"The New World of Synthesizer in Osaka" Short trailer02

Added to Part 1 here.

Musica Eternal III starshipping Wurm $15

YouTube via kaizokuhousou
"This is the insane musician's event at Osaka Japan."

Roland AMDEK COMPU MUSIC CMU-800

via this auction
"Branded as 'Amdek' but is actual fact exactly the same as the Roland branded cmu-800

'Although Roland were based in Hamamatsu by the early '80s, Kakehashi established the AMDEK Corporation in Osaka. Their main product lines were small effects units and computer monitors manufactured for Roland (but not by Roland) in Taiwan. For a couple of years, the company proved to be surprisingly successful but, as competition mounted, Kakehashi decided not to compete with the large computer companies entering the market, and in 1983 he ceased supplying monitors, simultaneously discontinuing the effects units. But this was not the end for the company. Kakehashi renamed it the 'Roland DG Corporation', and then used it as a vehicle to release a range of the company's own computer and music peripherals.'"

Superbooth 2023: Robot Dog Music - Solo - Improbable Sequence Series

video upload by sonicstate

"Robot Dog Music, a company based in Osaka, Japan, presented their modules at Super Booth 2023. Jason from Robot Dog Music, introduced us to the Solo ribbon strip controller, which has been available for some time, but now features a beveled faceplate. It has onboard quantization, a Legato function, and a hold feature.

Next we met the Improbable Sequence series which are two new modules, both three HP, built to run on the principles of loopable randomness. The Gates module generates random gate patterns, while the CV module generates random CV patterns. They have up to 32 steps, density control, balance control, accent output, and swing, including negative swing, which is unusual in Eurorack. They have reset and generate inputs for automating the button process. The last product is a case for the Solo, designed to be sturdy and backpack-friendly, with LED mount points for DIY enthusiasts.

Solo Price: 349 USD. Available: June 2023

Case Price: 499 USD

Improbable Sequence Series Price: 199 USD each

http://robotdogmusic.com/"

"Solo, the ribbon controller I always wanted!

Solo is an intelligent ribbon controller for your Eurorack system! In standard mode it is designed to sit in-between your sequencer, and the destination (oscillator or other). Solo watches both CV and Gate signals, and while not touching the ribbon strip, Solo will simply pass the signals along to it’s destination. HOWEVER, when you touch the ribbon strip, the magic begins to happen!

Solo watches for incoming gate signals, and will only change notes on a gate trigger, making sure to keep you in time automatically, allowing you to “Solo” atop any standard sequence! Once you let go, the sequence returns to normal.

Solo offers a variety of other modes too! Transposition mode, in both a quantized (transpose) and Unquantized mode (pitch bend) are available."

The Room of Sound

The Room of Sound from musi_arch santacecilia_sapienza on Vimeo.

