronic music with Joel Chadabe at the State University of New York at Albany. He has composed music for film, television, CD-ROMs, interactive applications, and the Web. His compositions have been performed in the US, England, Sweden, Germany, Australia, and Japan. Recordings of his music have appeared on the Periodic Music, Vacant Lot, XI Records, Airglow Music, Tobira Records, Infrequency, VICMOD, and ExOvo labels. He has worked and performed with John Cage, David Tudor, Steve Reich, Phill Niblock, David Berhman, and Jordan Rudess, among many others. In 2008, he was commissioned by the Electronic Music Fondation to contribute a work to New York Soundscape. Lainhart's animations and short films have been shown at festivals in the US, the UK, Canada, Portugal, Italy, France, Spain, Germany, and Korea, and online at Souvenirs From Earth, ResFest, The New Venue, The Bitscreen, and Streaming Cinema 2.0. In 2009, he was awarded a Film & Media grant by the New York State Council on the Arts. In January 2010, he performed as a featured Live Media audio-visual artist at Netmage 2010 in Bologna, Italy."

LMAKprojects
139 Eldridge Street
New York NY 10002

ALIO DIE | PARALLEL WORLDS

Also posted on MATRIXSYNTH-C. New release via Bakis Sirros. All tracks feature his 16 panel modular Serge system. A previous incarnation of that system is pictured here to the left.

"HIC SUNT LEONES presents:

ALIO DIE | PARALLEL WORLDS Circo Divino (HSL055 and HSL055LP)
CD - 6 side Digipack, 180gr Vinyl.

This is the first collaboration by ambient master Alio Die with soundscape creator Parallel Worlds.
The unique sound achieved could be described as a hybrid sonic world, made out of bouncing electrons and air vibrations.

The modular machines of Parallel Worlds are merged with the acoustic instrumentation and drones of
Alio Die, joined by the ethereal voice of the Polish vocalist/composer India Czajkowska, resulting in a surreal, yet down to earth, listening experience.

The compositions, being, at times, minimal and calm and, at other times, full of mystical darkness and microsound elements, take the listener into a place were mental and physical boundaries have no need to exist.

The beautiful Digipack artwork is by the painter Romanie Sanchez.

Tracks:
1 Lost Fractales
2 Circo Divino
3 Nuvole di Palissandro
4 Sorinel
5 Electrostatic Forest
6 Slide of Grace

All tracks composed and produced by Bakis Sirros and Stefano Musso
(BMI) between 2008 and 2009, in Milan, Italy and Athens, Greece.

Parallel Worlds : Doepfer A100 modular, Serge Modular Music System, AS Integrator modular, Metalbox/CGS modular, modified Oberheim 4-Voice, modified EMS VCS3, String machines, Tape Echoes, Tone & CV generators, wave shapers and modifiers.

Alio Die: Drones and Loops, Zither, Carillon, Effects and Treatments.

Voice and effects on tracks 1,3,4 by India Czajkowska recorded in
Verezzi, Italy.

Mastering by Stefano Musso at Temple Studio, Milan.

Cover pictures by Romanie Sanchez
www.romanie.net

CD and Vinyl Limitation: 500 copies each

Please order at:
www.aliodie.com
www.parallel-worlds-music.com"

Update: you can find some MP3 clips here.

Hoffman Theremin - O MIO BABBINO CARO

YouTube via copperleaves — April 02, 2010 — "The videos I have posted to YouTube in the past that show me playing Samuel Hoffman's RCA theremin were made when YouTube quality was not as good as it is today. Here is a theremin transcription of O MIO BABBINO CARO from Giacomo Puccini's opera, GIANNI SCHICCHI. As you can see, I have taken the doors off the cabinet so I could zoom in on the old vacuum tubes that give the instrument its distinctive voice.

Doctor Hoffman used this theremin on the soundtracks of such classic films as THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, SPELLBOUND, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS and many other suspense and SciFi movies of the late 1940's and 1950's. At that time, he modified the instrument for use in the recording studio by putting special audio output jacks on it so that external speakers could be plugged into the RCA theremin amplifier. For this recording, I used a CLARATONE speaker that was specially built by Florida vintage theremin expert Reid Welch (aka "Mr. Trubble").

This speaker was designed to emulate the sound of the Jensen speaker used by the late, great theremin virtuosa, Clara Rockmore. Because Reid had been a personal friend of Clara Rockmore, he had the opportunity to study her instrument and her speaker set up. His CLARATONE has a 10 inch cone and a particularly warm, sweet and definitely human voice. Unfortunately, Reid only made a limited number of these custom speakers and I was lucky to get the very last one (which I purchased in 1998).

The speaker that is built into the cabinet of this unique theremin was placed so that it was facing away from the thereminist and on the floor. This is the very worst possible place for a theremin speaker because when you play, your speaker is the only way you can hear what you are doing. For best results, your theremin speaker should be placed at head level, behind or beside you, pointing toward you, and no further away than about six feet.

A friend of mine who was well acquainted with vintage radio technology used to call vacuum tubes 'magical Inca fire bottles'."