Ondioline.com

http://ondioline.com

A new website resource for the Ondioline is coming. "Web page will include: History ~FAQ ~ Misconceptions ~ Photos ~ Sound Files ~ List of Ondioline Users ~ Ondi's Spotted on Sale ~ Who Repairs Ondi's ~ Schematics ~ Tuning Instructions"

Note this is via Dana Countryman who plays with Jean-Jacques Perrey, who's instrument of choice is the Ondioline. I was actually fortunate enough to see the two play live. Jean-Jacques Perrey had his Ondioline and Dana Countryman had a large Synthesizers.com modular. You can see a video from the performance below. A search for Jean-Jacques Perrey will bring up more posts. Definitely worth the time to check out.


YouTube via shallowbox. previously posted additional performances here

Update via Mal in the comments: "There is an excellent DVD that one can purchase called "Life, Laughter & Loops" which features an 80 minute interview with Jean-Jacques Perrey and 60 minutes of never-to-be-seen-again concert footage... all Ondioline, all Moog - Fantastic!!! http://www.jjpdvd.com"

Jean-Jacques Perrey - Funky Little Spacegirl - Music Video

YouTube via mee3d.

Synth visuals come in at 3:02.

See these posts for more.
"View a High quality version here - www.funkylittlespacegirl.com

Celebrating 80 years of Jean-Jacques Perrey's Legendary Happy Electropop Music here is the Music Video for "Funky Little Spacegirl", released from the new album with Dana Countryman "Destination Space". Available on Oglio Records. Music Video Created by Mal Meehan from mee3d"

"Tags: jean jacques perrey dana countryman destination space electropop lounge moog synth mee3d mal meehan life laughter loops jjpdvd"

Update:

The Making of "Funky Little Spacegirl" - Compositing

"This little video explains in simple terms some of the procedures used in creating the new Jean-Jacques Perrey pop promo."

The Making of "Funky Little Spacegirl" - 3d Animation

Dana Countryman's MOOG-TASTIC!

http://www.danacountryman.com...

You might remember Dana Countryman from these posts and his work with Jean-Jacques Perrey.

Synthesizers.com New Midi Keyboard and Expression Block Demonstration by Dana Countryman

Published on Mar 13, 2014 Happymoogman Johnson·48 videos

"Dana Countryman demonstrates the synthesizers.com 5-octave pressure-sensitive midi keyboard, and the Q181 Expression Block."

Dana Countryman at the PNW Synth Gathering 2010 Pt1

YouTube via matrixsynth | July 28, 2010

http://danacountryman.com/

"Dana goes over the Ondioline and his DIY controller based on the Ondes Martenot."

Dana Countryman at the PNW Synth Gathering 2010 Pt2


Note this is the last video in the PNW Synth Gathering 2010 series. Click here for all posts.

Synthi with Countryman 968A Phase Shifter

Published on Apr 15, 2018 Christopher Anderson

"Amplitude response shifted phase"

The Countryman was recently listed here. Click through for details.

Ginette - DIY instrument based on the ondes Martenot

YouTube Uploaded by pemakini on May 8, 2011

"I designed and built this instrument during 2010-2011. The idea is based on the ondes Martenot that was invented by Maurice Martenot in 1928. My instrument is named 'Ginette' after Ginette Martenot - an ondist and the sister of Maurice Martenot. She played ondes Martenot at the premiere of Olivier Messiaen's Turangalîla-Symphonie.

The heart of the instrument is a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) that produces the sound. I found great VCO design from Music From Outer Space -website. The VCO produces four waveforms or timbres - sine, triangle, ramp and square - which can be selected on the panel. The range of the fingerboard is four octaves and on the panel there is an octave selection knob, so the total pitch range is nine octaves. In practice the tracking isn't so accurate in very high and low registers. There are connectors for an external CV and a gate, so the instrument can also be controlled using external device like a keyboard or a sequencer, which both are my future DIY projects. I am going to improve the instrument by adding a voltage-controlled amplifier (VCA). This would fix the problem with the volume control button that leaks some signal when it's supposed to be mute.