"From March 5 to 20, 1977, in the Rome National Gallery of Modern Art was held from the 14th Festival of Nuova Consonanza, an association of musicians and composers congregated around Franco Evangelisti, responsible for the practical organisation of the Festival was Vittorio Consoli, engineer, music lover and enthusiastic investigator of the relations between space and sound. For 15 days in the main concourse of the National Gallery, experimental studies were made on the interaction between space and music and between musicians and computer, using compositions by, among others, Mauro Bortolotti, Domenico Guàccero, Aldo Clementi, Franco Evangelisti, Luigi Nono, Alessandro Sbordoni, Edgard Varèse, Leo Küpper and Giorgio Nottoli. The concourse of the Gallery is an exceptionally reflective space, totally non-musical. A huge acoustic dome made up of 100 loudspeakers, fed by the same number of audio channels, was created by Vittorio Consoli, with invaluable assistance from Leo Küpper, and wrapped up in a cloud of coloured aerostatic balloons, which were not fully inflated, and which gave the hall the acoustic properties required and also lent to the event an extraordinary sense of festivity surrounding the musical experimentation; this spirit can perhaps still be seen in the old black and white photos of the event and is still visible in the image we have of the main protagonists – Franco Evangelisti, Leo Küpper and Vittorio Consoli. Given the date, this was no virtual experiment in spatialisation, but a real-time musical event: the sounds, generated by an impressive analog computer, could be transmitted towards each of the loudspeakers and switched from one to another by a hand-made mixer. The most famous precedent for all this was, of course, the Philips Pavilion at the 1958 Brussels Expo, the masterpiece of Le Corbusier and Xenakis, animated by the Poème Electronique of Edgard Varèse. However, the most striking precedent was without a doubt the musical sphere constructed for the 1970 Osaka Expo by Karlheinz Stockhausen. Here the composer established the iconic quality of contemporary absolute music, an icon which subsequently symbolically adorned his grave monument. The project we are presenting here, the Stanza del Suono (Room of Sound) can be seen therefore to follow the path of a great contemporary music tradition; today we can avail ourselves of the innovations of computer technology, which allow us to organise the emissions of sound in space in a genuinely contrapuntal fashion, as Vittorio Consoli would say. The spatial evolution of the sounds thus becomes part of the decisions that the composer arranges within his creative system, to quote Schumann. The musical scores are able to not only specify precisely the limitless paths through space traced by the sounds, but also to envisage the ‘unknowns’ involved in the immediate, real-time interaction between sound and space, and between the musicians and the computer program. In this way, this new project of ours is not merely a place for listening to music, but also a place for creating and processing music in a continuous interplay between, space, music, sound, musicians and audience. The project aims at producing a new, long-term, functional acoustic and spatial device that can be employed by all
those engaged in electro-acoustic music research. It was built upon a body of work consistently carried out at the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia in Rome, in its Department of Electronic Music, up till now directed by Giorgio Nottoli, and is the result of a close collaboration with two Departments of Rome Sapienza University: the Department of Architecture and Design, under Piero Ostilio Rossi, and the Department of Architectural History, Design and Restoration, directed by Paolo Fiore. The idea of setting up a permanent cooperative research area between musicians and architects, on the theme of ‘Music and Architecture’, and of including it in the agenda of Emufest, the International Festival of Electro-acoustic Music, originated in 2011 in the insights and enthusiasms of composer Fabio Cifariello Ciardi and architect Luca Ribichini...[...]"

via Francesco Synth Meeting Mulassano on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge

2010s Reon Driftbox Tabletop Synth SN AJ-221A

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

via this auction

"Boutique-style desktop analog synth with MIDI connectivity. The Reon Driftbox R MIDI Analog Synthesizer is a dual-voice synthesizer with a dedicated MIDI key trigger button. Handcrafted in Osaka, Japan; the Reon Driftbox combines authentic analog circuitry with a simple and intuitive layout. With two powerful VCOs you can create a wide array of sounds from distorted basslines to crunchy synth leads. The wide range of controls truly puts you in the driving seat when it comes to sculpting tones and more. The VCOs range from 0.1 - 10kHz with precision knobs for dialing in the required frequency. This compact yet versatile synth is capable of cross-modulation and creating complex sounds. The semi-modular design provides you with a wide range of connections including a variety of CV inputs and a MIDI input."

CLICK FOR MORE »

minimoog Voyager Open Seminar

YouTube via kaizokuhousou
"JSPA 大阪支部 第4回公開セミナー
申し込みフォーム
http://jspa.sakura.ne.jp/form/form.html

JSPA OSAKA Open Seminar the 4th
Application
http://jspa.sakura.ne.jp/form/form.html"

Logic System - Clash

YouTube via bellerob.

via ASIA SYNTH STATION.

Check out bellerob on YouTube for more historical synth compositions.

"It was in 1970 that Hideki Matsutake was grabbed by the playback of Walter Carlos's Switched-On Bach using a synthesizer and a computer at the American Pavilion of Expo '70 in Osaka. In June the following year at his age of 19, he makes his first step into professional music as an apprentice to Isao Tomita, providing him the chance of operating one of the few Moog III-P sythesizer units existing in Japan.

Establishing a company of his own named Musical Advertising Corporation (MAC) in 1974, his involvements with new music artists such as Yoshitaka Minami and Akiko Yano started. In 1978 he participated in the production of Ryuichi Sakamoto's first album, Thousand Knives. In the following years between 1978 to 1982, Matsutake served Yellow Magic Orchestra as its sound programmer, eventually to become known as "the fourth member" of the band. He also led sequencing work for numerous Technopop albums by other artists, especially at the beginning of the 80s.
In 1981, Matsutake formed "Logic System" with Makoto Irie, with whom he toured to perform in other Asian countries several times. The unit has released 10 albums to date, 2 out of them released in 8 countries. Its latest album is Tansu Matrix, released in 2008.

