Van Halen 1984 Explained - Oberheim OB-Xa

video upload by Ryan Day

"Giving you my take on how Eddie Van Halen created the 1984 intro on an Oberheim OB-Xa synthesizer, and how his engineer Donn Landee put it all together based on what I've read.

The resonance bass swells consisting lower 4 voices would have been panned to the L output, and the upper string 4 voices panned to the R output. Engineer Donn Landee would have recorded the L/R outputs on to 2 separate tracks allowing him to process each track differently."

Monome Norns - "Your Day"

Published on Apr 17, 2019 Jae Ryan

"I recently packed up all my gear and made a little focused set up. Its just my Model D, Norns/Grid/Nanokontrol 2 & a few choice pedals. This is the result of my first noodle from the setup!

Model D goes into an El Capistan in mono which goes into the Norns in mono. This is so I can have some lo fi effects or delay on the samples or tapes I record. Norns goes out in stereo to a Strymon Volante and then that passes through in stereo to an OTO BAM (which in this jam is acting more as an overdrive than a reverb).

This little noodle uses Glut (yet again) and just one sample of a few notes I played on the Minimoog (except for a tape recording of noise I made for 'atmosphere'). Then, Glut stretches, reverses, granulates, pitch shifts and mangles them on 6 different tracks.

Stereo is basically mandatory because this is nothing but phase......"

---
Reminds me of the main riff in Close Encounters of The Third Kind.

Joe McGinty's Klaviphon: Vintage Czech Electric Piano

Klaviphon: Vintage Czech Electric Piano Improvisation Published on Oct 20, 2018 Joseph McGinty

Great discovery and story by Joe McGinty. Joe McGinty, btw, was the keyboardist for The Psychedelic Furs. He has also worked with Ryan Adams, The Ramones, Nada Surf, Kevin Ayers, Martha Wainwright, Die Monster Die, Devendra Banhart, Ronnie Spector, Jesse Malin, Amy Rigby, Space Hog and others. And of course, he has also been featured here on MATRIXSYNTH numerous times. :)

Video description: "A short improvisation on the Klaviphon Electric Piano, a rare electric piano from Czechoslovakia. I traded a broken Czech wrist watch for this keyboard at a small shop in Prague. At the shop, there was no way to test it but I could hear the reeds 'acoustically' so I figured it was cool enough to gamble on it. It sounds sort of like a Pianet.

The electric piano is going through a Moogerfooger Analog Delay, an Electro Harmonix 16 Second Delay and a Roland Jazz Chorus. Audio is from the iPhone. Video effects are from Maelstrom from Signal Culture."

And the story of how Joe McGinty acquired the Klaviphon:

"The Broken Watch and The Klaviphon

This is a story that starts with a wristwatch purchase and ends with me owning a rare, vintage Czech electric piano. “When in Prague”, my friend Cathy wrote, “check out Prague Antiques. It’s full of bric-a-brac and the owner is a Serbian man who is married to a Croatian woman”. When traveling, Amy and I always look for vintage stores, thrift stores, record stores and any place that might have some obscure vintage instruments. I had found a record store, but no luck with vintage instruments. Cathy’s recommendation was perfect, so we added it to our Saturday plan. I have to say Prague Antiques did not disappoint. The store was chock-a-block with cool knick knacks from the communist era.

We wanted to bring back a souvenir from Prague, but it was kind of overwhelming. Finally, we saw a display counter with vintage Czech wristwatches. They were all beautiful. Amy and I each picked one out. “Remember”, the shopkeeper explained, “these are vintage watches. They need to be wound. Young people come in here, buy the watch and come back a few hours later, claiming it’s broken. They don’t know about winding the watch”. Of course, we know about winding wristwatches (we’re old).

Later, we’re wandering around Holesovice, a very cool neighborhood. We stop to eat at the cafe at Cross Club, a multidisciplinary art and performance space. There are incredible sculptures there, and vintage czech radios hanging from the ceiling. I notice my watch has stopped. I wind it up, making fun of the youngsters who thought their watch was broken. Well, needless to say, a few hours later the watch stopped. And then it stopped again. So I realize, yes, my watch doesn’t work. Harrumph.

We had a sightseeing plan for the next day, our last day in Prague. Do we go back to the shop to return it? Or do I accept that I possibly have been swindled? We decide to start the day off at the shop, return the watch, and continue with our sightseeing plan.

The next day, we arrive at the shop to a sign on the door: “Please come to our sister shop, around the corner”. “Oh, great”, I’m thinking. We’ve definitely been swindled. However, the shop around the corner is much bigger. And it’s a different man in charge. I show him the watch and explain that it’s broken. He takes it behind the counter, looks at it for a while, and confirms in a thick accent, “you’re right. It is broken. My friend, he doesn’t know”. Chatting with him for a while, he tells us of his Croation wife, and we realize that he is the owner.

