Utility Minute: This is Not Rocket Science (TiNRS) Switch & Ardabil

video upload by Making Sound Machines

"In this patch, we use This Is Not Rocket Science's Eurorack utility module Switch to send a stereo signal to three different effects - Endorphin.es' Milky Way delay, Happy Nerding FX Aid reverb, and a Touellskouarn filter. We then use Switch to switch between the characteristics of a filter."

Utility Minute: This is Not Rocket Science (TiNRS) Ardabil


"In this patch, we route a synth voice using This is Not Rocket Science's Eurorack utility module Ardabil. We’re sequencing a Befaco evenVCO with This Is Not Rocket Science's Tuesday, and using their Edgecutter as an envelope. We then add some movement, transposing the sequence with XOR Freestylo. Finally, we add vibrato using TiNRS Wobbler complex LFO."

Superbooth 20HE: This Is Not Rocket Science Fenix 4

Published on Apr 25, 2020 sonicstate

"We first took a look at the This is Not Rocket Science Fenix 4 at Superbooth last year. The Fenix 4 is a development of the original Fenix synthesizer made by the employees of Synton, a Dutch synthesizer manufacturer that went out of business in the early 80s. After crossing paths with some of the original designers and getting hold of the design files for the Fenix 1 and 2, This is Not Rocket Science decided to take on the mantle of developing the Fenix 4!

The Fenix is a bit of a swiss army of modular techniques, if you want a taste of what the original can sound like then go check out Aphex Twin’s classic Fenix Funk 5….

More information of the Fenix 4 at This is Not Rocket Science."

This Is Not Rocket Science Eurorack Coming to SUPERBOOTH17

via @rocket_not

Two racks coming to SUPERBOOTH17 from This Is Not Rocket Science.

The following is some info on their BigFish modular system followed by a couple of videos and some details on their individual modules. Note this is the first This Is Not Rocket Science post on the site! We have a new maker in town. :)

"// MODULE STILL UNDER DEVELOPMENT //

BigFish is our full fledged synth.

This beeper started out life as Goldfish; a plug-in on the PocketPC for the Griff sequencer, and a buzzmachine in 2002. It has grown up since. Swimming out of software and into its’ own enclosure for the first time as a self-contained synthesizer – coming out to play at the Landjuweel festival in 2015. Continuing on its’ journey it has now been netted by the modular system.

Many beep, beepy beep beep with buttons that click and indicators that blink and flash to anyones’ heart content.

Has its’ own certain sound that we have grown to love and we think you will too. Net this fish, good for your health.

Beep…"

TINRS Prototype Eurorack Modules

Published on Oct 20, 2016

"TINRS Tuesday & Goldfish happily bleeping along!"

Trying out the x0x-heart with the Tuesday procedural sequencer

Published on Feb 6, 2017

*can't stop playing around*

Tuesday - Procedural Sequencer

"Carpe Tuesday!

X/Y/! your way around each melody. Find your tune and hang on.

Control the tempo by external clock subdivision or controlling your master tempo from 20 to 240 bpm.
Press the buttons to select options for Algorithms, Ticks, Beats and Scale.
Tuesday comes with Algorithms such as TriTrance, Stomper and Wobble."

Edgecutter beta - Visual envelope

"// MODULE STILL UNDER DEVELOPMENT //

Edgecutter is a highly expressive envelope generator that wants you to see how it feels on the inside.

Edgecutter comes with a bunch of LEDs that show you its progress through all the envelope stages. While you are knobbing the curvature control with your finger tips. It will show you exactly what you are doing.

This is the cutting edge of the envelope – and dont you know it."

Wobbler beta - Low frequency fascinator

"// MODULE STILL UNDER DEVELOPMENT //

Wobbler is an LFO that will move you. It wobbles your signals, twangs and randomizes.

The Wobbler runs two LFOs in sync, while giving you control over a modulatable phase shift.

Wobbler can bring your drum sounds to live using phased pluck-signals, or deepen your confusion with synced noise-generators.