Matsutake is currently Chairman of Japan Synthesizer Programmers Association (JSPA).

http://www.midipal.co.jp/~logic/index...
( for those who speak Japanese )"

Update via the world of next tuesday in the comments: "unofficial page in English
http://technopop.info/ls.html"

Live modular techno : sewers of osaka

Published on Mar 22, 2015 Maxime F

Roland System 100 & eurorack.

Formant Brothers "Ordering a Pizza de Brothers!"

YouTube via nsako.

"The documentation of a live performance by Formant Brothers (Masahiro Miwa & Nobuyasu Sakonda) recorded in Osaka/Japan in Nov. 2003.

--- In Ordering a Pizza de Brothers! the Formant Brothers perform music on their own real-time voice synthesis system, the Klavocode, and as a side-effect of this performance, order a pizza by telephone. The Big Brother(Mr.Miwa) is responsible for phonemes, and Little Brother(Mr.Sakonda) takes care of intonation and accent. The voice is synthesized from duet's actions. Using MIDI keyboard, the Japanese phonemes are mapped to combinations of the 12 key in an octave using the system called "Brother's Keyboard-to-Phonemes Transfer Standard for Japanese Language" (BKPT-Standard), ---

(text written by Takayuki Rai on Computer Music Journal vol.28 No.4, Winter, 2004, MIT Press, p125)"

Reon Drift Box series synths — SynthFest UK 2017

Published on Oct 12, 2017 Sound On Sound magazine

"Desktop synthesizer range built in Osaka, Japan."

KORG UK will be distributing Reon Drift Boxes in the UK. Note Reon also did a custom Roland Driftbox. See the Reon label below for more.

Mellotron Festival Planned for Memphis

DUETS FOR MELLOTRON from Crosstown Arts on Vimeo.

The above features Robby Grant and Jonathan Kirkscey performing Duets for Mellotron at a previous Crosstown Arts event.

The new event is set to begin Tuesday, April 17 at Crosstown Arts in Crosstown Concourse.

"Crosstown Arts to Host Mellotron Variations Series

Multidisciplinary event to feature dance, film, performances, and more

Crosstown Arts is pleased to present Mellotron Variations, a series of original musical compositions for the Mellotron that will be performed live alongside newly created multidisciplinary installations.

The free and open-to-the-public, multi-day festival kicks off on Tuesday, April 17 with a series of collaborative performances at Crosstown Arts in Crosstown Concourse. The main event — a Mellotron performance featuring Pat Sansone of Wilco and John Medeski from Medeski, Martin, & Wood alongside Memphis-based musicians Robby Grant and Jonathan Kirkscey — is scheduled for Saturday, April 21 with a reprise brunch planned for Sunday, April 22, both events held at Crosstown Arts.

Mellotron Variations was made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, which Crosstown Arts was awarded earlier this year. The grant was one of 1,029 Art Works grants ranging from $10,000 to $100,000 awarded to fund local arts projects across the country.

The kick-off event on April 17 will feature a dance performance by New Ballet Ensemble with Lucero keyboardist Rick Steff on the Mellotron. Memphis Symphony Orchestra (MSO) horn player Robert Patterson will then debut new compositions which focus on the Mellotron in collaboration with MSO musicians. The evening will close with a premiere of a documentary featuring Memphis-based keyboardist Audie Smith.

On Saturday, April 21 at 7 p.m., Sansone and Medeski will join Kirkscey and Grant in a performance of original works for the Mellotron. Guests will have a chance to discuss the performance on Sunday, April 22 at noon at a reprise brunch that will include open discussion, a Q&A session with the performers, and encore presentations of the preview event.

This event aims to highlight the Mellotron’s role as a unique pillar in music sampling technology. The Mellotron was the world’s first pre-digital sampling keyboard, dating back to the 1960s. Each key plays a ribbon tape of pre-recorded instrument sounds. It was the precursor to the widespread use of digital sampling used in hip-hop, rap, and other contemporary music.

