Recreate The Synth Sounds of DAFT PUNK, NIN, & THE PRODIGY With Distortion Pedals

Published on Jun 24, 2019 Learson Peak

This is one of the posts that lead me down the YouTube rabbit hole. First the video of BREAKWATER featured above:

BREAKWATER LIVE 1978 NO LIMITS

Published on Sep 7, 2012 bassmania99

"RARE VIDEO OF THE ORIGINAL RECORDING BAND 1978. KAE WILLIAMS JR KEYBOARDS, STEVE GREEN BASS, GENE ROBINSON LEAD VOCALS AND TRUMPET, GREG SCOTT SAX, JIMMY JONES DRUMS, JOHN "DUTCH" BRADDOCK PERCUSSION, ZAE "LINC LOVE" GILMORE GUITAR & VINCE DUTTON SAX."

Next, a video I found of Breakwater's "Release the Beast" featuring the sample. Turns out it was overdubbed to a video clip of Phantom of the Paradise featuring TONTO.

Breakwater - Release the Beast (JTVR's Original 1980's Sample to Daft Punk's Robot Rock)

Published on Oct 28, 2014 jackthevideoripper

"Read more about the sample: http://www.whosampled.com/sample/226/..."

And finally the original clip of TONTO in Phantom of the Paradise:


Published on Aug 1, 2006 analoghell

"Ignore the awful music and fool miming at the keyboard. Instead, admire TONTO in all it's glory!"

You can find Phantom of the Paradise on Amazon here.

EMS EIGHT OCTAVE FILTER BANK

via this auction
"EMS Eight Octave Filter Bank, perfect to add to your Synthi or VCS3. Also interfaces with other modular/cv synths or can be used as standalone piece of studio outboard. Fully working and comes with mini-Bulgin power lead. The module is internally switchable between 110V and 220V.

Previously owned by Malcolm Cecil and formed part of TONTO. "Tonto is an acronym for "The Original New Timbral Orchestra," the world's first (and still the largest) multitimbral polyphonic analog synthesizer, designed and constructed by Malcolm Cecil. Tonto featured on albums from Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Bobby Womack, The Isley Brothers, Gil Scott-Heron and Weather Report, as well as releases from Stephen Stills, The Doobie Brothers, Dave Mason, Little Feat and Joan Baez, Steve Hillage". More info here

from the original spec sheet -

EIGHT-OCTAVE FILTER BANK

EMS STUDIO MODULES

The EMS Range of Ancillary Studio Modules EMS Modules are designed not only for use with Synthi synthesisers but with any complex of voltage controlled equipment, of whatever manufacture. They are supplied in handsome afrormosia cases, but can be removed and mounted in standard 19" racks, occupying only 1.7" (44mm) of vertical space. They contain their own mains power unit with a very wide range of stabilisation to cope with poor mains line conditions, being operable at anything from +10% to more than—23% of nominal line voltage. Connections to and from the modules can be made either from the jack sockets on the front panel or via the multi-way socket at the back.

EIGHT-OCTAVE FILTER BANK

The EMS Eight-Octave Filter Bank is a group of eight individual resonating filters fixed-tuned one octave apart in the range 62.5Hz—8KHz, arranged in parallel. The unit is inserted into an audio signal line, and since the output of each filter may be separately controlled very subtle variations of colouring can be made. It is simplicity itself to operate, and no voltage control is involved, its purpose being to provide characteristic colourings which are on the whole constant during a particular application. The cut-off is sharp enough to permit sections of the spectrum to be virtually removed, making profound changes in the character of a sound. With all the controls at maximum the signal will emerge unchanged except for a 10dB overall gain. At intermediate settings the response is comblike, levelling out to total rejection of the whole band when all controls are at zero.

A valuable extra facility is the access given by jacks or the facilities socket to each filter separately. The main output contains all the filters in parallel, but in addition the spectral content of the output of each filter is available at the appropriate jack. Thus up to nine simultaneous timbres can be obtained from a single complex signal. An additional use for the filter bank is as a signal improver. Hum or any other unwanted fixed frequency phenomenon can often be removed completely without serious distortion of the signal spectrum.

