Synth Stuff Ep. 45 - Korg DS-8

Published on Jul 2, 2018 tritonrecordings

"Yamaha wasn't the only company meddling with FM synthesis. The DS-8 is a four operator FM synth from Korg that makes for a nice alternative to the DX7. Some major advantages include built-in FX and a few controls that allow you to quickly edit some parameters. While the DX7 is the classic and is in my top 3 favorite synths, the DS-8 is definitely worth checking out if want FM hardware that isn't another Yamaha. It also seems to have a more noisy and lo-fi quality to it."

Synth jam: GAY CAVEMAN [KORG Polysix, DS-8, M1, ROLAND Juno-106, ARP Odyssey]

Published on May 14, 2018 Synthezaur

"A tune I came up with a few days ago. I prepared automation and remote control tracks before, everything else is live looped via audio or MIDI. Recorded to Ableton with a little help from Akai X201D.

Instruments:
Akai MPC-1000, ARP Odyssey, DSI Prophet '08, Elektronika EM-25, Korg DS-8, Korg M-1,Korg MS-20, Korg Polysix, Roland Juno-106S

Effects:
Soundtoys 5, Arturia MiniFilter V, some EQ from Ableton and Boss RE-20

Recording devices:
Akai X201D, Focusrite Saffire Pro 40"

KORG DS-8 - Ambient chillout music【SYNTH DEMO】

Published on Mar 25, 2018 synth4ever

"Korg DS-8 FM synth demo -- playing a relaxing, dreamy ambient electronica music soundscape on DS-8 digital FM synth from KORG.

This relaxing ambient chill-out / new age synthesizer music created on KORG DS8 FM synthesizer using built-in delay effects."

Korg DS-8 Digital Synthesizer

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

via this auction

"DS8 is FM synth with 2 OSCs per voice, it does sound more D-50 than Yamaha DX7, sounds is certainly fatter than DX series. The DS-8 is 8 voices of polyphony and 8 parts multitimbrality.sounds so unique. It has some digital effects such as chorus, flange, delay and analog-like controls for modulators, envelopes and the LFO. A joystick provides control of modulation and pitch bending. It also has a performance section for quick edits on the fly using (3) real-time sliders to control timbre, EG1 and EG2."

CLICK FOR MORE »

Pink Korg 707 SN 003346 FM Synthesizer

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

via this auction

"A good entry level digital synth. It's small in size, simple in its design and offers fairly easy editing. It is a digital FM type synthesizer which makes some very thin and digital but sometimes interesting sounds. The synth engine is similar to the DS-8 without on-board effects."

CLICK FOR MORE »

synth4ever Synth studio tour + synthesizer reviews / home studio tour

Published on Mar 22, 2017 synth4ever

No demos, just synth talk which many will enjoy. List of synths and when they come in below.

"synth4ever's home music studio, synth collection & studio tour, and synthesizer reviews.

Synth & home studio tour timecodes (linear order):

00:00 - Intro
01:49 - Kawai K3
04:28 - Novation Supernova 2
06:57 - Alesis Andromeda A6
09:41 - Waldorf Q
11:49 - Kawai K5000S
13:39 - Roland JD-800
17:03 - Roland D-50
20:07 - DSI Poly Evolver
22:54 - Roland V-Synth
26:24 - Korg DS-8
28:30 - Yamaha DX7-II FD
30:28 - Yamaha DX5
33:49 - Korg DW-8000
36:42 - Akai AX60
38:59 - Roland JX-10
41:47 - Yamaha CS-30
45:19 - Yamaha SK-30
48:01 - Yamaha CS-50
56:06 - Access Virus B
57:31 - Waldorf XT
59:25 - Yamaha TG33
01:01:14 - Kawai SX-210
01:03:40 - Akai AX80
01:06:41 - Fender-Rhodes Chroma Polaris
01:09:49 - Korg Polysix
01:11:34 - Yamaha AN1x
01:14:50 - Yamaha CS-15
01:17:32 - Conclusion"

