the SPACE CASE tape echo

Playlist:
1. SPACE CASE Tape Echo Demo Series - 3 - SYNTHS - Arpeggiation Character and Oscillation (Roland SH-101)
2. SPACE CASE Tape Echo Demo Series - 2 - DRUM MACHINES - Feedback Rhythms from Spaced Hits (brand new 808 and 909 samples by the venerable Samples from Mars in Brooklyn NY)
3. SPACE CASE Tape Echo Demo Series - 1 - VOCALS - Traditional Use and Explorations (Bob Marley solo vocal)

"The Space Case is a new tape echo for the modern vintage workflow. Each is hand made in limited batches in New York at The Center for Memory and Control. The machine operates at line level, and the sound can be described as being a combination between the original slap machines hooked up to consoles in the 50's (the original echo invention) and the classic Hi-Z devices from the 60's and 70's. It is inherently well suited for things like synthesizers, drum machines, and other unbalanced line level musical instruments and equipment. Hi-Z/Guitar and Balanced Line connectivity can be added (see features).

- Six time ranges
- a line level insert TRS jack for adding external processing of the echo/feedback path (i.e. using a synth or any other device to add resonance, more eq, and any other shaping you want)
- A time adjust knob for a wide sweep within each range
- Powerful feedback with plenty of self oscillation
- Echo tone
- Independent echo and dry output level
- Opamp overdrive at the output stage that can be applied to dry, echo, or any blend of both. (you can use the machine as a distortion unit with no tape/echo involved)
- Classic "playback and record" operation with speed differences. The machine is designed to be able to go down to near dead stop, so one can create extreme changes in analog tape fidelity and timing by recording at one speed and playing back in another. Feedback, tone, and speed/time can be performed live and recorded/played back with further tone and speed changes.
- A small loud speaker that is driven by the same opamp overdrive, effectively giving you a small but saturated and strong sounding "guitar amp" with whatever signal you're using
- A VU meter!
- 1/4" TS in and out
- Optional HI-Z/Guitar/Instr breakout pedal with a Crimson transformer, true bypass footswitch and a bonus DI function
- Optional transformer balanced XLR Line I/O with two Crimson transformers

www.spacecasetapeecho.com"

iTunes: Diode-108 Drum Machine - Vibrant Digital Engineering, Inc.

"DIODE-108 is the drum machine you’ve been waiting for. It’s packed with a variety of built-in vintage, classic, and acoustic kits, but you can easily mix and match the samples provided to make your own custom kits. Or import wav files for even more variety. Once you’ve built your groove, DIODE-108’s drag-and-drop beat effects make it fun and easy to create beats you’ve never heard before.

FEATURES
* Drag and drop effects let you put effects on individual beats!
* Drum kits licensed from respected partners. Dubsounds, Samples From Mars, Orange Tree Samples, and 99Sounds.
* 16 drum voices with unlimited patterns that you can arrange into your own songs
* Each pattern can have its own swing and tempo multiplier
* Every voice has PER BEAT control of pan, volume, tone, pitch, decay, compression, and distortion, delay, and reverb.
* Turn NOTE MODE on for any voice and control the musical note (up or down an octave from the original pitch). Great for basslines or pitched percussion
* Wav sample import
* Mix and Match kits (easily substitute any sample in any kit). Want an 808 kick in a 909 kit? No problem.

SEQUENCER
Build your beat on a 16x16 pattern grid. 16 voices is almost twice the number of voices of some of our competitors, and it means that you can have an 808 kit with all the instruments you’re looking for (not just some of them). Set tempo and swing. Several time signatures are supported (and each pattern can have its own).

PADS
Tap your beat on our 4 by 4 array of drum pads. Record into the active pattern, or just play along.

DRUM MACHINE
Unprecedented control over your drum kit. Dial in the settings you want, mix and match samples from different kits, and save out your modified custom kits for use in any song. How much control do you have? An amazing 7 dials for each of the 16 drum voices!

