ARP 2500 Model 2002 Vintage Modular Synthesizer Cabinet Serviced by CMS

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via this auction

"Used vintage ARP 2500 Model 2002 synthesizer cabinet.

Serial no. is 008

unit was serviced by Phil Cirocco at CMS several years ago, fitted with modern linear analogue power supplies

woodwork refinished

includes power module model 1002

currently configured to run at 220 volts

original split music keyboard available soon in a separate auction.

Very rare opportunity especially if you already have spare modules or wish to fit clone modules

will ship worldwide"

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Fading lights (Genesis cover)

Published on Jun 1, 2020 GS Music

"After implementing some multitimbral capabilities on Zeus, our analog polyphonic synthesizer prototype, I made a virtual reunion with my friends from Selling Broadway (Genesis tribute band) to cover the instrumental part of this song.

All the synth sounds were produced by Zeus. The lower keyboard is a MIDI controller.

The band:
Mariano Redruello: electric guitar
Guillermo Salvat: drums
Guido Salaya: synthesizer

Fading Lights is the twelfth and final song on the album We Can't Dance by Genesis. The song was written by Tony Banks, Phil Collins, and Mike Rutherford, with lyrics by Tony Banks. It is the longest song on the album."

Watcher of the skies intro (cover with analog synthesizer)

Published on Apr 18, 2020 GS Music

"Performing the intro of 'Watcher of the skies' by Genesis using Zeus, an analog polyphonic synthesizer prototype in which we are working.

The sound was creating two sawtooth + pulse oscillators with suboscillators. Some modulation from the polyphonic LFOs to the oscillators and the amplifier was added.
Finally, the sound was processed by the built-in stereo chorus and delay.

Watcher of the skies is a Genesis song and was written by Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett and Mike Rutherford."

See the GS Music below for more.

Sequential Artist Spotlight Interview with PHIL KOPSAFTIS

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

"When he’s not busy outside the music world as a caretaker of an historical site, Phil Kopsaftis is likely creating sound and music for the indie film and game world or documenting unique and creative synth tips and tricks on his YouTube Channel. He likes to share and employ techniques and approaches that aren’t always obvious on the surface, and ends up frequently crossing into less-traveled musical territory. His hope is to ignite that same sense of adventure and exploration in other synth owners and inspire them to take their instruments to new musical and sonic areas.

We chatted with Phil on how he’s using the Prophet-6 in his music."


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

Fast Forward Designs Midi Step Bass Pedal Phil Collins Tour Leland Sklar

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via this auction, also on Reverb.

"This listing is for a Fast Forward Designs Midi Step Bass Pedal Controller Owned By Leland Sklar and used in 1990 on the Phil Collins 'But Serious Tour'. Serial# A710 700"

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Vintage ARP Odyssey 1972 Mk. I + Full Patch Points + Cirocco Mods!

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via this auction

"Arp Odyssey Mk. I 1972, full patch points + Cirocco (C.M.S.) mods

Mods too many to list, but include (highlights):
Full patch points -- all main section outputs and all slider inputs
"Turbo" envelope switch, for true snappy (2600 style) envelopes
LFO free run
Back panel CV/gate controls
External audio input
A full set of mods can be seen from the picture. Mods were performed by #1 worldwide Arp tech Phil Cirocco (the guy who fixes/restores 2500's).

I should mention that another design quirk of the original Odyssey -- the delay between VCA and VCF gate times, has been eliminated!

Without this critical fix, no matter how fast the envelope times, it would have sounded slow due to the VCF gate delay. Not so here, the envelope is ultra-fast with the "Turbo" setting, and also sounds better and cleaner with the normal setting. This is what is meant by "true 2600 style envelopes" -- multiple coordinated modifications here really take this synth into a completely different category.

What you get is the 'best of both worlds'. You get additional features and sound of the early 1970's Mk. I Odyssey (much warmer early 1970’s oscillators, sweet filter resonance, hard sync), with the back-end snappiness and sonic character of the Arp 2600. On many patches the result actually sounds better than the stock 2600."