He is super nice and helpful and explains that we can exchange it for anything in the store of similar value. Amy asks if he has any musical instruments. Keyboards, perhaps? And I’m thinking to myself, that it would be a stretch. I see a few toy pianos. He brings out a melodica. Some harmonicas. “One more thing”, he tells us. He leads us to a corner in the back. Underneath a random assortment of figurines and statuettes is some kind of keyboard. It looks “vintage”, but it’s unclear what it is. I assume it’s some sort of air organ. He removes the statuettes and places it on a table. It looks cool, but what is it?

There’s no way to test it. I don’t see a connection for a power cord, and there’s some sort of weird banana jack for audio. Playing it, I can faintly hear tines being struck, so maybe it’s some sort of electric piano? I’m reluctant: “How can we possibly bring it back?”. But Amy is persistent. The owner says that he has bubble wrap. “But what about our sightseeing plans?” Amy says not to worry about it, we’ll find a box to bring it on the plane. She has Platinum Status on Delta, which allows for a free checked item. But one of this size?

Back at the hotel, Amy calls Delta. The representative says that they have a 50 pound maximum for checked baggage. Rut roh. Not discouraged, she does further research. On the Delta website, they allow 165 pounds for musical instruments. “Phew”.

OK, off on our mission to find a way to transport the piano. We decide that a gig bag would be better than a box, to make it clear that it’s an “instrument” that we are checking. Next, we need to find a music store in Prague that has a gig bag that’s big enough. On a Sunday. Not an easy task, but we find one just on the outskirts of the city. And then to a mall where we can buy more packing materials. Well, that’s how we spent our “sightseeing” Sunday! The keyboard fits in the gig bag, and we fill it out with our clothes for extra padding. It’s now Sunday evening, and I’m determined to find any information at all about this mysterious instrument.

I’m trying all sorts of Google searches. “Eastern European Electric Pianos”, “Czech Electric Pianos”. Maybe it’s from Russia? East Germany? Nothing is coming up, not even on the definitive Simon’s Hall of Electric Pianos. Further Googling leads me to a website devoted to Czech keyboards. Finally! It’s a Klaviphon. And, wow, there are a lot of other cool Czech keyboards that I knew nothing about. I learn that Plastic People of The Universe used this instrument! Cool! In an interview with the keyboardist, Pepa Janicek, it says that his instrument was “bruised by a dog”. Huh? Google Translate in action. Another article with better translation says that a dog chewed the wires. Oh, OK. Makes more sense. There’s a nice Klaviphon close up from a pro-communist TV show, The Thirty Cases Of Major Zeman. The band is a faux hippie rock band intended to be a parody of the “Plastic People”. In the show, they are drug addicts that hijack a plane. Apparently based on a true story. Except that the plane was not hijacked by heroin-addicted psychedelic rock musicians.



I get further sidetracked reading about the Resonet, possibly one of the first electric pianos, invented in Czechoslovakia by Ladislav Korner. He was sentenced to 18 years for treason for trying to sell his patent to Canada and Australia. The story has a happy ending, as he ended up emigrating to the U.S. where, among other things, he designed groundbreaking technology for submarines (and custom work for Jacques Cousteau). It’s a fascinating story. If you’re interested, you can read more about it here and here. Side note: In the early days of the Beatles, George Harrison played a Resonet Futurama.

The next day, at the airport, the gig bag is checked without a problem. Thank you, Delta! And thanks to our super packing job, it arrives in perfect shape. A few days later, at my studio in Brooklyn, there’s still no way to test this piano. I run into my friend, Mike Buffington on Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint. And because he restores vintage theremins, he has a cable that could work for the Klaviphon. Testing it out, we hear nothing but a loud hum. I call Steve Masucci. Steve has rescued and restored vintage Ondiolines. If there’s anyone that can revive this instrument, it’s Steve. He tells me that he’ll figure out a way to get it working. While working on the instrument, he finds all sorts of random parts, including sewing machine pins. I guess they didn’t have a lot to work with in the Eastern Bloc in the 60s. A few weeks later, Steve returns the Klaviphon to the studio. We plug it in, and it actually works! The sound? It’s a bit noisy, and it’s not going to replace a Rhodes or a Wurlitzer, but it sounds pretty cool. And it’s certainly a conversation piece. I’ll be so ready for the Plastic People Of The Universe tribute. Here’s a short improvisation using an Electro Harmonix 16 Second Delay.

WMD's Freq Boutique 018 Denver, CO

Published on Sep 12, 2018 WMDevices

"Each month, we host a modular synthesizer showcase in Denver, CO called Freq Boutique. The event happens each second Monday at 8pm MST.