Fascinating!"

Getting started with Fenix IV - This is Not Rocket Science

video by Making Sound Machines

"In this video, we'll take a closer look at This is Not Rocket Science's Fenix IV modular synth!

Over the course of 30 minutes, we'll guide you through all the steps you need to get started - you'll gather an understanding of the color codes and signal flow, including analyzing audio with the built-in scope. We'll take you from basic tone generation to your first patch using the onboard Generators, Envelopes, Modulators, Filters, Effects, Utility modules and the sequencer.

If you are watching this having a Fenix in front of you, this tutorial is meant to show you all you need in order to go and explore on your own. So join us and and watch us gleefully fumble through the insane bag of tricknology that is This is Not Rocket Science's Fenix IV."

TiNRS Wobbler 2 Complex LFO, Apollo View Allscillator and Prototype FX

video upload by Making Sound Machines

"Finally carving out some time to play with a couple of brand new eurorack synth modules that have arrived at our doorstep!

Our friends at This is Not Rocket Science have finished their Wobbler 2, successor to their original Wobbler complex LFO, and it's a module that keeps on giving. It lets you seamlessly morph between a number of inventive waveforms, like self-phasing, twang and pendulum, and shape, attenuate and invert the result on two outputs.

And equally exciting is Apollo View Modular’s awesome Allscillator, a great sounding analog oscillator that offers a number of cool waveshapes like Shark fin and PWM Saw, and modulation options like soft sync. Best of all it's available as a DIY kit from Thonk which means with some soldering skills you can build your own!

We took the opportunity to test both modules with prototype circuits of some of our upcoming modules, a line of analogue shaping, saturation and distortion FX modules that will be available prebuilt and as DIY kits - more on that soon!

In this patch, we use our Stolperbeats drum sequencer to sync TiNRS Wobbler 2 to a septuplet shuffle. It is delivering triggers to a prototype of our drum voice on kick and snare, as well as Befaco's Burst for a sneaky delayed upbeat into a zap, all with some crunchy proto FX for good measure.

Allscillator provides the waveforms patched through This is Not Rocket Science's Switch utility. From there the audio is routed into our prototype FX, modulated by Wobbler 2's self-phasing LFO and phase shifted to produce the stereo effect. Finally, we use TiNRS' Ardabil to scale and offset CV for some extra frequency control.

#TiNRS #Wobbler #eurorack

This is Not Rocket Science - @thisisnotrocketscience3942"

TiNRS modules at Superbooth18

Published on May 8, 2018 This Is Not Rocket Science

Edgecutter super quick demo at Superbooth18

Published on May 8, 2018 This Is Not Rocket Science

Superbooth 2018: This Is Not Rocket Science Edgecutter and Wobbler modules demo

Published on May 8, 2018 Future Music Magazine

"Principal inventor of all things TINRS, Stijn Haring-Kuipers takes us on a little tour of both Edgecutter visual envelope and Wobble advanced LFO modules, DIY keyboards and we talk about an exciting new project featuring the Synton Fenix II."

Prototype Jam! TINRS Fenix IV, mmalex Plinky and Faust on Teensy 4.0

video by Making Sound Machines

"Here's a little prototype jam, using all the lovely modular gear and hardware we've been testing these last weeks! The granular glockenspiel is made with This is Not Rocket Science's Fenix IV Eurorack compatible system-in-a-box - this is a beta machine but production hardware is actually done! TiNRS’ Stijn and Lauri built in an awesome way to load sample banks into the digital oscillator in wavetable mode, so we were able to use a recording of my childhood glockenspiel as grains in this synth sequence, with beautiful warbles from the onboard delay! TiNRS Fenix' sequencer allows for each of its four channels to have its own rhythm subdivisions and to be transposed via MIDI - this is exactly what's happening here using the Arturia keystep pro. Fenix' extra seq channels are triggering a kick from GHzTomash Callisto teensy arduino DIY drum module, and gating some noise percussion using the Fenix' VCA. The lush swell of reverb at the end is coming from a combination of Fenix built-in verb and using our beta unit mmalex Plinky as an FX processor - DIY kits and the expander will soon be available again from Thonk.