In April 2016, Crosstown Arts hosted a hugely popular live Mellotron performance featuring Kirkscey and Grant. That performance was recorded and made available via a limited-edition, pressed vinyl record titled Duets for Mellotron.

“We didn’t have any lofty goals for the shows in 2016, just to present a concert that we would like to see,” Mellotron Variations’ organizer Grant said. “For these upcoming performances, we want to push ourselves further by expanding the scope of our section with bigger visuals and new collaborators while also opening it up to other musicians and artists to see what they will do. Working with Crosstown Arts and getting the NEA grant has allowed us to do that.”

Biographical information:
Robby Grant is a songwriter, performer, and producer who has recorded and released records over the past 15 years under both his name and the moniker Vending Machine. He spent the 1990s co-fronting and touring the country with Big Ass Truck and currently plays with the garage pop group Mouserocket.

Jonathan Kirkscey is a composer, cellist, and producer who performs regularly with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra and Mouserocket, and is a co-founder of Blueshift Ensemble, a contemporary classical chamber ensemble. As a film composer, Jonathan has scored several award-winning documentaries including Best of Enemies, directed by Morgan Neville, and Won't You Be My Neighbor, a film about Fred Rogers which premieres in January 2018 at the Sundance film festival.

Winston Eggleston is a woodworker and avid collector of Mellotrons (he recently built one from scratch).

John Markham is a videographer and collaborates with the experimental group >mancontrol<. Together they created the oil-based light show that accompanied 2015's Duets for Mellotron performance.

Pat Sansone is a multi-instrumentalist (guitar, keyboard, percussion, harpsichord) from the bands Wilco and The Autumn Defense.

John Medeski is an American jazz keyboard player and composer. Medeski is a veteran of New York's 1990s avant-garde jazz scene and is known popularly as a member of Medeski Martin & Wood.

Robert G. Patterson is a resident composer with the Luna Nova Ensemble. Recent accomplishments include commissions from Opera Memphis, the One Coin Concert series in Osaka, Japan, and First Prize in the NATS Art Song Composition Award. In addition to his musical activities, Patterson also has been a professional software developer, and his interest in
computers led him to become an expert in musical engraving using a computer.

New Ballet Ensemble and School is a thriving after school dance program in the heart of Midtown Memphis, founded in 2001. Dancers from all over the Mid-South fill their studios six days a week, training and exploring cultural forms of dance alongside a strong classical ballet curriculum. New Ballet Ensemble was awarded the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award in 2014, recognizing the country’s best creative youth development programs for using engagement in the arts and the humanities to increase self-direction, academic achievement, graduation rates, and college enrollment."

"Osaka" - a Jupiter-8 and DX7 demo - Roland SBX-80 Sync Box Video

YouTube via SynthManiaDotCom | September 25, 2010

"This is a demo song featuring Roland Jupiter-8, Yamaha DX7, and Linn LinnDrum - three classic instruments of the 1980s.

The genre is Synth Pop / Italo Dance, with a bit of Japanese aura - courtesy of the DX7's "Koto" sound."

Moog & Clavia Demo

YouTube via kaizokuhousou. via Nusonica
"2008 15th June. I demonstrate Moog & Clavia Synthesizer in Osaka Japan. Wanna you to visit to Umeda Nakai Gakki"

Human Synthesizer T-Shirt Design

flickr by Network Osaka

"This is a design proposal for a threadless shirt i've been working on for a long time... I have not yet submitted it because I want you guys to critique it before I send it out for approval.

You guys may critique it either on this flickr post or over here:
www.threadless.com/critique/31470/Human_Synthesizer

but i'd prefer if you guys critique it over at threadless so that I can show you guys the different variations as each version is uploaded :-)

Thanks for stopping by here and I will really appreciate your input :-)"

Sequential In The Spotlight Interview with Ron Moton PH.D

You can find the interview on Sequential's website here.

"Ron Moton PH.D is a pro touring musician, in demand music producer, clinician, composer, arranger, music director, music minister, youth mentor, and private music teacher. Ron has numerous album and song credits and is a well-known music industry producer specializing in jazz, R&B, funk, Christian music production and more.