FX
Diode-108’s crown jewel is its drag-and-drop beat FX. Want a reverse cowbell? Want a butcrushed tom? Want a cymbal that performs a pitch dive across several beats? Just drag and drop the effect tokens onto beats, and drag them left and right to cover any beats you like. Turn a long-lasting cymbal into a rhythmic backbone. You have to hear it to believe it! Head over to http://www.vibrantdigitalengineering.com for SoundCloud examples.

SONG
Build up a collection of named patterns from scratch, or import selected patterns from existing songs. Then drag and drop the patterns to build up a song. Each pattern can have its own swing setting and tempo multiplier if you like!

Export your songs as wav files to SoundCloud, DropBox, or iTunes, or send them through Audiobus to other apps on your iPad."

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The Crystall Ball Controller by Naonext - Videos & Full Details

Published on Apr 26, 2013 Naonext·2 videos

You might remember the Naonext Crystall Ball from yesterday's Sponsor Shoutout for Woodbrass.com.  Above is a teaser video and below is a demo followed by full details on the device currently available at Woodbrass.com here.

"The Crystall Ball is a brand new MIDI controller based on movement detection.
Designed by Naonext.
More info at http://www.naonext.com
Get the full song by Damny here: http://tinyurl.com/bmt79t4

Film Making: Charlie Mars.
Thanks to Damny & Le point bar Nantes."

Crystall Ball Demo n°1

Published on May 6, 2013

"Small footage showing how to use memorization feature with MIDI notes and effects.
more infos: http://www.naonext.com"

Details via Woodbrass.com

"The Crystall Ball is a movement based interface that allows intuitive control of machines: MIDI synthesizers or creation softwares.

Faders and knobs disappear and give place to optical sensors sensitive to distance and speed, in order to control samples, effects, lights, videos, etc., bringing a new dimension to computer assisted creation.

Completely programmable, the backlit keyboard and the five optical sensors provide endless control possibilities.

MIDI standards and class compliant, the Crystall Ball is USB plug'n'play and compatible with most software such as Ableton Live, Serato, Logic Studio, Max / MSP. Through a standard MIDI port the Crystal Ball can also control synthesizers, samplers or drum machines.

Innovative controller

With optical sensors, the Crystall Ball breaks conventions and bring a new dimension to the man-machine interface.

In addition to unmatched interaction provided by its innovative technology, its unique design allows the realization of performance not possible with current control surfaces such as intuitive and simultaneous control of several notes and / or independent effects.

Adaptable & Configurable

MIDI standards and class compliant, the Crystall Ball is USB plug'n'play and compatible with most software such as Ableton Live, Serato, Logic Studio, Max / MSP,...

Each keys allows you to assign any MIDI command to the various sensors, like notes or effect controls. With 24 banks of 5 presets, the Crystall Ball offers endless control possibilities.

Care and effort made into design to get the best intuitivity, give the Crystall Ball a real instrument look and feel.

Totally French made, with high quality materials, it has an unique "French Touch".

Specifications

- 1 USB port
- 1 MIDI In / 1 MIDI Out
- 1 Jack port (footswitch)
- 5 optical sensors
- Rubber keyboard
- High quality materials, metal frame

keys + sensors duo:

Each key can be configured in two modes.

Crystall Ball mode:

The MIDI command is sent when the correponding sensor detects an object. The distance is measrued in real time, turning the sensors into virtual knobs or faders.

Pad mode:

MIDI command is sent when the key is pressed like a classic pad"

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!!!  I hope 2012 treated you well and I wish you the best in 2013!

As I do each year, I thought I'd reflect a little on the past year.  These posts are always difficult to write, and I always wing them, so bear with me.  It's impossible to justify a whole year's worth of synth coverage in a single post.  The following is just a small bit of what comes to mind when looking back.  You'll find a top ten list of posts with the most page views followed by my picks for the year further below.  Apologies if I miss anything, and of course, if you have anything to add, feel free to leave a comment below.  I'm curious what you, the readers of the site, felt stood out in the world of synths this past year.