The stereo organ pad is made on a Teensy 4.0 arduino, running an additive synth patch made with Faust DSP and the teensy audio library, controlled via MIDI with the Arturia Keystep Pro and patched into the Eurorack with our own Multiplikand module. It's rhythmically chopped using This is Not Rocket Science's Wobbler complex LFO into Mutable Instruments Streams dual dynamics gate, using the TiNRS Fenix' sequencer to reset the LFO in time with the sequence. The bass is Moogs DIY voice Werkstatt 01, a CV-controlled voice with a ladder filter and that lovely Moog sub.

The beats in the ending come from our circuit bent e-licktronic NAVA TR909 clone, sequenced using the Roland Aria TR-8 drum machine. While the NAVA is an exact copy of the famous TR909 circuits, hacked by us with 34 mods to vastly expand the sonic palette of the instrument, the TR-8 is a digital emulation of the same synth and somewhat shunned for its color scheme. If you look beyond that, it's a very practical and lovely machine.

❤️ Huge thank you to everyone sending us stuff to test and build! This is extremely fun!"

TINRS Introduces New Fenix IV Modular Synthesizer

You might remember the interview with Synton's Felix Visser and This is not Rocket Science's Stijn Haring-Kuipers at Soundmit 2018 on the upcoming new Fenix system. Well, it is here. Update: Priced at 5000 Euros (would be ~ $5600 at todays rate plus any shipping and import fees) - see here on how to get one.

via This is Not Rocket Science

"All you need to play.

An intriguing set of modular building blocks

We think Fenixes are true synthesizer-instruments: they give you all the options you need to explore a very wide range of sonic possibilities. You can learn to play a Fenix quickly and you can still be developing your interaction with it in ten years’ time. The first Fenix was born and bred to satisfy one artist’ wishes for an all in-one system. Our Fenix IV is also born out of this desire with ourselves as the artists.

The density of Fenix I,II and III meant it provided loads of sound in one box. Before eurorack boomed, most modular synthesizers required half a wall of space. Fenix provided all your options in a relatively small container. When Fenix II was released, it packed the most punch for its size anywhere on the market. With Fenix IV we think we continue this tradition. We’ve extended the sounds by adding our best from the digital world. The intention is to provide a toolbox for you to make sound with, and not put too much of our flavour in the sounds themselves. Choices are made for maximum sonic variety. For example: we’ve upgraded the delay line from Fenix II with a musical element. In Fenix IV we are now providing a tuneable version so you can use it as a physical model of a string.

There is a flow to every Fenix. All the modules have the same direction for inputs and outputs: roughly left to right and top to bottom. This is the same in educational diagrams that talk about synthesizer structure. We managed to consistently apply this giant swipe from up left to down right across our Fenix too. You can distinguish types of signals on a Fenix by the colour coding – we’ve taken this helpful visual aid and extended it to giving the modules a coloured grouping that corresponds between the knobs and the jacks. Another feature of the Fenix family is the waterline that divides the knobs from the jacks. Keeping the knobs up top means your patching never gets in the way of your twiddling. This division also helps to maintain a sense of overview with lots of cables patched in.

We see the Fenix family as having a “Yes, and” mentality. The usual divide of tonal versus experimental or additive versus subtractive synthesis does not exist in a Fenix. You can have everything at the same time and you can have multiple TYPES of oscillators, filters, lfo’s, envelopes and effects to do your patching with. We have added the usual analog versus digital divide to this “Yes, and“ mentality. There is no need to choose, you can have it all.

All the modules in our Fenix IV – listed by colour grouping:

YELLOW – Oscillators and sound sources

Input
Interface to external sound sources – has an envelope tracker and a gate and trigger threshold.