Roland TR-8, TB-3, TR-505, + Circuit & Volca Acid Techno Jam

Published on Sep 2, 2016 anode8

"Here's another session featuring the Roland TR-505, TR-8 & TB-3, along with the Korg Volca Bass & Keys, and Novation Circuit. This was mostly a test of the distortion pedal (Boss DS-1 Clone) on the TB-3. All run through the Mackie ProFX12 mixer and recorded into Logic Pro, with some compression and limiting added. This is by no means a full demo of any of these machines, just me fooling around on some gear that I like to have fun with. If you like it too, then please follow me! Thanks for checking it out."

The Reface DX Legacy Project

This one sent in via O L. The Reface DX Legacy Project is a website dedicated to porting vintage 4-Op synth patches to the new Yamaha Reface DX. According to the site, "the Reface DX is NOT compatible with 4-operator FM synths from the past like the TX81Z, DX100, or DX9" so they did the work for you.

You'll find sysex dumps for the following:

Yamaha DX100, DX21, DX11, TX81Z, YS200, DS55, V50, FB-01, DX9, SFG-01, SFG-05.

Korg DS-8, 707.

Korg DS8 - Synthinsider #4

Published on Apr 1, 2015 Szymon Płotkowski

"Overview and look inside of classic FM Synthesizer - Korg DS-8 (1986).
All sound except drums, comes from synth ocurring in movie.
Drums: TR909
synthinsider.psacoustics.pl"

The Whistler (Korg DSS-1, DS-8, EX-8000) (1987) - Don Muro

Published on Mar 5, 2015 jd wall

"The opening song from the DVD 'An Overview of Electronic Instruments' (originally released in 1988) with some additional videos. Performed on the Korg DSS-1, DS-8, EX8000, and DDD-1 drum machine."

Synthesiser von Gestern Volumes 1 - 3

Synthesiser von Gestern Volume 1
Published on Feb 22, 2015 baward

"From the 1990 CD, ‘Synthesiser von Gestern' ('Synthesisers of Yesterday’) or 'Vintage Synths Volume 1’"

Playlist:
SVG1 1/22 Arp Odyssey
SVG1 2/22 Yamaha CS-60 part 1
SVG1 3/22 Oberheim SEM
SVG1 4/22 Korg Mono/Poly
SVG1 5/22 Minimoog
SVG1 6/22 Memorymoog
SVG1 7/22 Roland Jupiter 8
SVG1 8/22 Yamaha CS-60 part 2
SVG1 09/22 Sequential Circuits Pro One
SVG1 10/22 Korg PS-3100
SVG1 11/22 Roland SH-5
SVG1 12/22 Rhodes Chroma part 1
SVG1 13/22 Korg Poly 800
SVG1 14/22 Roland System 100
SVG1 15/22 Roland Juno 60
SVG1 16/22 Mellotron
SVG1 17/22 EMS Synthi A
SVG1 18/22 Rhodes Chroma part 2
SVG1 19/22 PPG Wave 2 2
SVG1 20/22 Yamaha CS 15
SVG1 21/22 Korg MS-20
SVG1 22/22 Moog System 55

CLICK FOR MORE »

Happy New Year From MATRIXSYNTH! - A Look Back at 2014

Happy New Year everyone!

I want to start by thanking everyone that comes to MATRIXSYNTH and helps make it what it is - the readers, the supporters, and of course all the sponsors on the right.

THANK YOU and have a GREAT 2015!!!

This site is a labor of love and a ton of work. This site is ultimately meant to be an testament to everything synth in the making. We have over nine years of daily synth history captured here, 119,983 published posts. I can't wait to see what the future brings us in 2015!