CMS 2500 Euro Rack Module Demo - 12 module system

Published on Mar 16, 2020 Phil Cirocco

"Here is a quick demo of the newly released CMS Euro Rack 2500 modules. This is my personal 12 module system. The audio quality and noise levels are actually superior to the original ARP 2500 system due to better layout of the circuit boards and no matrix switches. The flagship module of the series is the 1047 Colin Multi-mode Filter. Go to discretesynthesizers.com for more info."

Moog Taurus bass pedal (1976) The bass sound of Phil Collins - I Don`t Care Anymore part4

Published on Feb 25, 2020 RetroSound

"(c)2007-20 by RetroSound
supported by UVI: http://bit.ly/retrosound-uvi

The deep bass sound in
Phil Collins - I Don`t Care Anymore

Played with the hand like in the original song.

Marillion, U2 , The Police coming soon.

Moog Taurus analog bass synthesizer pedals from the year 1976
3 presets: Taurus, Bass, Tuba
1 variable and full programmed sound

Used by Genesis, Rush, Asia, Genesis, Police, The Cure, Marillion, Saga, Dream Theater, Pink Floy, Motley Crue, Led Zeppelin, Jean Michel Jarre and more

The Taurus 1 use linear VCOs. The Minimoog and the later Taurus 2 and 3 use exponential VCOs. Linear VCOs are the secret for the stable bass sound of the Taurus 1.

RetroSound synthesizer demo videos since january 2007.
All is for free. If you like my work, so can you support me with a donation or a purchase of my music albums. Thank you!

Donations: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr...

RetroSound Moog Taurus posts

CMS 2607 Demo - Beat Patch

Uploaded on Dec 31, 2016 precarious333

Similar to this 2600 piece. The video above is from 2016. You can find CMS 2607 posts including recent demos from CMS / Phil Cirroco here.

"Patch is 2607 only. No external input or CV.
-----------
Kick is the filter self-oscillating with VCO 3 saw wave modulated by the ADSR mixed in.

Snare/HH thing is noise through the Ring Mod in VCA mode.
ADSR is triggering both sounds, which are fed into the two inputs of the switch with the main clock switching between them. Both are playing every beat but because of the switch you only hear every other hit.

Base is VCO 1 saw wave modulated by the same ADSR, so falling on both the up and down beat. Patched through the lag processor (fourth horizontal slider) which works as a low pass filter on audio.

Tinkly sound is VCO 3 sine wave frequency modulated by VCO 1 with Sample/Hold supplying random pitched notes. Then run through processor two (third horizontal slider) which I manually switch between normal and the Post Filter Distortion circuit from the ARP Centaur.

Processor section one (top 2 horizontal sliders) is being used to mix the base and tinkly sounds to send to the VCA section where both envelopes work to shape the volume through both linear and exponential inputs.

Output of switch and VCA routed to the final mix stage with spring reverb into the unity gain input. This works great since reverb has it's own gain control at source.

Recorded as a mono track into Ableton Live 8. Compression used to keep things in check."

CMS 2607 demo - Sync, PFD and high-pass filter

Published on Feb 22, 2020 Phil Cirocco

"Phil Cirocco demonstrating the CMS 2607 just before shipping it out to a customer in San Francisco. The patch breifly highlights the built in sync circuit. Later in the video, the High-pass filter output is fed through the Post Filter Distortion circuit (from the ARP Centaur). The two 1/4 inch cables at top right are plugged directly into the stereo input of the camera. No post production or processing. The reverb you hear is the internal spring unit. discretesynthesizers.com"

Update:

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Grand Rapids Home for Sale with Pipe Organ

Published on Oct 29, 2014 Steve Zaagman

Filing this one under f'ing nuts. This one is in via Phil A.

And you thought synth collectors were obsessive...