CLICK FOR MORE »

Superbooth 2023: This Is Not Rocket Science - Bopp And Steve

video upload by sonicstate

"We spoke to Stijn from This Is Not Rocket Science at Superbooth 2023, who showed us their new flagship module called Bopp and Steve Deconstructed Spatial Effect. The module is a combination of a reverb, delay, pitch shifter, and diffuser, all mixable and matchable to create a customized reverb. The signal input hits a diffuser for early reflections, a delay for pre-delay, and a reverb tail for a glossy reverb with a shimmer effect. There's also a chord pitch shifter which can be controlled with polyphonic MIDI pitch shifting for playing chords with reverb tails.

Although it is still currently in development, Bopp and Steve is already festooned with 16 knobs, a bunch of CVs, and promises more effects to come, including more reverb tail types.

Available: Winter 2023. Price: around 440 Euros"

"Bopp & Steve Space Effect

With this module every sound is bigger on the inside and we can finally know how many angels fit on a pin-header. Between the input and the output your soundwave is shot through space and changes occur. BOPP & STEVE let you in at different points to tweak and trim their spatial effects until you find the exact place in the universe you were looking for. BOPP & STEVE reverberates, diffuses, delays and shifts pitch of whatever you send into it. Based on a deconstructed audio path and intricate DSP these fabulous sounds come alive. We connected the virtual with physical reality. Making an instrument by giving you tangible parameters, connecting your fingers to bits floating in space.

PITCH
Pitch modes let you shift pitch chromatically (regular) three notes at time (chord) or detuned and unquantized (free). The chord mode is unique as far as we can tell. All modes are CV and Midi controllable. This is where we stuck all the angels on the pin-header. Following the note of your input a choir of harmonious notes will start sounding. Instant etherealness. With Pitch Point you select a point in the audio path where the pitch gets shifted. Pressing the Pitch Point LED button you will see little LEDs turn on (and off) at the wet input point, the diffuse point, the delay point, the tail point, wet output and dry output point or even on the feedback of the delay point. Transpose lets you set how far you transpose from -2 octaves to +2 octaves. Control gives you control over something else for every pitch mode. In Regular mode it lets you control inertia, in Chord mode it lets you control chord type and in Free mode it controls detune.

AUDIO PATH
The audio path in BOPP & STEVE is input – diffuse – delay – tail – output. Diffuse smears your sound over time which seems to change the shape of the space you are in – and has its own Flavour setting you can tweak. Delay holds your sound over time which seems to make the space you are in bigger. In the Tail the diffuse and delay of your sound merge together and travels into infinity. A Main knob lets you set the wet/dry mix of all these spatial effects on your output. The Envelope of the dry audio path has its own tracker output that you can invert with the knob besides it. For the Delay effect you can choose between bouncing between left/right (pingpong), a supershort Karplus-Strong physical model (waveguide) or staccato repetition (multitap). You can tweak the Length, Feedback and Pattern of these delay modes. The tail can be smoothly tapering off (dense), coming and going (float) or choppy and granular with space in between (sparse). You can tweak the Length, Chorality and Temprature of the different tails. Freeze holds the sound in the Delay and the Tail so they become infinite.

ORIGIN
The heritage of BOPP & STEVE starts with a reverb that Stijn has been working on since the 2000s. A version of it is in the Fenix IV Dual Delay as the Reverb mode with a “chunky shimmer and a phat detune”. Stijn has further deconstructed their Early Reflections into two parts (Delay and Diffuse) and created three types of Tail (Dense, Sparse, Float). At Superbooth23 we are presenting a prototype. The hardware is 99% settled, the software is mostly functional but not yet feature-complete and not all glooped together yet. We expect to produce modules before the end of the year so everyone can have BOPP & STEVE for Christmas.

Sales price will be 440 EUR inc tax."

via http://www2.thisisnotrocketscience.nl/eurorack/bopp_n_steve/#

David Rogoff on VCOs

David Rogoff sent the following into the Yamaha CS80 list. I asked him if I could put it up and he gave me the OK.