With 5 or 6 performances each week, there is always something for everyone. Beginners in eurorack, music producers, and just plain fans of electronic music are all welcome. The night is free to the public and happy hour all night long.

The event has grown from just a few performers to 10-12 signups each month. W

This month, our performers were:
Mike McCarthy aka Gerald Fjord
David Soto aka Sine Mountain
Grant Outerbridge aka Memorybell
Ryan Halgren
Mike Thomas

We stream the event live each month and then upload a recording with the set breaks taken out within a day or so. This is that recording.

For more info, visit: WMDevices.com"

Buchla Music Easel - giants of downtown

Published on May 3, 2018 Jae Ryan

"I've had the Easel for a bit now and was really adamant at first about doing the whole "easel only" cassette release (which I'm still considering) but initially I was just to trigger happy starting patches from scratch and seeing where it could go.

Now that I've come to grips with it a little and have a little more patience its easier to piece together a "song" instead of little jams.

This patch has been sitting for 3 days now running non stop and everytime I found a free minute I'd come jam it. Eventually I felt I had enough ideas to put together and try and make a video!

The music easel seems to really shine when you take something "traditional" and blend it with just a little Buchla, which is how the tempo of this track works. The sequencer is controlling the gates/envelopes and speed up just the tiniest bit when the high notes are triggered. It's subtle but its something that really makes performing on something like this unique.

As far as the whole patch goes, feel free to comment and I can chat all day!"

TR-808 Sample Pattern Download by Ryan M Todd for 808 Day

"Decided to put together a little treat for my fellow gear enthusiast/producer types. It's samples of all my TR-808's drum voices as well as 30 sample patterns ranging from 80bpm all the way up to 130-something. Some dry, some with effects, some busy, some simple. Classic electro rap beats, Italo, janky wind-tunnel techno, WBMX-style house, etc. Anybody can use these patterns for whatever they want, no credit necessary.

www.dropbox.com/s/gosvmy2wev9cgtt…om%20RMT.zip?dl=0"

MOOGFEST 2016 Lineup & Details Announced

Moogfest 2016 Talent Announcement with Reggie Watts

Published on Dec 8, 2015 Moogfest

"Headlining performances include Gary Numan playing a three night residency of his trailblazing early albums, a two-night residency by GZA, ODESZA, Laurie Anderson, Oneohtrix Point Never, Suzanne Ciani, Blood Orange, and Sun Ra Arkestra; with keynote presentations by transhumanist activist and pharma tycoon Dr. Martine Rothblatt, and computer scientist Jaron Lanier, a pioneer in the field of virtual reality.

More than one hundred other acts are already confirmed to perform, while the conference program continues to develop in partnership with a range of esteemed universities, innovative businesses, and art/technology organizations. Program partners include MIT Media Lab, Google, Duke University, Georgia Institute of Technology, The New Museum’s New Inc., IDEO, Gray Area, and the EyeO Festival.

For the first time ever, Moogfest will take place in Durham, NC. Moogfest activates seventeen venues, throughout the walkable downtown core, from intimate galleries to grand theatres, including a free outdoor stage with participatory, all-ages programming. Durham promises to be an ideal setting for Moogfest: a city uniquely blending diversity, authenticity, world class innovation, and culture, with a long history of great music.

Program highlights:
Pioneers in Electronic Music
Electronic music pioneer Gary Numan will perform his first three albums (Replicas, The Pleasure Principle, and Telekon) over three consecutive nights in three different venues. Musical experimentalist Laurie Anderson weaves stories and song in her solo performance, “The Language of the Future” and then returns to the stage the next day to hosts a daytime conversation.

Future Pop
Headlining talent also charts a zig-zagging course across today’s synthesizer infused pop landscape, from the vibrant electronic duo ODESZA, to the future soul of Blood Orange (playing in North Carolina for the first time), a return of utopian rockers YACHT, and even the comic stylings of Reggie Watts.

Experimentalists
Immersive noise and minimalist sonic-scapes from some of today’s most progressive experimental artists, including sunn O))), Ben Frost, Tim Hecker, Silver Apples, Oneohtrix Point Never, Quintron & Miss Pussycat, Olivia Block, Alessandro Cortini, and Lotic.

Ambient Music Innovators
A rich program of sustained tones and cascading moods led by Daniel Lanois, Brian Eno’s prolific Grammy winning protege, Suzanne Ciani, and the UK’s originators of ambient house The Orb.

Hip-Hop
GZA leads Moogfest’s strongest ever hip-hop and rap lineup, supported by a roster of emerging talent including Lunice, Tory Lanez, Denzel Curry, Dr. Dre protege King Mez, and Well$.