Arp Avatar - Modularized by CMS

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via this auction

"Letting go of this Arp Avatar which was “modularized” by Phil Cirocco at CMS in 1995. Only 300 of the original units were produced, so I’m assuming the number of “modular” Avatars is less than that, although they they pop-up occasionally. I’m trying to scale down my studio and this synth is literally the biggest obstacle in this goal.

This is what it has:
It has many features of the Arp Odyssey: Two oscillators, and features such as oscillator sync, ring modulator, sample and hold, portamento, envelope follower and more. It is almost identical programming and interface. I read somewhere that the added patch points supposedly give the modded Avatar approximately 75% of the functionality of an Arp2600, but I really can’t say for sure.

Polyphony - Monophonic
Oscillators - 2 VCOs: Sawtooth, Square, Pulse
LFO - Sine, Square
Filter - Model 4075 4-pole, 24dB Low Pass Filter
VCA - Env 1: ADSR, Env 2: AR
Keyboard - None
Memory - None
Control - CV / Gate
Date Produced - 1977 - 78

This is what it doesn’t have:
- The top of the slider for String CV. It got broken off. The slider works but it’s tricky to move. See photos. It could be hacked with a fader cap or something. The ideal would be to replace the fader and those can be found fairly easily.
- The guitar synth functionality. The work done by CMS neutralized the Avatar’s guitar synth circuits. If this feature is important to you, this is not the Avatar you want.
- It does not have MIDI. The Avatar was produced in 1977/78 and MIDI didn’t come around until 1983, so you’ll need an MIDI to CV converter or a MIDI synth that has CV/Gate outputs. I triggered it via Doepfer MAQ 16/3 or a Roland MPU-101."

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Roland TR-808 Inducted Into NAMM TECnology Hall of Fame

The press release:

Legendary Drum Machine Recognized for Audio Technology Contributions

Los Angeles, CA, January 30, 2020 — Roland, a leading manufacturer of electronic musical instruments and professional video products, proudly announces that its legendary TR-808 Rhythm Composer drum machine has been inducted into the prestigious NAMM TECnology Hall of Fame, Class of 2020.

The TECnology Hall of Fame, presented by the NAMM Museum of Making Music, honors audio products and innovations that have made a significant contribution to the advancement of audio technology and production. Hosted by audio historian George Petersen, the TECnology Hall of Fame Celebration was held during The NAMM Show on Saturday, January 18, 2020.

Each year, a panel of audio experts, including authors, educators, engineers and other professionals select the inductees. This year’s panel commented, “Roland’s TR-808 programmable drum machine became part of the foundation of music movements in hip-hop, rap and electronica. And although made in 1980 — almost 40 years ago — the once $1,200 TR-808 remains a highly-prized studio tool today, with working units valued in the $4,000 range.”

Widely considered one of the most popular drum machines of all time, the Roland TR-808 has contributed to the sounds of Marvin Gaye, Phil Collins, RUN DMC, Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, and Public Enemy. Routinely celebrated by lovers of culture, music and design, the term “808” has even started appearing in song lyrics and still gets name-checked to this day, as tracks (Timbaland’s 808), albums (Kanye’s 808s & Heartbreak) and even band names (808 State) were all coined under its influence.

TR-808 enthusiasts all over the world can also experience the modern versions of this revered classic—the TR-08 Rhythm Composer and the TR-808 Software Rhythm Composer which is available as a part of Roland Cloud. Born of the most famous and influential drum machine ever made, the both the physical TR-08 hardware and the Roland Cloud software version of the TR-808 provide the most faithful reproductions of the original combined with today’s modern production techniques and professional sound design.

Phil's Rev2 Jam-torials: So I got a Prophet 6... It's a Groovebox now :D

Published on Nov 24, 2019 Phil's Rev2 Jam-torials

"One take, no external FX or mixing. Just a recorded P6 with internal effects and patch switching. This trick uses a bank of drum sounds I sequenced. When the sequencer is running and you change a patch, it jumps right to that new patch! This is BIG. I have more exploring to do.


