MOOG MuSonics 1972 Sonic V synthesizer - ringmod unison demo

video upload by OFR

"Someone had told me they thought that ring modulators were not useful - they made such ugly sounds. But that's a common use of them, so easy to think so. However, the Moog Sonic 6 and Sonic V models have ringmod built in, and it's REALLY great thickening when the two oscillators are tuned near unison. Listen..."

MOOG MuSonics Sonic V vintage analog synthesizer 1972 - ringmod detuned demo 2


"Similar to the other video of tuned oscillators, here's the ringmod demo using detuned oscillators, still cool, and still musically useful. I it's comparable to having wavetable synthesis or similar sources."

SWTP Psych Tone vintage synthesizer composing machine 1972

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

"This is a cool box. The Psych-Tone were a featured article in Popular Electronics, and offered as a kit from SouthWest Technical Products. This has tempo, pitch, volume controls. Plus a lot of other knobs and switches to reprogram the system. Attack Decay Sustain sort of work, but it's more oriented toward musical note improvisation than synthesis. There are many switches and knobs for pattern control, etc. I believe the manual/article is still online.

I added reverb to the sound of the box."

Note, it's actually SWTPC. You can see the small c in previous posts here. I thought this might be an auction demo, but I only found the listing below of another one. If this one does go up and I see it, I'll post it.

An intersting side not is there were a ton of other SWTPC products. SWTPC stood for Southwest Technical Products Corporation. You can find some info on them on Wikipedia.

via this auction

"For your consideration is the extremely rare SWTP Psych-Tone Composer-Synthesizer. The unit seems to work fine, though the output on the internal speaker is very low. The external output works fine.

Please see our other listings. All proceeds from sales here go to keep the Vintage Synthesizer Museum open during this time of social distancing.
Thanks. Keep safe and healthy.

The Psych Tone was an early electronic music algorithmic composer and synthesizer presented in the February 1971 issue of Popular Electronics Magazine. It uses a 6-bit , to produce a repeating pseudo-random sequence up to 63 notes long. Three taps are made off the shift register, those are weighted, and summed to drive a Voltage-Controlled Oscillator to produce a pitch. Then an envelope is applied.

The Psych Tone is incredibly rare. It was a complex project, not many people built them, and it is difficult to find a working unit today. And that's a shame, because this was a remarkable device and we can learn much from it. So I recreated the Psych Tone in software, from the schematics, so it can be appreciated."

Pic of the backside inside below.

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Moog modular synthesizer Evolving patch 4

Published on Jun 11, 2019 OFR

"Another system of combined modules that changes over time - here is an excerpt of the running sounds."

MOOG Modular Synthesizer 2 Evolving Patch

Published on Feb 1, 2019 OFR

via Brian Kehew:

"I like to make non-traditional Moog system patches. People have this illusion that a Moog modular is a tonal keyboard-oriented instrument, but that's obviously a limitation of thinking. Here are some live videos of evolving patches to demonstrate the concept.

All the audio modules are Moog: 1960s, 70s, and 2015. The top cabinet has some other CV modules from DotCom, SSL, and STG."

Side note: You can find all three parts here. I had parts 1 and 3 posted as they went up, but missed part 2. I added all three to the first post.

Stevie Wonder plays the ARP 2600

Published on Apr 6, 2019 OFR

Magic box!

"Really cool video, from the times before synthesizers were common. Steve is highly creative, as always. There is more to come!"

Gil Trythall and Moog modular synthesizer

Published on Apr 6, 2019 OFR

"Earl Scruggs in the recording studio, circa 1971/2, with Gil Trythall, who demonstrates his amazing rendition of Foggy Mountain Breakdown on the Moog 3P (plus sequencer complement.)"

Check out previous posts featuring Gil Trythall here.

Moog modular synthesizer evolving sound patch 3

Published on Mar 6, 2019 OFR

"Another fully live video (no overdub or edits) of 3 min of Moog. The sound constantly evolves. Even on the mobile phone microphone, you can hear the awesome sonic qualities of the Moog modules."

MOOG Modular Synthesizer Evolving Patches

Published on Jan 31, 2019 OFR

"A simple evolving patch on the Moog (plus a few DotCom etc modules up top). I've been enjoying programming fairly non-typical setups on the Moog using the Filter Coupler and so on. I will be posting more soon."

Imagine seeing that outdoors in the forest.

Update:

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MOOG vintage analog Sonic Six 6 demonstration

Published on Jan 8, 2019 OFR

"Since I enjoyed doing the older Sonic V so much, I decided to do something on the later brother, the Sonic 6. I plugged it into a mixer for better quality than the little onboard speaker. I think these are very underrated and highly capable of making wild sounds; MUCH more like a modular Moog than anything sold as a small commercial synth."