The Future of Creativity
Futurist philosophers set the tone for a mind-expanding conference. Keynotes by Dr. Martine Rothblatt, author, entrepreneur, transhumanist, inventor of satellite radio, and Jaron Lanier, a computer scientist and composer who has pioneered the field of virtual reality. Other visionaries include sound explorer Onyx Ashanti and his 'exo-voice' sonic prosthesis, Tod Machover from MIT Media LAB presenting his work in HyperInstruments, and Gil Weinberg and The Robotic Musicianship Group at Georgia Tech performing with Shimon, an improvising robotic marimba player that uses artificial intelligence.

Orchestral Ensembles
The intergalactic voyagers of Sun Ra Arkestra channel the cosmic philosopher himself. Arthur Russell’s Instrumentals ensemble, making their US debut. Floating Points’ live project veers fluidly from warm electronic to jazz to sonic space rhythms.

CLICK FOR MORE »

Imogen Heap - Me The Machine (Official Video)

Published on Apr 22, 2014 imogenheap·78 videos

"Two years to the day since Imogen unveiled the first version of 'Me The Machine' with her Mi.Mu Gloves, here's the official music video!

Back the Gloves on Kickstarter: http://immi.fm/mimukick
Pre-order the "Sparks" deluxe box set: http://immi.fm/ihdeluxe

New album "Sparks" coming soon...

Imogen said: "Today is Earth Day and 2 years ago I performed the first version of Me The Machine written with and for my Mi.Mu gloves. I am dying to let you hear the album but I have to wait, but today I want to let you hear and see the studio version and the additional music video. Hope you really enjoy it! Most of the visuals are being manipulated live using my Mi.Mu gloves as I didn't just want to mime. So I went one step further and worked with the team on getting the gloves ready for visual manipulations."

CLICK FOR MORE »

Roland TB-3 Article in Forbes Featuring Ladyada (x0xb0x), Klaus Suessmuth (acidlab), & Mr. Lee (TT-303)

Jasper Hamill wrote in to let us know he published an article on the new TB-3 for Forbes online here. The article features comments from  x0xb0x's Ladyada, acidlab's Klaus Suessmuth, and the first interview ever with Cyclone Analogic's Mr Lee.  Roland believes they captured the essence of the TB-303.  From Brandon Ryan, AIRA group strategy manager for Roland Corporation, in the article:

“'We deeply analyzed what makes a 303 a 303,' Ryan told me. 'We consulted with the original engineers, studied original schematics and constantly compared the TB-3 to our own original TB-303 units. And we think we’ve improved upon the original in some ways. Even with its modern touches, it’s just got that 303 thing – and that’s really what matters at the end of the day.'"

Interface aside, there is one other thing to consider in addition to the raw sound of the TB-303.  There's also the behavior and character of the 303 driven by it's sequencer.  One characteristic that made the 303 shine in my opinion was the accent and glide or slide.  The 303 is capable of an almost rubber band like action when it comes to the glide between notes. You can hear it come in at :57 in this video. I have yet to hear it on the TB-3 or confirmation that it can cover it.  Informally I have heard that it can't, but I haven't given up hope.  Not sure how the other clones compare.  No other synth I'm aware of can do it quite like the 303.  If you have an opinion feel free to comment.

It's worth noting the TB-3 is not the first 303 inspired synth from Roland.  Prior to the TB-3, Roland also came out with the MC-303 and the MC-09 PhraseLab which many consider a great little box at reproducing the TB-303 sound.  Not sure how it did with that slide though.

You'll find the full article by Jasper Hamill on Forbes here.

TB303 photo credit from Forbes article via Wikipedia.

The Modular Synthesizer Equinox Event is This Saturday in New York

Active links on the Facebook page here. This post is to let you know the event is this weekend.

"Nathan Cearley and Matthew Regula present this installment of the Modular Equinox. The modular synthesizer quarterly returns to summon the spring and lay waste to this miserable winter.

Mister Matthews
http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/matthew-regulas-homemade-synthesizers-prove-diy-is-still-alive
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cakTvbEva1s

Embarker (Philly)
http://www.embarker.org/
http://vimeo.com/27225667

On a Clear Day (Ryan Martin + David Grant, formerly Detrop)
https://www.facebook.com/OnAClearDayNYC

Anthony Saunders (NJ)
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Explosive_Improvised_Device
http://anthonysaunders.bandcamp.com/album/hydration

Jesse DeRosa (mem Grasshopper)
https://soundcloud.com/bakedtapes/arctic-ash

die Reihe (Jack Callahan, mem Sundburned Hand of the Man)
https://soundcloud.com/diereihe
http://clatl.com/cribnotes/archives/2013/07/22/sunburned-hand-of-the-mans-jack-callahan-headlines-wonderroot