I was almost worried the P6 wouldn't get as "Weird" as my Rev2 would.

No need to worry, there is so much more to this machine than typical bread and butter. I'll be diving in as I learn this new machine.

Thoughts on the Rev2: I sold it a few months ago to fund a semester back at college. I still miss the hell out of it but I had the chance to get a P6 at a really good deal. I was made an offer I couldn't refuse. Having always wanted to experience it for myself, I accepted.

Stay tuned for some deeper dives beneath the surface of the P6."

Phil's Rev2 Jam-torials with the Sequential Rev2

Published on Mar 20, 2019 Phil's Rev2 Jam-torials

Playlist:

1. Episode 1: Some Percussive Exploration on the Prophet Rev2

Foolin around with some percussive patching on the Rev2.

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EMS SYNTHI HI-FLI PROTOTYPE 1 of 10 *Serviced* David Gilmour Guitar Synth

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via this auction

"A very rare prototype Synthi Hi-Fli, dating from 1972, in excellent condition following a full overhaul by EMS earlier this year.
One of only ten pre-production units made in 1972. David Gilmour reputedly still owns two of them…

Ultra-rare prototype EMS Synthi Hi-Fli – this is a knob-twiddler’s dream of an effect and the ultimate in hens’ teeth: your guitar will never sound the same again.

Different sound and spec to a standard Hi-Fli – this is the second such unit we’ve had and it broke my heart to sell the last one (I’ve been a committed HiFli nut since I bought my first one many years ago and have always had at least one in the studio ever since).

The prototypes don’t have the growl function, which was introduced about 18 months later. Production Hi-Flis all have the Buzz switch, but only the first ten prototypes had the Fuzz switch, which adds some interesting colouration to the up and down-octave sounds.

Ten production prototype Hi-Flis were made in 1972 but a redesign quickly followed the launch at the Frankfurt Fair to try to reduce the factory cost (the prototype design is not especially ergonomic for a guitar player to use – you have to lean back somewhat to access the pedals underneath the main unit). This original design features a removable aluminium pole which plugs into the underside of the main console and the top of the base unit, acting both as a stand and a conduit for power and signal connections (pole not included with this unit). The heavy-duty nylon-dipped base houses the power supply and sturdy twin pedals.

Dave Gilmour of Pink Floyd is reputed to still have two of these original units, which, according to Phil Taylor were first used for the Dark Side of The Moon tour that started in May 1973 at Earls Court. Opinion is divided as to whether a Hi-Fli featured on the DSOTM recordings: I can only say that it certainly sounds like it did.
Number one in Analogman Tom’s list of rare guitar effects from his excellent book.
Used by David Gilmour – see this Gilmourish blog for further details – he bought a prototype in 1972 and from what he recalls it was “very, very expensive”; Gilmourish also suggest it was used during the recording of Dark Side Of The Moon

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Synth Spotting with Pete Townshend of The Who

via Pete Townshend's Instagram @yaggerdang

Cameron Jones, mentioned below, is the co-creator of the Synclavier. Curious about that new mac-based program. Cameron recently worked on the Synclavier iOS app and the Synclavier KNOB.

"Between tours I spend a lot of my free time trying to improve my various studios. I have a number of spaces (only one large studio big enough for bands) and each one has a different focus. Recently, after getting inspired by the Eurorack world, and by being able to carry small devices on the road - like Akai MPC Mini, Volcas and Digitakts etc - I realised I’d neglected my larger modular synths that I am damned lucky to have and even luckier to know how to operate. So here’s where I left things with my ARP2500 (restored by the wonderful Phil Cirocco of CMS) and MOOG 35 before I sadly packed my leaving trunk to go on the road. Two months!!! Spiders will move in. The sharp eyed among you might spot the controller and keyboard for my Synclavier 9600 and Direct to Disk system. This has also recently been revived because Cameron Jones created a new Mac-based computer program to run the old towers. Steve Hill’s installed it for me. Cameron also worked with Arturia to create the Synclavier V. This is a fine development of the old FM system. The three stringed things on the wall are all by Collings. Love their boxes. .