"This touches on a big, somewhat technical, issue of what kind of VCOs the CS80 uses. The VCO III chip is a linear VCO, sometimes called Hz/Volt, as opposed to the more common exponential (Volts/Octave) VCOs (e.g. MiniMoog, Curtis & SSM chips in SCI and Oberheim polys).

Here's a pretty good explanation: link

Here's a (I hope) quick one:
The most basic VCO is a sawtooth one, which can be a capacitor charged by a current. For non-EE types, here's my modified toilet analog (and you though the Metasonix vacuum-tube VCO was weird) : The capacitor is like the water tank of a toilet. The water filling it up is the current. The height of the water is like the voltage across the capacitor. Now, modify the float valve so that when the tank is full it automatically flushes. Then the cycle starts again. If you double the water filling rate ( = double the current), you double the frequency of the flush cycles.

The is a basic, linear VCO (actually Water-CO). It shows a couple of things. First, it's not actually voltage controlled, but current controlled. Ignore that for now. Also, the filling time is adjustable, but the discharge/flushing time is fixed. This is an issue with all sawtooth VCOs and is why many (e.g. Moog) VCOs have a high-frequency-tracking adjustment, which helps cancel this out. Here's the CS80 VCO: link

Ok, so why don't all synths use linear VCOs? As the above link explains, human ears don't hear frequency linearly. A above middle C is 440Hz. An octave about is 880Hz, or double the frequency. The next octave would be 1760Hz: double that. If you graph this, it's an exponential curve. So, the space (in Hertz) between two notes keeps getting bigger as we get to high pitches. If you had a modular synth with linear VCOs (like that old Paia), the top key might output 5 volts. One octave down would be 2.5volts. The next 1.25volts, followed by 0.625v and 0.3125v. This is a pain to generate. Also, as you get to lower notes, smaller voltage inaccuracies start becoming bigger pitch errors to our ears.

To avoid all this, someone (anyone know who? Dr. Bob? Tom Oberheim? Don Buchla?) came up with exponential VCOs. Basically, they're just a linear VCO with a circuit in front of them called (big surprise) an exponential converter. This is just a circuit that takes a linear input (1volt/octave) and outputs the doubling voltage (actually current...) that the VCO wants. Now, everything is simple.

So, why did Yamaha go for the linear? Two reasons, I'd guess. First, adding the exponential converter to each VCO adds more cost to the chips, since there's more circuitry. A bigger issue is temperature stability. As we've been talking about lately, all circuits are affected (i.e. knocked out of tuning) by temperature changes. The exponential converter, for reasons I won't go into, is really sensitive to this. People have been complaining about the tuning stability of the CS80, but it's rock solid compared to any poly-synth with exponential VCOs (P5, OBX, A6, etc). They all need computer-controlled auto-tuning routines to have any chance of staying in tune.

So, what issues/problems/advantages does the CS80 having linear VCOs create?

Good things:
1) modulation - linear vibrato sounds a bit different than v/oct vibrato, probably closer to acoustic vibrato (e.g. violin). Also, as the modulation speed increases, you start getting into F.M. land, which requires linear modulation (you don't want to know the math!). This is why some modular VCOs have linear FM inputs in addition to the normal v/oct controls.

2) sweep to D.C. - my favorite. If you start a pitch bend at the right end of the ribbon and slide all the way to the left, the pitch of the VCOs all go down to 0Hz / D.C. / flat-line. This is because the input to the VCOs goes to 0 volts and the frequency equals the voltage times a constant. With a exponential VCO this is impossible. Going 1 volt less on the control input goes down one octave. Mathematically, you can't get to zero Hz. You'd need to input -infinity volts! Also, many other limitations in the circuit block the VCO from even getting close. Big win for linear VCOs!

Bad things:
1) Keyboard voltages - as I wrote above, the keyboard has to generate exponential voltages. This is a big pain. In a digitally-controlled analog (like the CS80, P5, etc), the keyboard voltage comes from a DAC (digital-analog-converter). 99.99% of DACs are linear. The CS50/60/80 (and others in the family) have bizarre, custom exponential DACs. This makes interfacing the CS80 to other synths and/or MIDI-CV converters a pain.