Arp 2500 demo with Ryan Soper
http://www.vintagesynth.com/arp/2500.php
http://trianglz.bandcamp.com/

Modular video visuals by Jonas Bers + Andrew Morelli (owner, Steady State Fate)
http://www.steadystatefate.com/

The Silent Barn
603 Bushwick Ave
J/M/Z to Myrtle Broadway
UFO to 40.6942° N, 73.9186° W

All ages
No BYOB
$8.00"

David First - Electronic Works 1976-1977 on Buchla 100

via Norman Records, via @_JoeOxley

shop.daisrecords.com/collections/fr…s-1976-1977-lp

"When people associate composer David First with his musical resume, anyone goes straight to his late 70′s avant punk band, The Notekillers and their influential 1980 single "The Zipper". Prior to his time in the basements of Philadelphia, he had already played in Cecil Taylor’s ensemble and after the Notekillers broke up he moved to New York City in the early 80′s, taking root in the downtown NYC avant garde scene. It was there that First honed his craft for experimental composition and ambient drone which still continues to the present day.

Though this narrative made sense, there was a piece missing in the puzzle of First’s musical background. In 1976, two years after playing with Taylor and the year before starting the Notekillers, he enrolled in a class in electronic music at Princeton in the department headed at the time by legendary electronic composer Milton Babbitt.

During his time at Princeton, First was introduced to the classical electronic music studio there, a lonely outpost of the famed Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center which housed one of the very first Buchla 100 series systems acquired by Vladimir Ussachevsky & Otto Luening.

Unfortunately, due to the introduction of digital technology within the music world, this system was left to languish in the studio unattended and nearly forgotten. First fell in love with this equipment and seized the opportunity to compose using the Buchla 100 synthesizer, at first experimenting only with electronic synthesis but later adding in his signature guitar stylings to make these compositions unique to the academic output typical of university music.

Thankfully, these compositions were recorded by First at Princeton on various reel to reel tapes and stored away for over 35 years. It wasn’t until the summer of 2012, when David First and Ryan Martin (of Dais Records) decided to revisit and transfer these reels to compile an album presented here as a selection of genuine, uninhibited exploration into modular electronic synthesis. Limited to an edition of 500 copies with liner notes by David First."

MODULO - A New Documentary on Modular Synthesis

MODULO from Travis Boisvenue on Vimeo.

"A musical documentary and tribute to Hugh Le Caine.
The story of early electronic instruments, and the nearly forgotten Canadian music pioneer who created the first synthesizers. As told through interviews with three modern-day modular synth musicians.

Shot and edited by me. Produced by Ryan Gibson. Funded entirely out of our pockets, so consider the Tip Jar button!

Listen to the CBC radio version produced by Ryan Gibson:
https://soundcloud.com/user5746720/modulo-ottawas-synth-secret

Featuring:
Arturo Brisindi (AKA Hard Science)
Edmund Eagan
Mike McGrath (AKA Muff Wiggler)

Thanks to the CBC, Soshal, The Library and Archives Canada, The Science and Technology Museum, Artengine, CHUO, Weird Canada.

Thanks, Mere."

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.

CLICK FOR MORE »

Bob Moog Google Doodle Demonstration: How to use it!

YouTube Published on May 22, 2012 by AutomaticGainsay

"Contribute to the Bob Moog Foundation! http://www.moogfoundation.org

Here is a demonstration of the sound and functionality of the new Bob Moog Google Doodle released on Bob Moog's birthday to celebrate his legacy!
I only had a short time to throw this together, for obvious reasons... so please forgive my haste!
Thank you to Bob Moog for changing my life, as well as bringing an incredible form of musical expression into the world."

Update: the Moog Doodle Quick Start Guide and the inside story on Mashable.

"When Google’s Chief Doodler Ryan Germick and Google Engineer Joey Hurst decided they wanted to build the Google Moog Synthesizer Doodle, it was to 'Pay tribute to someone who was like a patron saint of the nerdy arts,' said Germick.

Germick told Mashable that he was a huge Robert Moog fan. Moog, who died in 2005 and would have been 78 today, developed what is widely recognized as the first commercial synthesizer. Previous versions were the size of closets. Germick called him 'a passionate toolmaker.'

Hurst and Germick collaborated on last year’s playable Les Paul guitar Google Doodle, but it was Germick who brought this project to Hurst — who actually celebrated his birthday one day before Moog’s — as a kind of a challenge. 'Joey is an amazing engineer and I love to come up with a way to stump him,' explained Germick.

The concept was to recreate the Mini Moog Analog Synthesizer in a Web browser. Germick thought there was no way it could be done. Hurst, who knew someone who owned an original Moog, was instantly excited by the project..."

See Mashable for the full story.