Apart from its use in electronic music, the eight-octave filter bank is a great asset to any studio; a group of several (at least as many as the number of output lines) can be arranged for instant patching in to any channel needing correction.

SPECIFICATION

Power Supply:
240 or 115VAC 50/60Hz +10% to—23%

Input Level:
6V p-p max.

Max. Overall Gain:
10dB +/- 1.5dB.

Individual Filter Gains:
9dB +/- 3dB max.

Hum and Noise:
—80dB referred to max. gain conditions.

Filter Frequencies:
63, 125, 250, 500, 1,00O, 2,OOO, 4,000, 8,000 Hz.

Filter Tuning:
Centre frequencies all +/10%

Filter Slope:
12dB/octave.

Channel-to-channel crosstalk:
—60d B."

DIY Electronic Music Symposium, Cornell University, 2013 Pics

Follow-up to this post.

flickr set by exakta
(click through for more)

Pictured here:

Top: "Malcolm Cecil [portion of TONTO in background], James Spitznagel and Trevor Pinch Jamming.  Trevor is playing an analogue synth which he himself built in the early 1970s." [see this post for details & pics]

Bottom: "Simeon Coxe of Silver Apples"

Description for the set:
"On March 30th, 2013, Cornell University and The Fanclub Collective sponsored a day-long electronic music workshop. It included a panel discussion with Professor Trevor Pinch, Malcolm Cecil, Simeon Coxe and Jeff Perkins (a veteran light-show producer) and a hands-on DIY synth-circuit-building workshop. The final events were performances, first by regional acts (First Atomic Lunar, members of Atomic Forces & First North American Lunar), 100% BLAKK), then by Ithaca synth ensemble Electric Golem (Trevor Pinch and James Spitznagel). Malcolm Cecil and his vintage mega-synth, TONTO (that's "The Original New Timbral Orchestra") played an incredible set, as did half of the sixties electro-rock duo Silver Apples, Simeon Coxe.

I would highly recommend any of these acts' recordings!

More info here:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TONTO#The_TONTO_sy nthesizer
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_apples
www.facebook.com/electricgolem
firstnorthamericanlunar.bandcamp.com/
(Atomic Forces) www.myspace.com/107098519
(100% BLAKK) www.facebook.com/pages/100-Black/3858969 81449017"

Synth Kid Caitlin back with TONTO

Published on Aug 1, 2019 The Mad Music Machine

"Caitlin was invited to a special backstage tour at the National Music Centre in Calgary.

This included the chance to try out some unique and historic instruments, the highlight for her was undoubtedly creating and playing a simple patch on TONTO."

You can find previous posts featuring Caitlin here. See the label below for more posts featuring TONTO.

TONTO on YouTube

TONTO & Stevie Wonder


TONTO in Phantom of the Paradise

Get your freak on...

TONTO Rides Again - Updates

Title link takes you to updates in the original post. Putting this up just in case you missed it and would be interested. Good news is TONTO's Expanding Head Band will be playing live August 5th for those of you in Eastnor Castle in Herefordshire. Bad news is TONTO won't be there as it is too big to travel. The post has also been updated with Malcolm Cecil's comments on the unauthorized recording.

CLARA ♡ VENICE | "ELECTRIC DREAM" EP TRAILER - Featuring TONTO, Theremini & More

Published on Sep 3, 2015 Clara Venice

Synth spotting: Moog Theremini, Waldorf XT & Pulse racks, TONTO, RCA Theremin, Roland XP-30, Oberheim TVS, EMS SYNTHI Hi-Fli?, Moog Theremin, Stylophone & More. Quite a bit for a 1:51 promo reel!

"THE NEW EP IS COMING THIS FALL!! ★

I'm so excited to announce that my second EP, "Electric Dream" is coming October 2015! For Canadian/European tour dates, as well as more release info, videos and music, I'll be posting more details here and on my social sites so come connect with me (links below) and I will keep you posted!"