First, I want to begin this post with a HUGE THANK YOU!!!  If you are reading this it obviously means you have come to this site and some of you have been coming here for years! Thank you for sticking with me. This site is a journey I hope to continue for years to come. Thank you to everyone that has taken the time to showcase their synths, and thank you to those that share what they find! Thank you to those that link to the site and help spread the word on MATRIXSYNTH via Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and your own websites! And of course, THANK YOU to all the sponsors on the right who believe in the site enough to support it!

A nod to previous New Years posts, pictured to the left is the MATRIXSYNTH world domination map. :)  I always think it's worth taking a look at who's watching the site.  Synths are global and you are looking at a map of the readers of MATRIXSYNTH.  Everything you see in green represents a visit from that country.  The darker the green, the higher the number of visits.  This is just for the year, but for the life of the site, we still haven't gotten a single hit from North Korea!   I don't know what they have against synths!  ;)   You'll find the top 10 visits by country further below.

This is the eighth New Year the site has gone through!  The focus for the site this year has been the same as previous years, and I plan to keep it that way.  This site is about showcasing specific synths, not just synths in general, and not just news and press releases.  The focus is on the individual synths that have existed throughout history, the technology behind them, and the lives they lead with their odd owners, myself included.  :)  Yes it is about the gear, their makers, and their players.  It has always been my opinion that synths in general have a tendency to be undervalued. Compared to say collectible guitars, they are often discarded and devalued in favor of next year's model, next year's technology.  It has always been my opinion that every synth has something of value to offer,  something specific and something unique that gives it its character. I built this site to showcase that.  This site is about the history of synths as their history unfolds - videos and images of synths being played and used, by both those that make them and those that play them.  Vintage synths being offered in the second hand market, being exchanged from one sonic explorer to the next. It really is a wondrous thing. Think of the magic synthesizers bring into your world. That is what this site is ultimately about.  Some posts may not seem to make sense now, but they will in time, because they will be a look back in time. A day in the life of a particular synthesizer.  I love analog and I love digital. I love all synths and this site celebrates that.

And now for a little reflection on the year. This year we had a total of 16678 posts including this one.  That comes out to roughly 45.69 posts a day.  Not a single day of the year went without a post.  So what dominated the synth year?  Mobile, modulars and a few dedicated hardware synths.

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Final Set of A-Z of Analogue Synthesisers

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

via this auction

The listing is from the author Peter Forrest who states this is likely the last set.  These are great books and imo the most comprehensive.  Click on the pics to get an idea of what they are like.  Peter also has other items listed including The Museum of Synthesizer Technology and Synthesizer von Gestern II.

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$220,736.00 / 160,000.00 Euro Synth Auction

via this auction

This one spotted by Adrien.

The list:
"1. ARP AXXE
2. ARP PRO DGX
3. ARP QUADRA
4. MOOG Realistic MG 1
5. MOOG Polymoog Keyboard
6. MOOG Polypedal Controller
7. MOOG Taurus II mit Pedal
8. MOOG Keyboard Controller 950
9. MOOG Memorymoog
10. MOOG Satellite
11. MOOG Sonic Six
12. Korg Trident MK II

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Clap Trap Fap

This one via Loscha, via this auction.

"Music Aid (Simmons) Claptrap

Super rare and highly collectable. 100% analogue circuitry!

This was made sometime in the 1970s by the company that was to become Simmons (famous for their digital percussion instruments).

I have never actually seen another one of these, and certainly not on ebay. I think Mouse on Mars have one.

Can be triggered from just about anything (see rear panel). I was triggering it from a TR-808 and MPC 3000 no problems.

Please note: it does not do 'realistic' handclaps. It is an analogue machine, so if freaky analogue percussive noises are your bag then this is the box for you. It is capable of all maner of classic Rolandesque snares, crashes etc aswell."

Title of post also curteousy of Loscha. Thanks Loscha!