2) CV mixing. Finally, we get to the original question of adding a pitch-bend input to the CS80. In the volts/octave world, everything is easy: you just add voltages together. Adding voltages is simple to do - just an op-amp and a few resistors. Let's say you had the following voltages come out of a v/oct keyboard: 1v, 2v, 4v. This could represent a low C (c1), C one octave up (c2), and C two octave above that (c4). To make it simple, let's say we have a pitch wheel or pedal add 1 volt to this (2v, 3v, 5v). This would be c2, c3, c5, so we've just transposed the sequence up an octave.

Ok, what happens if we try this with a linear voltage. For the same c1, c2, c4 notes, we might have 1volt, 2volt, 8volt. Adding one volt gives 2volt, 3volt, 9volt. The first note is correctly up an octave, but the next is only up about a 5th and the third note is only transposed up about a semitone. This, obviously, doesn't work. What we need to do, instead, is multiply the voltages. To transpose up an octave, double the voltages. To transpose down an octave, halve them. This is easy for a fixed transpose, but if you want a variable, like a pitch-bend pedal input, you need to multiply voltages. Just like it's much, much easier for people to add and subtract than multiply and divide, so it is for analog (and digital) circuitry.

If you follow the schematics or block diagram of the CS80, you can see that the voltage to the VCOs comes through a long chain of multiplications. The ribbon is actually the initial voltage source for the whole instrument. If the ribbon isn't pressed it outputs some fixed voltage (not sure the actual value - call it 2 volts). If the ribbon is slid up, all the way, from the left to the right, it would output double this voltage, which corresponds to one octave up. If the ribbon is slid the other way, it outputs zero volts, as mentioned above. Next, the voltage is sent through the concentric pitch knobs. Any normal potentiometer is a voltage multiplier, which can multiply the input by anything from zero to one.

This voltage then becomes the reference input to the exponential DAC on the KAS board, which multiplies it by it's exponential resistor network to create the CVs for each of the either voices. These voltages go to the VCO chips on the M-Boards. Are we done - nope - one more CS80 weirdness. In a v/oct synth, the octave/foot switches would just generate a voltage that would be added to the keyboard CV (e.g. MiniMoog). The CS80 VCO, instead, has a special footage input that needs an exponential current for each feet setting. Because this is difficult to do accurately over a wide range, we end up with the wonderful VR4, VR5, and VR6 trimmers to get the feet switching calibrated separately for each of the 16 VCOs. Yuch!

Getting back to the original question (remember Alice? There's a song about Alice...), a pitch bend input would need to control a voltage multiplier. This could be an added circuit, after the ribbon circuit, or could probably be merged with the ribbon voltage. I haven't figured out the details, but it's not rocket science. However, it is a lot more work than it would be on something like a Prophet 5.

Ok, I guess that wasn't quick, but at least I didn't have an graphs or get into transistor curves or Bessell functions.

David"

Designing the Fenix! // This is Not Rocket Science, Stijn Kuipers // Synth Design Podcast

video upload by Synthux Academy

"Synth Design Podcast face to face with This is Not Rocket Science in Amsterdam! This is a super special edition, after a long break (and lots of learnings on my end!).

Join me as I go into Stijn and Priscilla's home in Amsterdam, where they brought the Fenix IV to life. Sunday 5th, at 19:30 CET (Amsterdam time), we'll premiere this episode with live chat with the TiNRS team. See you there!