BEAM FESTIVAL

"24-26 JUNE 2011

Sarah Nicols and her colleagues at Brunel University are hosting their first edition of the BEAM Festival (Brunel Electronic & Analog Music Festival) between 24-26 June 2011. The program features some of the best in today’s experimental electronic music including Tim Exile, Stelarc, Jennifer Walshe, Leafcutter John, Philip Jeck and more. STEIM is a proud partner of the festival, contributing to the concert and workshop programs. Check out the line-up, and participate in the festival!

http://www.beamfestival.com/

Brunel University, Uxbridge, West London, UB8 3PH

BEAM is a high-tech music weekender, an experimental playground of homemade instruments and sonic robots. Featuring three days of performances, installations, discussions and workshops, BEAM explores the physical virtuosity of electronic music; everything at BEAM moves. An international line-up curated for veterans and beginners alike, BEAM takes place at Brunel University, NW London (Metropolitan Line).

Tickets and programme at www.beamfestival.com

Festival pass £25 - ONLY £50 with accommodation until 9 June
Day passes from £10 Sunday, £15 Friday and Saturday Concessions available
Workshop tickets now on sale for Tom Bugs, STEIM & Dirty Electronics

Festival Highlights include:

PERFORMANCES

Stelarc and Jennifer Walshe; Chikashi Miyama (Angry Sparrow); Sarah Angliss; Ryan Jordan; Leafcutter John; Tim Exile; Stephen Cornford; Atau_and_Adam; Alex Nowitz; Philip Jeck; Tim Exile; DJ Sniff; STEIM and more

WORKSHOPS

Build your own WOM (simple electronic noise synth kit ) with Tom Bugs; create a Cracklebox with Daniel Schorno of STEIM; Dirty Electonics with John Richards Plus free workshops: Psychedelic Goggle with Ryan Jordan; AV Micro-Controllers with Chikashi Miyama and Music from Motion with Sarah Angliss.


INSTALLATIONS

Installed work by Aleks Kolkowski, Ray Lee and BEAM OPEN SPACE artists; Sonic Picnic with Paul Whitty & Felicity Ford; SARC's brain-powered sleepover on Saturday night - bring a sleeping bag!

See the website for full programme details and tickets www.beamfestival.com

BEAM Festival is funding by Arts Council England¹s Grants for the Arts."

This one in via brian comnes.

Experiments: Mixer Board Feedback [Moog Modular]

Experiments: Mixer Board Feedback from Jon Swihart on Vimeo.

"After a long day recording and mixing in the music school, Ryan Wurst and I decided to blow off some steam and make a lot of noise. Ryan's playing a Moog synthesizer, and I'm playing mixer board feedback.

As you can imagine, we had a great time."

Roland TR909 9/09/09 Documentary

SonicState.TV via iloveanalogue of http://iloveanalogue.blogspot.com
"This is a short documentary about the evolution of drum machines leading up to the Roland TR909 and a celebration of the date 9/9/09" Happy 909 Day!

Update: and on YouTube:

9-9-09 (An Oral History of Drum Machines)

YouTube Uploaded by iloveanalogue on Sep 9, 2009

"This is a documentary celebrating the 25 year anniversary of the Roland TR909. In this documentary,
narrated by Robbie Ryan, we traverse the history of the programmable drum machine from the CR78,
TR808, TB303, TR909, and LinnDrum, with audio examples of each.
You can find out more about Robbie Ryan at http://iloveanalogue.blogspot.com or http://twitter.com/robbieryanmusik"

Rhodes Chroma Site Turns 10

via Chris Ryan on the Rhodes Chroma List:
"Ten years ago [2/21/99] today the first version of the Chroma site went live. I posted five pages on the instrument to my personal site, and sent a short announcement to comp.music.midi (Usenet! how things have changed). I've attached a screen shot of the home page from 1999.

A decade later, the site comprises 327 pages and more than 975,000 words--about the length of ten or eleven novels--including over 3700 posts to the mailing list (which now has about 150 subscribers). It all adds up to 330mb of information on our beloved synthesizer. All of the documentation is available, along with most of the known reviews, a gold mine of technical information, software, patches, numerous downloads, and a lot more: take a look at the site map to get an idea of the scope if you haven't browsed recently. Of course, I couldn't have done it all myself; see the list of contributors.

Perhaps most significantly, activity surrounding the instrument has resumed, with excellent projects such as the CPU Plus, SPSU kit, and more. Some have purchased and/or restored their instruments as a result of the community and the resources available at the site.

There have been more than a couple hundred thousand visitors, which is astonishing considering we have figured out that only about 1500 Chromas were manufactured, and probably only a few hundred, at most, are currently in use or even in working order. I've updated the Site Statistics page with information through the end of 2008; it's quite interesting to see the changes in browsers, referring sites and search engines, and top pages over the years.

