Red Martian at the New Wave Modular Synthesizer PNW AES Meeting

YouTube via matrixsynth.

Note his comment on orchestrating it. The laptop plays the sequence while Stephen edits the four voices in real time - listen for the subtle tweaks. The laptop only plays MIDI notes. The patches and editing are done by Stephen. In later videos he plays the Syntar. Be sure to see this post for more classical pieces featuring the MMM by Stephen and of course try a search here on MATRIXSYNTH on Red Martian or redmartian for more.

http://redmartian.com
http://synthwood.com
http://mattsonminimodular.com
http://www.myspace.com/bluelightcurtain
http://www.facebook.com/bluelightcurtain

"Stephen Jones of Red Martian, Blue Light Curtain, and Synthwood performs the PMS Syntar and Mattson Mini Modular at the New Wave Modular Synthesizer PNW AES Meeting at MS Studios."
Be sure to click on the PNWAES label below for all posts covering the event.


Don't miss the Syntar demo in the video set above.

CLICK FOR MORE »

Division-6 at the New Wave Modular Synthesizer PNW AES Meeting

YouTube via matrixsynth

http://division-6.com/
"Scott Rise of Division-6 goes over Midify and new Division-6 Filtare SEIII VCF and Multiplicity XV Eurorack modules at the New Wave Modular Synthesizer PNW AES Meeting at MS Studios."

Some of my favorite videos featuring Midify (click here for all posts):

Cooking with MIDI

YouTube via Modd3d (previously posted)
"I installed a MIDI port in my microwave and now I use it to cook corn dogs.

Mostly I was testing out my new Midify board and wanted to see if you could use it to control home appliances. It turns out you can.

If you want to find out how to Midify stuff go to http://www.division-6.com."

Pumpkin & Skull Choir

YouTube via Modd3d aka Division 6, maker of Midify. Midify'ed pumpkins. (previously posted)
"This is from my Halloween 2008 display. I'm testing out some new show control software."


MIDI-Controlled Skull Sings A Tune

YouTube via Division6Labs (previously posted)
"MIDI-Controlled skull will sing or say anything. Find out how at http://www.division-6.com/p..."

Pacific Northwest Synth 2009 - Red Martian

YouTube via matrixsynth. (previously posted) animated skulls come in at 1:21
http://redmartian.com http://division-6.com/

Blue Light Curtain

Blue Light Curtain's Laura with KORG MicroKORG

more pics here

Blue Light Curtain on Facebook
http://www.myspace.com/bluelightcurtain


BLUE LIGHT CURTAIN - MADELINE FERGUSON - 02/20/2010 @ RENDEVOUS JEWELBOX THEATRE
YouTube via redmartian.
"Last Act Theatre put together a Steampunk theatrical show which we were honored to play. Instrumentation is Danelectro Baritone guitar, Fender Bass VI, Korg Micro, Roland JX-3p, drums and electrovibe."

New Wave Modular Synthesizer PNW AES Meeting Pics

flickr set by matrixsynth
(click for more)

New Wave Modular Synthesizer Meeting at the PNW division of the AES, at MS Studios in Redmond WA. Manufacturers represented:

http://www.theharvestman.org/
http://flightofharmony.com/
http://mattsonminimodular.com/
http://synthwerks.com/
http://division-6.com/

Modular cases by:
http://monorocket.com/
http://synthwood.com/
http://doepfer.com/

Performances by http://redmartian.com/"

The PMS Syntar and acidlab Miami also made an appearance.

Also see the Syntar and MMM pages on Carbon111.com.

More vids will be coming. See the PNWAES label for all posts on the event.

Update: Left to right in the top shot: Scott Jaeger of The Harvestman, Stephen Jones of Red Martian and Synthwood, Scott Rise of Division-6, flight of flight of harmony, George Mattson of Mattson Mini Modular, James Husted of Synthwerks, and Steve Turnidge of Synthwerks and chair of the PNW AES section.