This one was sent my way via bÖsch @fabmass

Update: you can find a video of it here. Embedding is disabled otherwise I'd embed it in this post.  Thanks to @Precarsious_333 for the link!

The Metasonix RK6 -12db low pass tube filter

Published on Jul 30, 2019 SchneidersLaden

"The Metasonix RK6 is a low-pass filter based on a tube-design. In this video we show one of the great strengths of this module - adding warmth to digital oscillators. Our sound source in this example is the E-355 - we send the signal alternately directly into the mixer and through the RK6 and then into the mixer. No other effects are used. Why are we doing this? That's what Phil can explain best:

"Often customers ask me how to add some warmth to a digital signal or sample. I never really had an answer ready, because many devices saturate and distort nicely but lack in delivering on precisely this cliché. When it comes down to it, to make it sound warm all the ugly, cold and overexaturated parts of the signal should be eliminated. The beautiful parts should be captured and enhanced. The Metasonix RK6 closes this gap like a hero. Listen to the linked Video below to hear how it forms a round piece of music from of a cold, stiff wavetable sequence. The 2nd part of the video contains pure Metasonix DNA.

Conclusion: It is ugly but closes a crucial gap in your soul."

Phil"

ARP Odyssey MKI 2800 w/ cv mods (1972)

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

via this auction

"Have a closer look at the pictures!?

Yes thats correct! It’s modded with cv patch points all over to give you some of the 2600s capabilities!! Including cv pitch control!

The mod work was done by the famous Phil Cirocco,

This unit is in fabulous condition, is in perfect working order and sounds incredible, was restored by switched on.

We are only because we have 2 arp 2600s the little guy is hardly being used and that’s a shame!!"

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Synth Jams by Jay Hosking

Published on Jul 26, 2019 Jay Hosking

Spotted the first video in the playlist above on discchord.com. The Playlist contains 21 videos. You can use the player controls to skip around. Descriptions for each are below. All videos feature various gear so you should be able to get an idea of some of the capabilities of each featured. You can check out Jay Hosking's music at https://jayhosking.bandcamp.com/.

Note, more will likely get added over time. The following playlist is as of this post:

1. Jam w/ Vermona PERfourMER MkII, Elektron Analog Rytm MkII, OTO Bam, Styrmon Big Sky, Fugue Machine

A live, semi-improvised performance, all on hardware, and inspired by some pretty tough news that has me sentimental.

I loved the Elektron Analog Four MkII so much that I picked up the Analog Rytm MkII. My feelings on the Rytm are mixed. On the one hand, it's missing that spontaneity and spark of units like the Arturia DrumBrute Impact and Teenage Engineering OP-Z, with no readymade performance effects, roller bar, or global randomization, and a slower workflow. On the other hand, I really like its analogue sound engines, any unused tracks can be converted into impressive analogue mono synths, it does beautiful things to samples, and like all Elektron boxes it integrates the effects into the sequencer really nicely.

As for the Vermona PERfourMER MkII, I'd been pining over it for ages, and it was fun to finally tinker with it. The Perfourmer definitely excels in the mid- and high- range, and I love how the independent voices making really interesting voices for chords.

Vermona PERfourMER MkII + OTO Bam — Three synths (left chord note, right chord note, melody)
Vermona PERfourMER MkII + Strymon Big Sky — Bass chord note synth
Elektron Analog Rytm MkII — Drums, samples, sample melody, punchy bass
Fugue Machine (iOS) — Sequencing
IK Multimedia iRig Pro Duo — MIDI out from iOS

Written and performed within a 24-hour period, and uploaded as is, with only a little sidechain compression on the Perfourmer (to emphasize the sound that the Rytm was already making), and compression/limiting on the master.

https://jayhosking.bandcamp.com/

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