That said, here are a few interesting bits from 2014 in the longest post of the year. ;)

CLICK FOR MORE »

Korg DS-8 demo

Published on Mar 29, 2014 SynthMania·325 videos

"Demo of the Korg DS-8, a digital FM synthesizer from 1987"

The Synths of Jodorowsky's Dune (2014)

Jodorowsky's Dune (2014) - HD Trailer Published on Feb 14, 2014 Giles Thomas·70 videos

Update: please see this post for some unfortunate news regarding Kurt Stenzel.

Many of you I am sure are familiar with Frank Herbert's sci-fi novel Dune as well as the film adaptation by David Lynch in 1984 and the 2000 miniseries by John Harrison.  If you are not, see this article on Wikipedia and then head back.  Unknown to many, there was a planned film adaptation in 1973 by Alejandro Jodorowsky. It was to feature art by H. R. Giger (Aliens) and Jean Giraud, possibly music from Pink Floyd and Magma; the cast of actors was to include Salvador Dalí, Orson Welles, and Gloria Swanson.   The adaptation never made it due to financial reasons.  Jodorowsky's Dune (2014) is a documentary on the undertaking of the film that never was.

The film launches in the US today. You'll find the cities and dates and additional details on the film's website here: http://sonyclassics.com/jodorowskysdune/dates.html

As for the synth connection, the soundtrack was composed by Kurt Stenzel who reached out to me. I asked him if he could give us more info on the synths used in the soundtrack and particularly what we hear in the trailer. The following is what he had to say (scroll down to Specifically for this Trailer in red if you want to jump to what you are hearing in the trailer):

"I did this soundtrack using a rig that I have used for years in Cookin With Kurt, Beyond-o-Matic and SpacEKrafT.  Since I play out at events in San Francisco I go for as much analog goodness as I can carry- so these synths are throughout the movie.

I have an original Novation Bass Station with keys (it has a really unique filter in my opinion), a Dave Smith Tetra (HEAVY!), an Oberheim Matrix 1000 (god-like), and for the sake of portability, I do get into some of the more recent analog modellers that all have some merit- I have a MicroKorg 2, a Novation Xio 25, and a Quasimidi Sirius.

 In the 'digital that's special' I have TWO CZ101s (the synth I learned on when it was new) and a Yamaha TG-33 vector synth.

Larger analogs that are hard to gig with, include a Moog Source (don't cry, I got this for $40 on the street when analog was uncool) and a rather GRITTY MicroMoog, and the 'head' part of a Moog Taurus 2, and a very handy Roland Juno 6. I also used a Korg Poly 61 and a Korg Poly 800, as well as one studio session with a real Rhodes, a real Celeste (no joke it was the one you see Susan Dey play in Partridge Family episodes-- the studio owns THE one) and they also had a Roland String Machine. The Celeste and Rhodes didn't make it to the film though--Director Frank Pavich though they were 'too normal' Ha! .

I also use Casiotones quite a bit--an original MT-60 my Dad bought in Japan when they were really novel, and a Concertmate from Radio Shack. I mention the Conccertmate as I realized that sucker has appeared on EVERY recording I have ever done--some of the low bit string sounds are ethereal and I run that through effects. It's very beat up from 20 years of gigs. God bless Radio Shack.

I also have lots of effects and toys like the Bliptronic, the Buddha Box, old school Kaos pad, and I use my kids Nintendo DS's to sync up 3 programs on 3 DS devices. I also got a Korg Monotribe and the Korg Monotron. Toys are good.

I used some very low fi techniques for sound design too. Oh, and my buddy Dave Miranda recorded me on his Dave Smith Poly Evolver keyboard as a last minute thing in NY and it wound up being a crucial scene-- that required no overdubs or any treatments-- that thing sounds amazing.

Also noteworthy, I am a hardcore user of the Roland SP-808 for sound design. That has been a platform for me since it came out, so my zip discs were flying on this project.