CLICK FOR MORE »

THE HARVESTMAN PISTON HONDA DEMONSTRATION AES PNW SECTION 2010

YouTube via redmartian

"The Harvestman demonstrates the Piston Honda at the AES PNW Section Meeting February 2010"

THE HARVESTMAN HERTZ DONUT DEMONSTRATION AES PNW SECTION MEETING 2010

"The Harvestman demonstrates the HERTZ DONUT module a the AES PNW Section Meeting Feb 2010"

New Wave Modular Synthesizer Meeting - AES PNW

YouTube via matrixsynth

"Brief walk around the New Wave Modular Synthesizer Meeting at the PNW division of the AES, at MS Studios in Redmond WA. Manufacturers represented:

http://www.theharvestman.org/
http://flightofharmony.com/
http://mattsonminimodular.com/
http://synthwerks.com/
http://division-6.com/

Modular cases by:
http://synthwood.com/
http://monorocket.com/
http://doepfer.com/

Performances by http://redmartian.com/

More vids of the event will follow."

Thank You Rain

YouTube via redmartian

"Music by RED MARTIAN. More information at
http://redmartian.com

Recorded using an Acidlab Miami, PMS Syntar and Mattson Mini Modular."

Note Stephen Jones of Red Martian will be performing at the PNW AES meet this coming Wednesday. See this post and this post. Georg Mattson, creator of the Syntar and the Mattson Mini Modular will be presenting.

Pacific Northwest Modular Manufacturers to Present in PNW Division of AES

via the Pacific Northwest Section of the Audio Engineering Society:

"Meet the Seattle Area Modular Manufacturers

Wednesday, February 17, 2010 - 7:30PM
Microsoft Studios
4420 148th Ave NE, Redmond WA 98052, Building 127

Our February meeting features some of the rising stars of the new wave of Modular Synthesis giving demonstrations of some innovative new products as well as showing off some of the more tried and trusted, but never completely predictable, modular delights. This will be a great opportunity to play catch-up for those of you who may be new to the world of modular synthesizers - a world of infinitely variable possibilities that started in the early 70s when modular synthesis was pretty much the only way to go. If you're old enough, think back to the Buchla, Moog 900-series, and the ARP 2600 synthesizers. If not...

In the beginning, there were several separate modules, each responsible for a specific aspect of sound creation: Voltage Controlled Oscillators (VCOs), Voltage Controlled Filters (VCFs) and Voltage Controlled Amplifiers (VCAs). It wasn't too long afterwards that Low Frequency Oscillators (LFOs), Sequencers/Arpeggiators, and Envelope Generators joined the party, creating a broad range of wonderful synthesized sounds. The flexibility of such a system was tremendous - primarily because the modules were connected together by patch cords, encouraging sound exploration and design. That flexibility came at a cost - complexity and price. The modular synths of the day were well out of range of all but the most serious musicians and academia. In addition, the different manufacturers had proprietary sizes and interfaces for their equipment.

This complexity led to an integration of functionality - the standard modules and patches that create sounds were put together and pre-patched, with control mainly of the parameters of the components, but not their order/configuration... These units incrementally came down in price until the pendulum swung furthest in the mid to late 80s. Here we had synthesizers whose human interface consisted of a couple of 7 segment LEDs and a data slider. The majority of the "patches" (named for the earlier use of patch cables to build a sound) were pre-set and canned. Much of the joy the synthesist derived from creating and manipulating their own sounds in real time evaporated. On the other hand, for live performance, a synthesizer with presets was really the only practical solution, because there was no way for a modular synthesizer to change patches quickly during performance.

Fortunately, with lead of several visionaries in the field, modular synthesis has been revived and the costs have dropped enough to become accessible to the general audience. There are new modular standards that provide opportunities for many manufacturers to make modules that interoperate seamlessly and inexpensively. On February 17th, we'll meet several of those manufacturers. Come and learn the history, state of the art, and future trends in modular synthesis.