CHAPTERS:
02:58 - Workshop tour
15:09 - The Story Behind The Fenix Synthesizer
25:30 - Studying Acoustic Instruments
33:17 - Building Tools For Synth Building
34:46 - Making the Fenix
54:22 - Where Ideas Come From
01:00:38 - Stijn's Background
01:02:40 - Early Works
01:08:00 - Design Philosophy
01:22:40 - Synthesizer Design Process
01:25:23 - sDFM (Synth Design for Manufacturing)
01:28:56 - Streamlining Product Testing
01:32:52 - Synthesizer Interface Design
01:35:51 - Synthesizer Visual Design
01:41:00 - Answering Community Questions
01:54:03 - Budgeting and Pricing Synthesizers

---
Ending music by Teunis Marseille. Check out his work here: www.instagram.com/teueunis"

TINRS Fenix IV Update

An update via This Is Not Rocket Science:

"Fenix IV assembling parts
Six more weeks until Superbooth…

We are working hard on the first Fenix IV prototype and alternate between 'this is madness' and 'this is awesome'. Probably both are true.

All the parts has been tried and tested in Experiment Boards 1, 2 and 3. Everything works and we are happy with our sounds and effects. Now these parts have to make a mythical beast. The CPU plug-in boards and filter voice boards are in the mail. Chips are being ordered. Power, midi and plug board are in-house and partially assembled. The tiny headphone board is ready. Our interconnect board – connecting the modules to the jacks and replaces the wiring harness – will be ordered together with big board. Flying in from all over the world, all the pieces are coming together.

CLICK FOR MORE »

New Synton Fenix IV Progress Update via TiNRS

via This is Not Rocket Science:

"Fenix Experiment board no 3

This is a lots-of-DSP board. Most of the things on this Experiment board are a shell for DSP. We have developed a plugin board with sufficient processing power and memory to drive all the things. Currently, we have one of these MCU-boards working and connected to Experiment board no 3.

CLICK FOR MORE »

CLASSIC SYNTH REBORN! Fenix IV from This Is Not Rocket Science // Superbooth 2019

Published on May 20, 2019 DivKidVideo

"It's always a pleasure to see the sharpest dressed man at Superbooth which is undeniably Stijn from This Is Not Rocket Science. TiNRS are currently working with the original Synton designers to bring in the fourth generation of the Fenix synthesiser to life. The Fenix IV is a 330 patch point 110 knob/control synth with an absolute tonne of options for sound sources, FX, controls, modulation etc. In the video Stijn takes us through the new synth which is no small effort!"

TiNRS FenixIV Prototype 1 and 2

Published on Apr 23, 2020 This Is Not Rocket Science

"What have we been doing since showing you our FenixIV at Superbooth 2019?

In this video Stijn takes you through some of the things that have been improved, updated and changed between prototype 1 (SB19) and prototype 2 (SB20).

Prototype 3 is in the making - the design of the boards 99% done and we are waiting for a new case and frontplate.

Want a FenixIV? Send an e-mail to priscilla@thisisnotrocketscience.nl to get on our waiting list."

Update:

TiNRS Booth Experience - Short Fenix IV Demo

Published on Apr 23, 2020 This Is Not Rocket Science

"With love from our kitchen table - the SuperBooth experience :-D
Quick demo of our FenixIV making some interesting sounds"

LFOs, Drums & Craziness! Wobbler2 from This Is Not Rocket Science

video upload by DivKid

"This video was meant to be a quick exploration of the new drum mode but then you get making music and that inspires more music and then you find some fairly crazy interesting behaviour and well … you have to dive in right? Well I do!

So here we have a fulsome look at the Wobbler2 from This Is Not Rocket Science which has all the same LFO features as the original Wobbler (see my original Wobbler video below for a thorough run down of all things wibbly wobble LFO) plus a whole new drum mode. The video comes in four parts (see the chapter markings below) with a quick exploration of the LFO mode, then a deep look at both the drum synthesis and sample playback then we get into beat making and pushing the drum modes before delving into a wild world of drum drones, weird filters (not a filter, but you can think of it like one), hard sync VCO like behaviours and wavetable style tonal morphs!"

Original Wobbler LFO Video

This Is Not Rocket Science Procedural Sequencer Launch

video upload by This Is Not Rocket Science

"It's Tuesday time! Finally our procedural sequencer is relaunched
NextTuesday is here
our beloved melody making module
We will demo and play and answer any questions you might have"

SoundMiT 2018 Announces First Exhibitors

The following is a list of the first exhibitors coming to SoundMiT - International Sound Summit. The second edition of SoundMiT will be held on Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 November 2018, at the Teatro "Lavanderia a Vapore" - Corso Pastrengo 51 Collegno (Turin).
You can click through the links below for additional details on each.