There's about 9 minutes of SpacEKrafT music in this film as well- that is my duo with Edward Dahl here in San Francisco. Ed uses Ableton and plays guitar and we have lots of toys--Alesis Air Synth and Air Effects. I use my aforementioned rig in various settings with SpacEKrafT. I also played a fair amount of guitar on the soundtrack, as well as some vocalizations. Some screaming, which came natural as I am also the singer in NY band "Six and Violence". When I am not tinkling on the keys.

SPECIFICALLY on the TRAILER: Zero to :40 is a relatively rare Yamaha SS-30 which I think has become fetishized since Sigur Ros uses one. That thing is way fun, and I have to thank Peter Fuhry from Beyond-o-Matic for loaning me that and the MicroMoog for many years.

In the trailer, when you hear the arpeggiation kick in at :40, that's one of my favorite synths ever, the Matrix 1000. That thing is my secret weapon. I love it. I am using the arpeggiator on the Quasimidi Sirius (and playing) to drive and alter the pattern. I know Sirius keyboards are rare nowadays, glad I never got rid of it. I mean, it has real Kraftwerk demoss in it straight from Germany!

The loud "blast" at 1:37, no joke, is a 'thunder tube' which is basically a tube with a drum head and a reverb spring--I banged it and slid the whole tube over an omnidirectional mic running through pitch shifting and all kinds of stuff. Don't tell Hollywood!

Next in the trailer, the brass at 1:55 is the Quasimidi Sirius which has an amazing factory patch named 'Shine On' (Floyd was supposed to do the original Dune) so it was a great coincidence, as I feel that patch is very cinematic--I have been using it for years--sounds great in a club (or now a movie theater). I probably ran some analog under it, the Matrix 1000 and the Tetra just via MIDI. 

This whole project was done largely with a MIDI 8x splitter as I improvise and play, so to get the multiple textures and voices at once, I fire the whole rig up and play my mixer faders live to weave textures. I did NOT use any computer based sequencing, almost no overdubs-- the synths sound beautiful as their own voices.

I played and mostly recorded myself. I pulled all-nighters as I had a full time day job, 2 kids, a lovely fiancee and band gigs the whole time this was happening. Frank Pavich essentially typecast me as he knew I was such a fan of Jodorowsky, all things 70's and analog, etc. This was not just a soundtrack, it was already my own personal and spiritual journey with or without the movie.

One last story of gratitude- I was very intent on getting my hands on a REAL Yamaha CS-80 -- granted that was a little later than the 1975 time period of the documentary, but I love Eddie Jobson's 'Alaska' solo, and obviously Vangelis used it so well on Blade Runner. I was very envious that Daft Punk seemed to have one on the Tron soundtrack. I asked all around-I know synth people- I know the guys in Devo a little and their crew is really cool- they almost got me one. NO ONE had a working CS-80, not even in Los Angeles. One night I came on a YouTube Tutorial called 'Vangelis Bladerunner sound JUNO 60' and followed it and dialed up such a great sound from my good old Juno 6. So I want to THANK "magevers" whoever you are on YouTube. That to me is what the synth community is all about-- people who really have a keen interest and are WAY INTO THE SYNTHS. Like you Matrix Synth Jones, THANKS BROTHER- hope you get to see this movie-- Jodorowsky will blow your mind and you will want to go and CREATE ART!"

Can't wait.  Thank you Kurt!

Update: some links via Edward W. Dahl in the comments:

"I am co-captain of SpacEKrafT and you might have seen this video posted here on Matrixsynth a little over a year ago."

Music: www.soundcloud.com/spacekraft
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/myspacekraft

Update 4/13/2014:

Q&A with Dune Composer Kurt Stenzel

Published on Apr 8, 2014 hellspreetube·39 videos

"Q&A with Kurt Stenzel, soundtrack composer for "Jodorowsky's Dune," after a showing at One Embarcadero, San Francisco, CA, April 5, 2014.

http://www.kurtstenzel.com/
http://www.jodorowskysdune.com/"

via David Wilson-Okamura on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge

The Toa Mata Band - Tiny Robots Playing Tiny Synths

Toa Mata Band - A little tribute

Published on Apr 8, 2013 Opificio Sonico·4 videos

"This teaser is a personal tribute to the band who inspired my work from the 80's ...enjoy!