Thanks, everyone, for your continued participation, contributions, and donations. It's been really rewarding; I've learned a lot and have heard from many great people from all over the world.

Chris"

I want to congratulate Chris on running THE BEST dedicated synth site on the web hands down. It really is amazing how much life Chris has given to the Rhodes Chroma through the site and the email list. As someone on the list said, if it weren't for the site his Chroma would be a paper weight. As a proud owner of a Rhodes Chroma myself, I sincerely thank Chris for all he has done for us. I still need to get me a CPU Plus one day. :) If you haven't checked out the site, do it. It's a vast resource not only on the Rhodes Chroma but the Polaris as well.

ROBOTERWERKE Drum Machine

No, that's not the actual drum machine, but an image in the Roboterwerke.pdf. Keep reading...
via Hajo:
"In about 1982, I had contact to Dieter Kolb, the guy behind the drummachine „ROBOTERWERKE“. As an attachment I did scan the original leaflat from this time. As I know, there were only a few machines build:

- Klaus Doldinger had one
- Tangerine Dream used one
- SUPERSEMPPFT aka Roboterwerke used it intensely

Go for www.WUNDERWERKE.de you will find more informations. I can recommend all the LP, absoluteley perfect EM music, a bit Kraftwerk, a bit Tangerine Dream ans some Samba and Disco influences. At all, perfectly arranged.

Greating from secret Duesseldorf
Hajo"
Thanks Hajo! You can find the scan here.

Update via Hajo (see image below as well):
"to complete the information:
- the whole project was called WUNDERWERKE (Wonderworks)
- the machine was called ROBOTERWERKE
- the main person in the whole story was the frog „SUPERSEMPFFT“
- thei frog was smoking grass all time and made funny thinks
o look for SUPERSEMPFFT in the WEB, also YOUTUBE
o Dieter Kolb and Franz Aumüller, arranged a 6 Minute movie about the frog ( I have it here)
o A short version with totally different music will be found in YOUTUBE

- The www.WUNDERWERKE. DE Webside is off for a while, it was too funny !!!"


Supersempfft - I'm Gonna Make You Big My Friend
YouTube via Zrix1000
"Video footage from 1982 with the original track from the 1978 album Roboterwerke"

I did a quick search as suggested by Hajo and found this scan here. Do a search on the web including image search and you will find more.

Update via BirdFLU in the comments:
"If you don't want to pay 90 euros for an album before hearing it, you can hear some 30 second samples here"

Update 3/5/2008:

More info via Hajo:
------------------------------------------
"Franz Aumüller from Roboterwerke
By: Ryan Chimney

Q: To start, explain Wunderwerke. A website, a record label, a production studio.. or all of the above ?

Wunderwerke is a multimedia company that is producing music,videos,events, and magazines since 1978 when it was founded by Franz Aumüller and Dieter Kolb. FA is managing director. It is also a music publisher,distributor and a website. And since this year a galery.

Franz Aumüller

Q: You were particularly involved in the lyrics, stories and artwork for the band. When did you first begin working on your creations and did you imagine they would be used this way or was that its intention ?

A: Dieter and I have been frieds since kindergarden, when he started playing guitar in a band I was his biggest fan and designed the logo for the drum and the posters.Later, when he chaged to Hammond I helped him carry it on stage and later after the concerts back to the car. His parents had a shop for musical instruments. Dieter practised every day for hours in the basement (the shop provided us wih the latest models, I brought the records) and later we experimented with 2 tape-recorders. Franz Knüttel our classmate joined on drums and built our first sythesizer. later when we found out that his possibilities as a drummer were limited, he developed a drum machine. I came up with the name Roboterwerke and the story. Dieter studied music and had a fellow student Jof who made the first deal with CBS. Then I created the story and the lyrics for the first Lp. Although we sold more than 30 thousand copies we decided to become independent. The second Lp Metaluna was released on our own label Wunderwerke and sold not even 1 thousand copies... So we had to release the third Lp Futurist with RCA but at that time in Germany was the Neue Deutsche Welle and everybody was listening to songs with german lyrics. Therefore Futurist flopped too. Meanwhile I had spent all my money on a 6minute full animated movie, but since there was no music tv at that time it was never shown. We worked for annother year on the 4th Lp Cosmotropics that was not finished.

Q: The artwork and stories ive seen focus on a strange yellow cartoon character who seems to always be getting high or be tempted by others on his adventures. What is the history behind this little guy and does his story continue on after Roboterwerke albums were completed ?

A: The little frog is Supersempfft a caricature of Dieter who has the most amazing adventures through the universe but when he comes back to earth finds his superpowers vanished.