"For the first time in Italy, Schmidt Synthesizers!

Soundmit exclusive, for the first time in Italy the famous no-compromise analog eight-voice polyphonic Schmidt-Synthesizer!

After selling more than 50 units of this exclusive instrument and just starting the production of the third batch of 25 new ones, german manufacturer e:m:c will show the Schmidt-Synthesizer for the first time at Soundmit - International Sound Summit in Torino, 3-4 November 2018.

"We are very excited to show the Schmidt at Soundmit in Italy" says Product Manager Axel Fischer. "Italy is one of the leading countries in electronic music and has a long history of very successful electronic instruments. We are looking forward in meeting the Italian synthesizer scene on location."

Schmidt, one of the most coveted modern analog synthesizers, comes to Italy with his eight-voice polyphony with unison and true multitimbrality mode.
Full MIDI implementation with a USB port and complete programmability. The signal path is fully analog with precise digital control. Schmidt´s sound generation engine features virtually everything that subtractive synthesis is endowed with – and even more: Schmidt gives you truly unique features that have never been implemented in an analog synthesizer before, not to speak of polyphonic units! Think of Multi-PWM and Multi-Ring Modulation.

Every single parameter – even for the most complex modulation routings you might envisage – can be accessed directly using dedicated front panel controls and switches. No more browsing through mind-boggling and confusing menus.

Thanks to programmable high-quality real-time controls (pitch and modulation wheel, stick controller, and aftertouch, as well as several inputs for footswitches and expression pedals), Schmidt has become a real performance synthesizer that feels as good as it sounds.

Schmidt is made to match the highest production standards – it has entirely been hand-crafted in Germany. The casing, made of metal and carefully selected wood, keeping a close eye on environmental sustainability, is as beautiful as it is sturdy and robust.

And we can admire it in November at the Soundmit 2018!"

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This Is Not Rocket Science - Edgecutter (TINRS)

Published on Jul 30, 2018 DivKidVideo

"TIMING INDEX BELOW! Just like Wobbler does for LFOs the Edgecutter from This Is Not Rocket Science takes something simple (an ADSR envelope) and pushes it beyond the norm in controls and functions. We've got trigger or gate outs for each of the phases/stages, gate, retrigger, one linear out, one curvature controlled output, CV over each stage, 3 modes (one shot, gated and gated looping) and a unique envelope ratchet at the start or end of the envelope (if you want it). Very nicely done I reckon! :)

Wobbler video - [posted here]
Tuesday video - [posted here]

TIMING INDEX

00:00 Hello & patch previews

00:56 Features and functions

02:41 Envelope controls - gates, shape outputs, unique curvature and ratchet functions

05:51 Looking at the 3 different modes - triggered / one shot, gated, gated looping. Also further exploration of shape and ratchet stages.

09:30 Stage / Phase outputs to control other elements of a patch. Mixing the two outs to control wavetables and VCAs and using the stage outputs to trigger external sounds.

12:40 Quick patch to show how varied the envelope is under modulation.

13:42 Velocity input - looking at the velocity input and other ways to added expression and dynamics to the envelope."

Superbooth 2018 - This Is Not Rocket Science Edge Cutter & Rectangular Thing

Published on May 9, 2018 DivKidVideo

"Stijn from TINRS / This Is Not Rocket Science not only wins the best dressed man award for Superbooth 2018 but also has a new envelope Edge Cutter which like Wobbler (Wobbler was for LFOs though) takes a basic concept and expands it simply, effectively and provides some great added little tricks I haven't seen elsewhere. There's also Rectangular Thing which will be a highly limited run of a synth voice they currently have.

We're proud to have our Superbooth 2018 content sponsored by www.thonk.co.uk"