The toys robots band playing live some tiny synthetizer and each member is controlled by an Arduino Uno which is hooked up to an iPad running a MIDI sequencer app.

The instruments used in this video are: Gakken SX 150 and SX 150 MKII, Dubreq Stylophone, Amdek PCK 100, Nintendo DS with Korg DS10 cartridge.
Arduino also controls the RGB LED WALL in the back.
Concept & Video by Giuseppe Acito


Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/opificio...
Add me on Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/OpificioSonico
Follow : https://twitter.com/OpificioSonico
Blog: http://www.opificiosonico.com"


Toa Mata Band Episode1 Published on Mar 5, 2013

"This video is about an electronic band of toys-robot that play some tiny music instruments drived by Arduino Uno and Clavia Nordbeat, a MIDI sequencer app for iPad."

Toa Mata Band - Episode2

Published on May 19, 2013

"Toa Mata Band is back and for the first time they perform live!
In this video some various drum-synth and glockenspiel keys are played by each robot and I'm jam together them.The performance was recorded live in four takes in early May 2013, and after edited and mixed in studio."

Happy New Year! The Year in Synths 2013

Happy New Year Everyone!

What a busy year it has been in the world of synths.

This is going to be one doozy of a post, so bear with me. This post is a review of the year in synths for 2013. We begin with Tributes to Those We Lost This Year, followed by New Manufacturers & Makers, Older Manufacturers Added to the Site, New Gear Announcements, Top 10 Posts by Traffic,  My Standout Posts for the Year, and finally This Years' Synth Events. I did my best to keep things as short and concise as possible.

Let's begin with the hardest part of the post.

Tributes to Those We Lost This Year

RIP Bernard Parmegiani - Electronic & Acoustic Composer
Lou Reed RIP
RIP Dick Raaymakers aka Kid Baltan
RIP George Duke - DreamWeaver
RIP Ralph Dyck, Sept 28, 1941 – May 20, 2013
RIP Ray Manzarek

All missed and never to be forgotten. Take a moment to remember them.

------

New Manufacturers & Makers

Starting last January, I decided to keep a running list of every new manufacturer and maker introduced to the site during the year.  This is something I haven't done before and I thought it would be interesting to see how many there were in the year.   It's easy to focus on the big synth announcements throughout the year, but what about all the new makers and brands? I shouln't have to go considerably into the significance of new designers on the scene, so I'll just say two things regarding them.  One, the number of new makers is a direct reflection on the interest in our scene, and two, these are the creators of new gear which directly translate into new designs not previously available to us.  Think about that for a moment.  These are makers and designs that did not exist before.  They are part of our synth history.  So what is the total count of new synth designers for the year? A whopping 113. Think about that a bit. One hundred and thirteen new synth designers and brands this year alone.

Here they are (note a handful date back to 2012, but 2013 marked their momentum and availability):

CLICK FOR MORE »

1987 KORG DS-8 DIGITAL SYNTHESIZER & SQ-8 SEQUENCER PRINT AD

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

via this auction

DCOs vs VCOs

A recent poll went up on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge asking whether DCOs are analog or digital. DCO stands for Digitally Controlled Oscillator and in many cases they are actually analog. They are just digitally controlled. I remember the debate coming up frequently on the Analogue Heaven mailing list so I did a quick search and found the following from the late Jürgen Haible. He was an extremely respected synth DIY designer who's work is frequently featured on the site to this day.  I thought I'd share it here on the site as well.  Note the bits preceded with  > are from someone else.  JH is the rest.