Confirmed guests include:

* George Mattson, Mattson Modular www.mattsonminimodular.com
* James Husted, Synthwerks www.synthwerks.com
* Kevin O'Neill, Flight Of Harmony www.flightofharmony.com
* Scott Rise, Division 6 www.division-6.com
* Sebastian Jaeger, The Harvestman www.theharvestman.org
* Performance by Stephen Jones member of Red Martian http://redmartian.com

Interviews with the featured guests and more information about the new wave of modular synthesis can be found on electronicmusic.com

Steve Turnidge
AES PNW 2009-2010 Section Chair"

GEKIGANGER - THE TRANSFORMATIVE JOURNEY OF THE FIRST PRODUCTION MATTSON MINI MODULAR

YouTube via redmartian http://mattsonminimodular.com/ http://gekiganger.org/
"LET'S GEKIGA IN!

After two years of using my MMM (the first production unit) and getting my setup that allowed an efficient work flow I discovered I ran out of room .. and that isn't just because I ordered 3 sequencer units.

Also, I worked very closely with the ICHABOD system and I enjoyed that so much that when I went back to mine it seemed limited. I didn't want to have a system as large as Billy's, but I wanted to have some of the form. Originally George and I talked about putting 3 standard MMM cabinets on their side and make a long row. However, due to budget constraints it was easier to just go with what was already established for ICHABOD and work from there.

Ultimately I'll have a single tier (the size of four MMM cabinets) plus the ability to mount my original MMM case as flanking wings.

So what does this have to do with GETTER ROBO or the mythical GEKIGANGER? There are going to be three of three of these setups with three owners. When they're all attached to each other they turn into a giant robot that smashes stuff and shoots its arms off and things."

Update: click here for some pics via George C Mattson on Facebook.

Stephen Jones and the Modular Synthesizer

via tumblr

"SMJ and Ichabod, a modular synth. for giggles."

Original image below from this post.

http://redmartian.com

Pacific Northwest Synth 2009 - Red Martian

YouTube via matrixsynth.

This is my video of Red Martian's performance. More details here.
http://redmartian.com
http://mattsonminimodular.com - MMM and Syntar
http://www.division-6.com - Midified Skulls
http://acidlab.de - Miami

Note this is the last of my videos from the PNW Synth Gathering this year.
click here to see all posts in the series.

Cowboy and the Vocoder and the MMM

A tribute to the dog Cowboy who passed away.

YouTube via redmartian. Note this is via redmartian and not AnalogVocoder1 (click for the reference).

"A song written for a dog who likes to listen to the sound the Roland SVC-350 vocoder. This song features the MMM as well as a Sequential Circuits Drum Traks and a Roland Jupiter-6.

Here are the lyrics:

Do you know Cowboy
and the SVC-350?
Do you know Cowboy
and the Roland Vocoder?

Hey there Cowboy
I see you there
Lazy gazing
Gazing lazy
Whos my sweet boy?
You know its you.
I like to vocode and you do too.

No Poly-800 to drive the SVC
So I use an MMM as my carrier wave
No Poly-800 but Cowboy doesn't mind.
We all know its the Roland SVC-350 vocoder time.

Audio version can be found here:
http://redmartian.com/napster/Red_Mar..."

And the first track from this post:


FIRST PRODUCTION MATTSON MINI MODULAR DEMO NUMBER FOUR from RED MARTIAN on Vimeo.

"Here is a fourth demo which features a LP and HP triangle wave arpeggiation nearly through out and a quick EG three oscillator bass. The drum kit is the same as in the other demos with no pitch changes or other processing, just dry sounds out of the VCA. There are two leads one is just two oscillators (saw) and the second has a square and a saw with the saw slight modulated by an LFO with high resonance on the filter.

The bass and arpeggiation were played and quantized in logic. The leads were recorded as played."

Pacific Northwest Synth 2009 - Stephen aka Red Martian

YouTube via matrixsynth.

see this performance for reference.

http://redmartian.com
http://mattsonminimodular.com - MMM and PMS Syntar
http://synthwood.com
http://acidlab.de

Don't miss the Syntar neck controller.
Some more info on a modern update will be coming up in George Mattson's talk.
Note, during the reference to the track Cowboy, I mistakenly stated the original cowboy videos were from Vocoderman, it's actually VoiceEncoder. You can see more of his videos previously posted here. Apologies to VoiceEncoder.

click here for all PNW 2009 coverage.