The background noise in the video is due to the tube amplifier.

Here's the link to MFOS VCO:
http://www.musicfromouterspace.com/analogsynth/VCO20090724REV0/VCO20090724REV...

Dana Countryman's ondes Martenot controller project inspired me to start my own project. Here's the link:
http://www.danacountryman.com/martenot_project/martenot.html

Thanks to: Ray Wilson and Music From Outer Space, Dana Countryman
Special thanks to: Heta, Mikko, Teemu"

Geoff Countryman and the Electro-Harmonix Ring Thing, Single Sideband Modulator

Published on Jun 4, 2013 EHX·163 videos

"Saxophonist, Geoff Countryman, explores the EHX Ring Thing which provides unprecedented control of ring modulation, plus pitch shifting over a four octave range. Ring Thing lets you explore a new world of waveform interaction where complex ring modulations deliver everything from subtle color changes to slithering metallic sweeps. Fully programmable!"

Electro-Harmonix Ring Things on eBay

Jean-Jacques Perrey - Life, Laughter & Loops DVD

YouTube via mee3d.

Here's an after Christmas present worth considering:

"2 disk limited edition DVD boxset available Christmas 2006. Features new 2 hour, 3 camera interview. Two complete lectures from the Tryptych and Transmediale festivals (also featuring the late Bob Moog). Transmediale concert with Dana Countryman in high definition widescreen, rare photo gallery and more. Contact jjpdvd@mee3d.com to be put on the list."

Previous Posts on Jean-Jacques Perrey. I was fortunate to see him and Dana Countryman perform live in Seattle. It was a great show.

Dana Countryman - New Flickr Shot

flickr by k0re.

Shot of Dana Countryman from the

A little trivia: Note Dana's keyboards changed. When I saw them in Seattle, he had a Yamaha DX7 as the main synth. In San Francisco you can see the Yamaha DX7 was replaced with a Roland Jupiter (I'm guessing the 6) and a Nord G2 as the synthesizers.com modular controller (not sure what he had in Seattle, but I didn't see red). In this shot he also has the G2. BTW, I'm not sure if this shot is from the San Francisco or LA shows.

Update via Brian in the comments:
"I went to the LA show. Jean Jacques had his Ondioline, but there was no Moog Modular. The keyboards I saw were:

* Moog Voyager Blue
* DSI Poly Evolver
* Nord Electro 2
* Korg MS2000"

Jean Jacques Perrey and Dana Countryman Live - Seattle

Remember this post? Well, I managed to make it to the kick off show in Seattle tonight, or rather last night. It was a very FUN show. Filled with quirky bits of music and musings by Jean-Jacques Perrey. Definitely recommend seeing them if you get a chance. Title link takes you to a ton of shots and some short video/audio clips I took with my old digital camera. Apologies for the poor quality.

One of the coolest things about the show was Jean-Jacques' antics during the performances, from pretending to ride a horse to air guitar. Classic, funny stuff. He said his goal was to make others happy and to bring a smile to our faces - to have FUN. I'd say he more than succeeded. What was also fascinating was the stories he'd tell before each piece. I don't want to ruin it for anyone that might make the upcoming shows, so let's just say there was a fascinating story about Salvadore Dali and one about Disneyland. As for gear, Jean played the Ondioline (that brown box in front of him), what looked like a Moog dual manual organ, a couple of synths and a few Moogerfoogers. Dana primarily played a Yamaha DX7 and every now and then he broke out with the Synthesizers.com modular. Oh, and his little elephant mascot joined the show as well. : )

You can read more about Jean Jacques Perrey here, and Dana Countryman here.

P.S. I also had the pleasure of meeting and sharing a table with Blake of Hotels. They use a Casio CZ-3000 and JP8000 in their set up. I just checked out their site and MySpace page. Good stuff.