">
>>There are different types of DCOs.
>>An analog oscillator, whose frequency is synced to a digital clock. Thus
>>the tuning is perfectly, but the waveform is smooth.
>>Example: Oberheim Matrix 1000, Matrix 6/6R
>
>My M-6 can really get out of tune sometimes (not often though). Perhaps it
>only syncs when you use the "tune" function?

I always thought it's the (resonating) *filter* that is tuned on request.
The DCOs are locked to clocks as said in the original mail.

>>A digital circuit, which aproximates analog waveforms as step functions in
>>hardware, the bit resolution gets worse the older the gear is.
>>Example: Korg Poly-800, Bit-99
>
>The DCO's in these should rather have been labled DO's by the manufacturers
>then, as the sound is digitally generated.

IMO, there are quite a lot of nuances of VCO-DCO. Let me try and make the whole chain from "analogue" to "digital" (Though I wouldn't say strictly from "good" to "bad" ;->)

(1) free running analogue oscillator, controlled by analogue voltage divider keyboard. (Minimoog, ...)

(2) free running analogue oscillator, controlled by digital via a D/A converter without correction, and analogue modulation (Oberheim n-voice (?) )

(3) free running analogue oscillator, controlled by digital via a D/A converter, with autotune, scale correction and stuff, but still analogue modulation (Sequencial Circuits Prophet5 rev. 3)

(4) free running analogue oscillator, controlled by digital via a D/A converter, with autotune, scale correction and digital LFO / Sample&Hold / Glide modulation, but with analogue ADSR->VCO modulation (Oberheim OB-8).

(5) free running analogue oscillator, controlled by digital via a D/A converter, with autotune, scale correction, and all modulations including ADSR via DAC (Sequential Prophet 600).

(6) free running analogue oscillator, controlled by digital via a D/A converter, with autotune, scale correction, and all modulations including ADSR via DAC, plus automatic autotune in the background from time to time (Oberheim Matrix12 (?)).

(7) Simple Ramp-Oscillator that is synced by a counter every cycle, but with different clock/divider tree for both DCO's in a voice (Oberheim Matrix 6, EDP Wasp)

(8) Simple Ramp-Oscillator, that is synced by a counter every cycle, but with one single clock/divider tree for both DCO's in a voice (Oberheim Matrix 1000)

(9) Staircase Waveform stuff (as described in different recent mails)

(10) Wavetable stuff (also as described in recent mails)

These are the different types I know of. Maybe there are still others in between. Speaking in the word's original sense, (2) - (6) would be something like "DCVCOs" ("digital controlled VCOs") in the sense of a digital word forms an analogue voltage that controls an oscillator. (7) and (8) would be real "DCOs", cause they are still oscillators, only under the iron grip of digital clock, which makes them sound thin and lifeless. (9) and (10) shouldn't be called "controlled oscillators" anymore, perhaps just call them "DOs" ("digital oscillators") or even closer to the point, "DDs" (digital dividers) or "DS's" (digital scanners). Well, but that would go too far then.

Oh, I forgot another interesting variation:

Analogue oscillators with digital dividers / waveforms:

(11) analogue VCO with dividers (some ARP-synths - thank You Joachim, for the schematics! - and of course the Suboscillators in various VCO- based synths)

(12) 12 analogue VCOs for the 12 top-octave-semitones and digital dividers (Farfisa VIP 245, Korg PS-3x00 series)

JH."

'80s Synth Pop with Korg DS-8 & DW-8000, Boss DR-110

Published on Sep 7, 2013

"Three demos of '80s Korg DS-8, Korg DW-8000, and Boss DR-110, in '80s Synth Pop style."

KORG DS-8 Digital FM Synthesizer SN 001095

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

via this auction - learn how to sell on eBay here.
abertronix (RSS)

"It is a digital FM synthesizer with 4-operators per voice, 8 voices of polyphony and 8 parts multitimbrality."

CLICK FOR MORE »