TONTO and Stevie Wonder

I made the TONTO and Steview Wonder post from 2006 Featured. Don't miss it.

Stevie's Wonder Men - BBC Radio on TONTO

http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/w7bly/

"Stuart Maconie tells the story of TONTO's Expanding Head Band - two electronic music boffins who transformed Little Stevie Wonder into a song writing legend."

via Craig MacNeil

World's Biggest Synth Tonto - Malcolm Cecil & KiNo

"Presented by Sonic Wizard Jeff Blenkinsopp's Analog Lab;

Video Trailer No. 1 for the KiNo Exhibition INVASION FROM WITHIN, a music programme by KiNo with special collaborators.

9 special sets of KiNo's original music and sonic pieces will be performed throughout the month, combining the forces of the KiNo Live Rig* and TONTO.

Special-guest lineup includes the following artists:

Malcolm Cecil ("Godfather of electronic music")
Andy Rourke (The Smiths)
Joe McGinty (Psychedelic Furs)

KiNo is with
Shahla Atlas
Alec Signorino
Harlan Muir

- -

KiNo Live is produced by Jeff Blenkinsopp"

Also see:
Live! — Part 3

KiNo kickstarter Campaign Featuring TONTO & Pink Floyd's Jeff Blenkinsopp

KiNo kickstarter campaign for Development New Suitcase Analogue Processing Block

on Kickstarter

"KiNo wants to maximise his musical output as a solo artist.

He wants to perform and record a series of singles on what would be the suitcase version of the original KiNo Live Rig*: a custom, one of a kind analogue sound processing device built by Pink Floyd insider, sonic wizard Jeff Blenkinsopp.

KiNo’s sound and craft has been produced independently for the past 6 years by Blenkinsopp.

The funds generated here will be used for the evolution and construction of this unique sound system. Also, it will send KiNo to studio and set up a tour itinerary.

The current state of the project: Jeff Blenkinsopp has developed the road map for the suitcase rack unit. To create this equipment, we need your help!

KiNo will embark on the recording process when the machines are completed. He will collaborate with Andy Rourke. The music will be produced by Jeff Blenkinsopp.

KiNo Website
KiNo on Facebook
Jeff Blenkinsopp's Analog Lab
Andy Rourke"

Live! - Trailer from KiNo on Vimeo.

World's Biggest Synth Tonto - Malcolm Cecil & KiNo from KiNo on Vimeo.

Blenkinsopp explains KiNo from KiNo on Vimeo.

Malcolm Cecil, Designer of TONTO Coming to Moogfest 2014

via Moog Music on Facebook

"Happy CV Sunday! Love, your friends at #Moog.

Malcolm Cecil, the designer of TONTO, the largest multitimbral polyphonic analog synthesizer in the world, will be at #Moogfest 2014: www.moogfest.com/tickets"

The Analog Lab NYC-A Brief Tour of TONTO

YouTube Uploaded by TheAnalogLab on Dec 26, 2011

"The Original New Timbral Orchestra designed and built by Malcom Cecil. The TONTO features such synths as:

2 Moog Series III Modular Synthesizers
2 Arp 2600s
Serge Modules
4 Oberheim SEMs

and many more..."

Malcolm Cecil Live with Spitznagel and Trevor Pinch July 17

"OTP is both honored & thrilled to present An Evening In the Company of the Joy Circuits featuring TONTO’s Expanding Head Band pioneer Malcolm Cecil, in his first U.S. performance in over 30 years, along with aural sculptors Spitznagel & Trevor Pinch...

For his OTP debut, Cecil will not only bring a number of the original TONTO synth modules but his trusty upright bass as well, all of which to bring forth a stunning hybrid of keyboard virtuosity, 70s synth-jazz, and his own brand of post-classical-flavored electronic music."