Pacific Northwest Synth 2009 - Red Martian Performance

SYNTAR MMM and MIAMI LIVE SYNTHESIZER PERFORMANCE PNW SYNTH DIY 2009

YouTube via redmartian http://redmartian.com/.

Watch the skulls in the background.
"Here is a live performance of the MMM demo number four featuring the stack of MMMs behind, the Syntar (the father of the MMM) and the new AcidLab MIAMI in MIDI mode. The bass line, arpeggio and drums were sequenced in Logic. The Skulls were triggered via Logic (the percussion tracks) using Division-6's MIDIFY."

COWBOY (RIP) AND THE ROLAND VOCODER LIVE AT PNW SYNTH DIY 2009 FEATURING THE SYNTAR, MIAMI AND MMM

"This is dedicated to that old dog COWBOY who used to listen to his master's vocoder. The bass and some melody are handled by the MMMs behind. The Syntar is the carrier wave for the Roland SVC-350 vocoder. The Syntar also plays a sort of melody. The MIAMI is sequenced in MIDI mode from Logic. At the Pacific Northwest Synth DIY 2009"

Be sure to see this prior post for reference and lyrics. The third video is the studio recording of this track.
See demo number four in this post for the first track.

click here for all PNW 2009 coverage.

Pacific Northwest Synth 2009 - The Harvestman

YouTube via matrixsynth.

http://www.theharvestman.org
click here for all PNW 2009 coverage.

Update: transcription via redmartian on muff's:

"Hi I'm Scott from the harvestman I've got a few new modules to show this year.

The first is the Hertz Donut digital oscillator, its a dual digital oscillator with an internal modulation buss, which is sort of inspired by the Buchla 259e in arrangement and interface .. it does its own thing .. take a listen to it.

You know you can do a nice clean sine wave .. there is also a waveform discontinuity parameter which is kind of a simple wave shaper .. here is what it sounds on sine. But its a bit more interesting on a triangle wave. Its pretty simple on the sawtooth. You know you can .. there is also a completely separate modulation oscillator both halves of the module track 1 volt per octave but you can assign the modulator to frequency modulate the primary which is through zero or you can also modulate the waveform discontinuity and there is also a simple amplitude modulation and combinations of the three. There is also a pitch tracking mode where you can have frequency and modulator track the primary there are different settings and lagging in different .. and going on all .. that accurate which gets interesting when you start frequency modulating it will jump all over the place.

There is also .. There is also a clean tracking mode with no lag which is useful for having a set interval for the frequency modulation and double start loops or whatever. So yeah, just last night I complete the 2.0 firmware with an algorithm which adds a few new features first of all the maximum sampling rate is doubled. The maximum bit depth is now up to 10 bits from 8. The bit depth is also disabled when the internal wave shaper is on because some of the feedback modes it can cause it to walk up without producing audio so instead of having the bit depth control in that mode do other interesting modifications .. here is the sweep of the bit depth .. and the sampling rate. lets run through the wave shape .. this is just a sine wave. So yeah thats how the module sounds now.

I also added a feedback input jack on the Time Safari delay which makes the expansion a lot more interesting. can now be feedback into the module without having to use an external mixer. Also my feedback console is now complete adding to the quad pedal preamp is a 4x4 matrix mixer which allows you to make a feedback network out of four guitar peddle chains. So this this pedal board over here just has delays, pitch shifters and ... no input signal at all its just feedback. "

BILLY CORGAN'S ICHABOD - A MATTSON MINI MODULAR - ONE NOTE ORCHESTRA - DEVIL'S TOWER

YouTube via redmartian
"This one was done back on the test bench. I wanted to make a morphing polyphonic sound that could be played with a single note. There is a part that is chromatic part that is played first and then step glided later. I believe I only used 6 oscillators with a mixture of various wave forms using the Voltage Controlled Control Voltage mixer for movement.