Now touring nationally and internationally, Ron Moton is known for his contemporary jazz-funk that is both artistic and entertaining. High energy grooves, jazz sophistication, and soulful sounds are his trademark. Recent performances include: Yoshi’s Jazz Club, The Jazz Bulls Chicago, the Russian Philharmonic Society’s “Snow Jazz” festival series, the Russian Federation National Big Band, multiple concerts in Tokyo, Osaka, and Sapporo Japan, the Cotton Club, and Billboard Live. Other performances include the Fire Rock Grill Jazz Club, Maestros Jazz Club, the Celebrity Theater, and the Nokia Theater. International tours include Mexico, France, and the Caribbean, to name a few. Ron has performed on musical television appearances and performances at the Grammy Awards. In addition to his jazz career, Ron is also saxophonist and flautist for the legendary funk and R&B super group, ConFunkShun.

We chatted with Ron on how he’s using the Prophet X in his music"

---
You can find previous posts featuring Sequential's Spotlight series here.

『ナニワのシンセ界〜The New World of Synthesizer in Osaka〜』映画オリジナル予告編

Published on Sep 26, 2014 CinemaGene

"・監督及び製作全般
大須賀 淳（おおすが じゅん）

・出演、撮影協力
荒川 伸（株式会社REON）
Unyo303
久次米一弥（天地雅楽）
ピノ作（J.M.T Synth）
西田 彩（ゾンビ）
Risa
江夏正晃（marimoRECORDS）
サワサキヨシヒロ
Durusin
yakan
MINE
Makio Gamasawa
Implant4
STUDIO D.C
nu things
電氣蕎麦
Tokyo Festival of Modular
ほか

・制作、配給
株式会社スタジオねこやなぎ
(C)2014 Studio Nekoyanagi Co., Ltd.

・フォーマット
カラー、75分、STEREO、FullHD

2014年10月4日公開！
(C)2014 Studio Nekoyanagi Co., Ltd.

■映画を宇宙一楽しむ！CinemaGene■
http://www.youtube.com/user/CinemaGene
～まだまだあるぞ、素敵でわくわくする映画～"

Amdek DMK-100 Delay Machine

video upload by Geylo Follen

"In 1981 Roland establish a new Japanese division, called AMDEK (Analogue Music Digital Electronics Kits) Although Roland was based in Hamamatsu by the early '80s, Kakehashi established the AMDEK Corporation in Osaka. Their main product lines were small effects units and computer monitors manufactured for Roland.

This DMK100 delay model was released in 1981 sold as a DIY kit and can be built in a couple of hours using only a soldering iron, cutters and screwdrivers.

With delay times from 25 to 300 mS it can produce a wide range of echo, reverb and flanger effects and has a selection of input and output level and mix facilities with a lovely distorted sound if you crank the volume.

I modded my unit by adjusting the Intensity VR5 trimmer to get wild sounds and make the unit go to self oscillation."

Full Moon Over Osaka

YouTube Uploaded by 66outsider99 on Dec 9, 2011

"A/V tomfoolery for your enjoyment.

Video shot on iPhone4 at my kids' kindergarten.
Moon video borrowed from YouTube.
Audio made by yours truly using NanoStudio on an iPhone4.
Stitched together haphazardly and with much frustration in iMovie 11."


iPads on eBay
iPod Touch on eBay

Black & Gold Roland Jupiter-X 50th Anniversary Model

Click the pic to zoom in.

Via JUPITER: King of the Polysynths on Roland's website, Roland JA here.

"To celebrate the company’s half-centennial milestone, Roland produced a highly limited quantity of the JUPITER-X 50th Anniversary Model, a unique exhibition instrument with black keys and gold accents. Although not a commercial product, Roland will showcase the 50th Anniversary Model at synthesizer events worldwide, beginning in Osaka, Japan—the birthplace of Roland—in late May of 2022. No matter what form these synthesizers take, the JUPITER name continues to represent the pinnacle of Roland innovation and excellence."

Also see The Roland Jupiter-X & XM Story and Why Roland Has No Plans for a New JUPITER-8