See One Thousand Pulses for the full details. If anyone makes this, send in some pics.

via Jeff of The Tangeant Project who will be performing at OTP in November.
More info on the artists:
posts featuring Malcolm Cecil
posts featuring Spitznagel
posts featuring Trevor Pinch
posts featuring The Tangeant Project

Inverseroom, TONTO and Cecil

Image via this thread on the Matrixysnth forum.

"here's me [inverseroom] playing TONTO via a pair of Moog Drums, with Malcolm Cecil looking on...I interviewed him a couple of years ago. Pic by my bandmate Jim Spitznagel."

TONTO'S EXPANDING HEADBAND 'ZERO TIME' 1971

via this auction

"VERY RARE L.P on the ATLANTIC label,by TONTO'S EXPANDING HEADBAND,called 'ZERO TIME'.1971.GATEFOLD SLEEVE.VERY GOOD/EX CONDITION FOR AGE.The album features early PROG ROCK experiments with the MOOG SYNTHESIZER."

Serge Modular System

images via this auction and this auction.
Auction 1:
QUANTIZER MODULE
ASR MODULE
ASR MODULE
DUAL TRANSIENT GENERATOR MODULE
RANDOM SOURCE MODULE
SMOOTH STEPPED GENERATOR
CV PRO MODULE
DUAL UNIVERSAL SLOPE GENERATOR
EXTENDED ADSR MODULE
SMOOTH FUNCTION GENERATOR
NOISE SOURCE MODULE
DUAL PROCESSOR MODULE
DUAL PROCESSOR SLOPE GENERATOR
PHASER MODULE
VOLT CONTROLLED STEREO MIXER
NEW TIMBRAL OSCILLATOR MODULE
PRECISION VCO (2 MODULES)
WAVE MULTIPLIER MODULE
VARIABLE QVCF MODULE
DUAL TRANSIENT GENERATOR
DUAL AUDIO MIXER MODULE
TOUCH ACTIVATED KEYBOARD SEQUENCER

Auction 2:
"PREAMP DETECTOR
FREQUENCY SHIFTER
C/M MODULE
WILSON ANALOG DELAY MODULE
MIXER MODULE
VARIABLE SLOPE VCF
RESONANT EQUILIZER MODULE
DUAL PHASER MODULE
DUAL CHANNEL STEREO MIXER MODULE

Serge gets its name from Serge Tcherepnin (pronounced "Cher - epp - nin"), a multitalented composer and electronic designer born of Russian-Chinese parents and raised in France. Self-taught in electronic design and circuit building, Serge enjoyed doing 'junk electronic' projects early on, making tape compositions using various electronic noisemakers cobbled together out of transistor radios and the like.

After studying music and physics at Harvard and Princeton, he taught music composition at the California Institute of the Arts. This was the early 70's, the heyday of Moog, ARP, and Buchla synthesizers. Calarts had a few Buchla-equipped studios. These were expensive, highly sought-after instruments, kept under lock and key. Getting studio time on one at Calarts meant being either a recognized staff composer or someone who maneuvered themselves into favor. The Buchla, ARP, and Moog synthesizers were interesting in their way, but could be improved upon. They were both expensive and bulky, a system with a decent number of functions could take up a whole wall in a small room. Serge and students Rich Gold and Randy Cohen wondered what they could do about this. After kicking around some ideas, they decided they were going to do their own synthesizer.

The first modules were designed, soldered, and built at Serge's home in what was essentially a kitchen tabletop operation. Before long, the word got out to other professors, students, and musicians about this new synthesizer. They wanted a piece of the action. Serge set up a strange sort of guerrilla manufacturing operation at Calarts on a second-story courtyard balcony. People paid $700 upfront for parts, worked on the 'assembly line' soldering and building modules, and eventually got themselves a six-panel system. Somehow, the Calarts administration either didn't find out or wasn't too bothered by this.

Another interesting player in this drama was composer Morton Subotnik, a professor at Calarts. He had a long association with instrument designer Don Buchla in the early 60's, the two of them collaborating on fundamental aspects of synthesizer design. When Mort spoke, Don listened. Serge caught on to this, and sought to woo Morton away from the Buchlas, but that was difficult. Eventually, Serge did build Mort some custom equipment.