The picture was taken at Devil's Tower Wyoming."
http://mattsonminimodular.com

ACIDLAB MIAMI ROLAND TR-808 DRUM MACHINE CLONE DEMO

YouTube via redmartian
"Just got the Acidlab Miami (An enhanced clone of the Roland TR-808) and made a short demo.
The arpeggio is played on a Roland Jupiter-4 triggered by the Miami
The bass is played on a rev 1 Prophet-5
The chords are played on a rev 1 Prophet-5"

BILLY CORGAN'S ICHABOD - A MATTSON MINI MODULAR - FIRST SEQUENCE

BILLY CORGAN'S ICHABOD - A MATTSON MINI MODULAR - FIRST SEQUENCER AND LIVE IMPROV

YouTube via redmartian. Remember to click on the Ichabod link below for all posts.
"With Ichabod on the burn in test bench earlier in the Summer at MMM headquarters working with the breadboarded sequencer (will be available in a few months) and two foot pedals to control the filters and volume control. I'm using the Voltage Controlled Control Voltage mixers with some gate mixing to produce the triggers for the percussion sounds. Audio was direct to 2 track stereo with some reverb."
http://mattsonminimodular.com

ICHABOD - A CUSTOM MATTSON MINI MODULAR SYNTHESIZER

YouTube via redmartian. Billy Corgan comes in at 7:58.
"ICHABOD's first day and patching at the studio."
Click the Ichabod label below for all Ichabod posts.
http://mattsonminimodular.com/

COMMODORE 64 SMURFEN GAME WITH MICHAEL JACKSON'S BILLIE JEAN SID CHIP TUNE

YouTube via redmartian
"I downloaded this game off of a BBS in the 80s and must have quickly forgotten about it. I was going through my old disks and came across it and .. WOW! What a hard game!
The title should be HOW TO LOSE AT SMURFEN"

RIP Cowboy

I just did my YouTube run and my heart sank when I found the following two videos. There are very few things that hit more than losing someone you love - person or pet. Pets have your back unconditionally, it's as if their sole purpose in life is to love you and let you know how much of a hero you are to them. My sincerest condolences go out to VoiceEncoder. We can tell that you treated him well, vocoder lectures and all. Cowboy was one lucky dog.

Cowboy: In Memoriam

YouTube via VoiceEncoder
"Cowboy Relaxes and Enjoys Brooke Anderson's Interview With Hugh Jackman.

RIP Cowboy..I loved you and will miss you greatly and dearly!!!! You gave joy to me, my sister, and her three children...Rhett, Riley, and Simone!!!

Early afternoon between 13:00 - 14:00 Monday March 23rd, 2009.

Good-bye my dear old sweet friend and companion of mine...I'll miss you so very-much!!! Once again, I've loved you and will miss you!!! Good-bye."

Cowboy: In Memoriam 2

"Cowboy licking and than scratching himself."
KORG Poly-800 and Roland SVC-350

Be sure to see these posts featuring Cowboy as well as this one that inspired Red Martion to do the following track on Cowboy featuring the Mattson Mini Modular:


YouTube via redmartian.

Note this is via redmartian and not AnalogVocoder1 (click for the reference).
"A song written for a dog who likes to listen to the sound the Roland SVC-350 vocoder. This song features the MMM as well as a Sequential Circuits Drum Traks and a Roland Jupiter-6.

Here are the lyrics:

Do you know Cowboy
and the SVC-350?
Do you know Cowboy
and the Roland Vocoder?

Hey there Cowboy
I see you there
Lazy gazing
Gazing lazy
Whos my sweet boy?
You know its you.
I like to vocode and you do too.

No Poly-800 to drive the SVC
So I use an MMM as my carrier wave
No Poly-800 but Cowboy doesn't mind.
We all know its the Roland SVC-350 vocoder time.

Audio version can be found here:
http://redmartian.com/napster/Red_Mar..."