SOLARIS (John Bowen) Synthesizer - 100 Brian Kehew Presets

Published on Apr 2, 2018 OFR

"Here is a quick demo of the 100 custom sounds I programmed for John Bowen's amazing synthesizer, the Solaris. It's a fascinating system, a brilliant design with astounding sonics (although YouTube audio won't represent the full audio quality.)

I was finding so many people were doing 80s analog-synth type sounds (which are common elsewhere already) so I wanted to show a wider range of the possibilities it offers. I still don't understand all of what the Solaris can do - I'm still learning it - so there is more to come for sure. There are NO samples used, just pure synthesis modes. Enjoy!

** Thanks to Curt Anderson for the camerawork and Todd Lampe for editing..."

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Update: For the month of April, John Bowen Synth Design is offering a $500 discount on the Solaris. You can find details here.

David Van Koevering Has Passed Away

Update: this post will be pinned on top for the day. You can find newer posts below.

Brian Kehew wrote in to let us know synth legend David Van Koevering passed away yesterday at the age of 77. Per Brian, "So many people in the industry knew him; such a long and varied life!" Indeed. The following is the obituary sent to him from Van Koevering's family.

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MOOG Piano Bar (Kingdom Edition 2005) sales film with David VanKoevering

Published on Jan 24, 2018 OFR

"The MOOG Piano Bar was an adaptation of a design from creator Don Buchla, who produced very few of his design before selling it to Moog for re-packaging and widespread release. The product did not sell well initially, but the Kingdom Edition was geared toward the church market and did fairly well in comparison. Here is legendary Moog salesman, Dave VanKoevering, in a promotional film made for the Kingdom distribution network."

HTC Vive VR Interface For Ableton Live at We Are Robots London

Published on Nov 3, 2017 sonicstate

"ALIVEINVR - a VR interface ofr HTC Vive and Oculus Rift - we chat with developer Jim Simons.

Check our Awesome MAX4Live Synth: http://bit.ly/wavejunction"

MOOG MuSonics Sonic V 1972 vintage synthesizer demo

Published on May 26, 2017 OFR

"It took me some time to appreciate how amazing this synth really was. I had a Sonic Six for a long time, which has the same basic circuitry, but I never quite got it sounding as good. The only demos I could find show very basic and minimal synth sounds.

However, the Sonic V has amazing routing options, making it more like a modular system than almost anything around that time. With only 2 oscillators and a non-Moog filter, it certainly does not sound like the Minimoog. Yet it does SO much more, that I prefer the Sonic V now. It has so much range and possibility. You can leave it running on endless self-generating soundscapes..."

In Memoriam Bernard Parmegiani

Published on Nov 29, 2013 RADIOKLOW·96 videos

"In Memoriam Bernard Parmegiani is a tribute to the french composer who died on the 21th of november 2013, about a week ago. Written ofr Virus TI, it consists in a funeral ritual in seven stations, each one being the enter of a kind of broken mantra which reveals its substance at the end of the composition.
Bernard Parmegiani was the second composer of electroacoustic music I discovered in my youth. At the gage of 15, I read a book by Michel Chion and Guy Reibel in which he was mentioned with many details about his most famous masterpieces. The description was so suggesting I bought a record of Dedans/Dehors and I perfectly remember how deeply impressed and fascinated I was when listening to it for the first time. Since I have always admired and listened to Bernard Parmegiani's music with the same passion and was very sad when I got the news he had passed away, last friday. This is why I decided to pay him this tribute as a means to express my gratitude to him.
I dedicate this music to Bernard Parmegiani's family, friends and fellow musicians."

PPG Wave To Me - New Audio Demo & Manual Available Online

PPG Wave To Me by Ned Bouhalassa

"A short epic-ish piece featuring the lively PPG Wavegenerator iPad synth on all duties, save the drums. Sorry for the pun-ny title, but I couldn't help myself..."

Demo via Ned Bouhalassa on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge: "The best way to explore a new synth, IMHO, is to make a track with it! Here's the latest addition to my arsenal, the PPG Wavegenerator"

And via the PPG Wavegenerator email list: "The PDF manual for the PPG WaveGenerator App is now available ofr download from our support page.

PPG WaveGenerator Manual PDF
Thanks to Cornell at Hellmusic for the work in this.

FAQs
Check out our FAQs here, it includes a list of MIDI/Audio interfaces known to work so far."