Q: If your characters from the album were animated it could have become an early or the first music video. Did ever you have any interest in this at the time?

We are still intersted,but...


Q: You are credited as producer on some of the albums, were there times when you aided in the music production or was it solely the lyrics and story.

A: Dieter an I developed a way of working together as a team.

Q: You are photographed with the amazing "GUITARET" did you play? Was it used on any Roboterwerke recordings ?

A: Our next project after Roboterwerke was 4D the 4th Dimension which was completely sampled with our Drumcomputer exept for the vocals.The Guitaret that I found on the fleamarket was used on the pr shots, because we didnt use any real instruments. We sold about 3000 tapecassettes when Virgin contacted us to be the first act on their new German label. At the presentation of the record at Virgin they loved it very much, but when I told them that all the instruments were collaged from records they were too afraid to release it. Later I played the tapes to Rusty Egan (I wrote the german lyrics for Visages The Anvil) he took them to New York to Africa Bambaata who used it for his Timezone : the Wildstyle.

Q: Seems you have be apart of so many elements of the art world, from writing to print/design to music videos. are you still involved in all of the above ? Was there an area you enjoy(ed) the most ?

A: What I always enjoyed most was producing experimental music videos.

Q: Dieter Kolb was the first to use a drum machine from his own creation. This seemed to attract a lot of attention from artists ranging from Kraftwerk to Herbie Hancock. Were you there to witness this? how long did it take for him to get noticed for his inventions and what, if any, machines did Dieter produce for them ?

A: The machines we showed to alot of artists were only prototypes we planned to sell them, but when we had them professionally made there were better and cheaper machines on the market...

Q: Considering Roboterwerke was the first or one of the first to play this new type of drum machine electronic music, what was your reaction as it began to become popular ?

We loved it!

Q: Im really curious about the track "Pinhead" seems to be dedicated to your love from playing Pinball. I cant understand all the lyrics but i hear "extra ball" in there and many of the sounds could easily be used as pinball background sound effects. Did you write the lyrics for this? Was pinball a favorite pastime of the band ?

A: Yes

Q: You mentioned Dieter stopped playing live in the early 70s. So Roboterwerke never performed live ?

A: Yes the Roboterwerke equipment was too difficult to take around. We only performed live on the first art electronica in Linz.

Q: I've read briefly that the band would spend time in the Caribbean enjoying the local music etc, were you a part of these trips? At what point did this influence the musical style of the group ?

A: We were big fans of dub music especially Lee Scratch Perry and King Tubby. We went to Tobago + Trinidad because we thought reggae was played everywhere in the Caribbean only to discover Steelband and Soca which we liked even better. We were there 4 times for the carnival season.

Q: Honestly the first id heard of the group was from eBay! I noticed the amazing album cover for "The Lion Sleeps Tonight/High on Tech" and then began tracking down anything i could find about the band. what do you think of the eBay phenomena ?

A: E-bay is great for finding things.

Q: Recently there has been a resurgence in the band's music including a re-released track on the MAGICK KUTS edits label, what do you think of this and are you surprised it took so long ?

A: We love it and would encourage everybody to make remixes. Lately DJ Flowrider has Played me a scratch version of the Roboterwerke Lps on two turntables which I loved because the mix of old school electronics and scratch."

------------------------------------------



"here is an article in GERMAN, which I wrote in 2006 for a German EM Magazine SCHALLWENDE. Perhaps somepeople can read German. It is a kind of very funny
Hajo Liese from Düsseldorf"

------------------------------------------
A funny little booklet
ROBOTERWERKE CD Info
------------------------------------------

And two more images:



You can see the bottom module in this image on the top of the rack in the image above.

Electronic Music Summit 2006 - Indianapolis

"Electronic Music Summit 2006 will be held in Indianapolis, Indiana on November 3rd. EMS is a free, all-day celebration of live electronic music, featuring performances from nationwide artists, seminars, and interactive workshops. EMS showcases performers creating music in front of the audience using a wide array of music machines and instruments. This event is a one-of-a-kind opportunity for musicians and fans to experience emerging forms of modern music.

From the beginning, EMS has set out to raise awareness of electronic music in all its forms, but especially live, artist-driven, original music. It provides a showcase for up and coming artists to share their music with an audience of hundreds of open-minded music fans. But EMS is more than a concert, it is an opportunity for musicians to network and collaborate with their peers during afternoon workshops. These sessions provide a casual environment where artists may swap tricks and secrets of the trade, as well as pass their knowledge on to aspiring new producers.

For more information, visit emusicsummit.com. The Electronic Music Summit is a not-for-profit event, sponsored by community businesses. If you would like to be involved with EMS, please contact Ryan Faubion at info@emusicsummit.com or via the contact page of the website."