In the 70's Serge collaborated on the design and construction of TONTO, a large polyphonic modular system. TONTO had the ancestry of many early Serge designs, some packaged behind faux-Moog front panels, including the NTO.

Serge eventually quit teaching and began to build synthesizers more seriously, using the first designs as a springboard. The Serge company was started in 1975, in the West Hollywood area, then headed north to San Francisco's Haight Street a few years later. It was always a humble bohemian concern, running more on enthusiasm and the love of making music than money and hardheaded business sense. Business tapered to a trickle in the middle 80's, and Serge, to support his family, started doing various outside electronic consulting projects. In 1992 Serge decided to move back to France. It was at this point that he sold the closely-guarded circuit designs to longtime associate Rex Probe, who then founded Sound Transform Systems. Production record keeping was pretty informal; it's estimated that "hundreds" of Serge systems were produced in the early years.

Today, Serge is again doing musical composition and is involved in helping Russian Jews move to Israel.
As Moog was a powerful East Coast influence that inspired ARP and Polyfusion, Buchla was the West Coast influence on Serge. Several Buchla designs, including the use of touch sensitive nontraditional keyboards, sequencers, random voltage generators, function generators, and matrix mixers found their way into Serge's repertoire. But that's not to say that Serge is merely a Buchla clone. Serge made many unique contributions, including the wave multiplier module, and some ideas were taken to new heights. Serge's oscillator designs have extraordinary accuracy and stability, especially considering their discrete nature. His philosophy of allowing the easy interplay of audio, control, and trigger signals, combined with the use of banana plugs, makes these systems wonderfully flexible.

There's no denying the amazing staying power of the Serge designs. Largely because of the development of convenient microprocessor-based keyboard synths, the 80's were a nasty time for analog synthesizer makers, practically all of them throwing in the towel. Serge's business slowed way down but never completely went out of production. With the recent clamoring for analog gear fueling successful production, Rex Probe and Sound Transform Systems look poised to carry the cream of analog modular music synthesis over the threshold of the 21st century, into their fourth decade of realization.

Sound Transform Systems has done a great job of continuing the analog modular lineage. Most of the traditional Serge modules are there, a few old ones were dropped, a few new ones added. The details are constantly being improved in many visible and invisible ways. They are still laboriously handmade, though the entire build process has been improved. Turnaround time has been improved from several months to 'just a couple'. All the components are top notch. The panel graphics and layout of many of the modules have been redesigned to make them more compact while keeping or improving the functionality. The circuit designs on many modules have been updated."

TONTO synthesizer

video upload by Mario Rossi

See the TONTO label below for additional posts.

TONTO This Saturday in NYC

Just a reminder: "This Saturday, June 11th The Analog Lab Presents: Malcolm Cecil on Analog Synthesis and Electronic Music at 5pm"

Full details here. See the TONTO label below for previous posts including video.

Serge Modular

Click here for shots via this auction.

Details:
"SMOOTH FUNCTION GENERATOR, NOISE SOURCE, DUAL ANALOG SHIFT REGISTER, DUAL UNIVERSAL SLOPE GENERATOR, DUAL PHASER, UNIVERSAL EQUAL POWER AUDIO PROCESSOR, TIMBRAL OSCILLATOR, PRECISION VCO (TWO OF THESE), WAVE MULTIPLIER, VARIABLE Q VCF, DUAL TRANSIENT GENERATOR, DUAL AUDIO MIXER, TOUCH ACTIVATED KEYBOARD SEQUENCER.

Serge gets its name from Serge Tcherepnin (pronounced "Cher - epp - nin"), a multitalented composer and electronic designer born of Russian-Chinese parents and raised in France. Self-taught in electronic design and circuit building, Serge enjoyed doing 'junk electronic' projects early on, making tape compositions using various electronic noisemakers cobbled together out of transistor radios and the like.

After studying music and physics at Harvard and Princeton, he taught music composition at the California Institute of the Arts. This was the early 70's, the heyday of Moog, ARP, and Buchla synthesizers. Calarts had a few Buchla-equipped studios. These were expensive, highly sought-after instruments, kept under lock and key. Getting studio time on one at Calarts meant being either a recognized staff composer or someone who maneuvered themselves into favor. The Buchla, ARP, and Moog synthesizers were interesting in their way, but could be improved upon. They were both expensive and bulky, a system with a decent number of functions could take up a whole wall in a small room. Serge and students Rich Gold and Randy Cohen wondered what they could do about this. After kicking around some ideas, they decided they were going to do their own synthesizer.

The first modules were designed, soldered, and built at Serge's home in what was essentially a kitchen tabletop operation. Before long, the word got out to other professors, students, and musicians about this new synthesizer. They wanted a piece of the action. Serge set up a strange sort of guerrilla manufacturing operation at Calarts on a second-story courtyard balcony. People paid $700 upfront for parts, worked on the 'assembly line' soldering and building modules, and eventually got themselves a six-panel system. Somehow, the Calarts administration either didn't find out or wasn't too bothered by this.

Another interesting player in this drama was composer Morton Subotnik, a professor at Calarts. He had a long association with instrument designer Don Buchla in the early 60's, the two of them collaborating on fundamental aspects of synthesizer design. When Mort spoke, Don listened. Serge caught on to this, and sought to woo Morton away from the Buchlas, but that was difficult. Eventually, Serge did build Mort some custom equipment.

In the 70's Serge collaborated on the design and construction of TONTO, a large polyphonic modular system. TONTO had the ancestry of many early Serge designs, some packaged behind faux-Moog front panels, including the NTO.

Serge eventually quit teaching and began to build synthesizers more seriously, using the first designs as a springboard. The Serge company was started in 1975, in the West Hollywood area, then headed north to San Francisco's Haight Street a few years later. It was always a humble bohemian concern, running more on enthusiasm and the love of making music than money and hardheaded business sense. Business tapered to a trickle in the middle 80's, and Serge, to support his family, started doing various outside electronic consulting projects. In 1992 Serge decided to move back to France. It was at this point that he sold the closely-guarded circuit designs to longtime associate Rex Probe, who then founded Sound Transform Systems. Production record keeping was pretty informal; it's estimated that "hundreds" of Serge systems were produced in the early years.

Today, Serge is again doing musical composition and is involved in helping Russian Jews move to Israel.

As Moog was a powerful East Coast influence that inspired ARP and Polyfusion, Buchla was the West Coast influence on Serge. Several Buchla designs, including the use of touch sensitive nontraditional keyboards, sequencers, random voltage generators, function generators, and matrix mixers found their way into Serge's repertoire. But that's not to say that Serge is merely a Buchla clone. Serge made many unique contributions, including the wave multiplier module, and some ideas were taken to new heights. Serge's oscillator designs have extraordinary accuracy and stability, especially considering their discrete nature. His philosophy of allowing the easy interplay of audio, control, and trigger signals, combined with the use of banana plugs, makes these systems wonderfully flexible.

There's no denying the amazing staying power of the Serge designs. Largely because of the development of convenient microprocessor-based keyboard synths, the 80's were a nasty time for analog synthesizer makers, practically all of them throwing in the towel. Serge's business slowed way down but never completely went out of production. With the recent clamoring for analog gear fueling successful production, Rex Probe and Sound Transform Systems look poised to carry the cream of analog modular music synthesis over the threshold of the 21st century, into their fourth decade of realization.

Sound Transform Systems has done a great job of continuing the analog modular lineage. Most of the traditional Serge modules are there, a few old ones were dropped, a few new ones added. The details are constantly being improved in many visible and invisible ways. They are still laboriously handmade, though the entire build process has been improved. Turnaround time has been improved from several months to 'just a couple'. All the components are top notch. The panel graphics and layout of many of the modules have been redesigned to make them more compact while keeping or improving the functionality. The circuit designs on many modules have been updated."