Update:
OK - SPOILER (do not read this if you are going to the show and want the effect of hearing this story for the first time - this is the story about Salvidore Dali):
Jean talked about how Salvadore Dali asked him what he was working on next. Jean said he was working on 'Flight of the Bumble Bee.' Dali said, hmm.. that's not that special. Jean said, well I'm doing it with live bees! Dali said, oh I must hear this. Jean recorded the buzz of live bees and other bugs. He then sliced the tapes and mapped it to the full range of a keyboard. It took him 46 hours to set this up. He then played it for Dali. Dali was blown away and said he must play it for him again. He said Dali said Mignificent! It was a fascinating intimate story and I really am not doing it justice. You just picture them sitting together and Jean playing this for Dali. Amazing. You can read more on the tape process in this excerpt of his biography.

Gotye to Pay Tribute to Jean-Jacques Perrey at Moogfest

via Moogfest:

"At Moogfest 2017, Gotye will present a tribute to Jean-Jacques Perrey. Jean-Jacques Perrey (1929-2016) was an alternative pop visionary, a pioneer of rhythmic tape editing techniques, and a virtuoso of the rare French electronic musical instrument, the Ondioline. Gotye, a long-time Perrey fan and a budding Ondiolinist, has assembled the Ondioline Orchestra, an ensemble dedicated to reviving the spirit of this rare and unusually expressive early synthesizer. The ensemble features thereminist/keyboardist Rob Schwimmer, vintage synth specialist and ex-Psychedelic Furs member Joe McGinty, as well as members of acclaimed alternative band Zammuto. Perrey’s best-known songs will be celebrated alongside ultra rare pieces co-written with Angelo Badalamenti and Billy Goldenberg in an eclectic set juxtaposing Perrey’s joyful and boisterous pop with more reflective work spanning three decades of his career. Ondioline Orchestra perform all sounds live, including Perrey’s signature sample sounds, classic Moog patches, and a rich variety of Ondioline timbres on fully-restored original instruments. This show is a rare opportunity for fans of early electronic pop music to celebrate this influential producer/performer’s wonderfully inventive studio work in a live environment."

How cool is that? I had no idea Gotye was into the Ondioline and Jean-Jacques Perrey.

Jean-Jacques Perrey has been featured here on MATRIXSYNTH numerous times in the past. I was fortunate enough to see him perform live back in 2006. I'll never forget that show. It was pure magic. That image to the left was from it. That's Jean-Jacques Perrey on the left and Dana Countryman on the right.

Jean Jacques Perrey and Dana Countryman in England

click here for more pics of the show.


Roland JP-8000
Roland Juno-6
MOOG The Rogue

Jean Jacques Perrey & Dana Countryman - The Good Old Days

YouTube via shallowbox. Performed live at the Triple Door, Seattle, Aug.27,2006. [Uploaded on Sep 8, 2006 John Hurd]

I was actually at that show. More performances on YouTube.

Previous posts.

Breath Martenot - Breath driven Pulley/Ring controller - Work in progress.

Published on Mar 22, 2013 Mark Steiner·5 videos

"This is the 2nd prototype of my own version of a Martenot style controller. I decided to expose the pulley loop fully. I find it's pretty interesting/fun to watch the loop and hear the pitch change accordingly. I've had a few ideas about maybe attacking LED's to the pulleys to mix some light up real time. Could be fun.

Usually these kind of instruments (silimart to the Ondes Martenot) use a left hand pressure key for volume/filter brightness. On mine, I am using a Nyle Steiner breath controller, which really makes for smooth dynamics and fast articulation. There are even some parts showing multiple tonguing techniques often used by trumpet and other wind players to tongue fast by saying Tu Ku Tu Ku or Tu Tu Ka.

Special thanks to Nyle Steiner for the great sounding synth oscillators and filters used in this demo. Also thanks to Dana Countryman and Mike Beauchamp for their own expertise and inspiration in relation to instruments like this.

Thanks for listening! See my current classical electronic project at ThePinesofRome.com."

"The Ondioline School of Paris" Ad & Ondioline User Manuals

You'll find them on Dana Countryman's Ondioline.com sub site here.

The Tale of The Ondioline: Music's Oldest Synthesizer?

video upload by The Lemon Master

0:00 Intro
1:21 Design
5:50 History
7:46 Rise
10:39 Downfall
12:47 Revival?
14:24 Outro

Note the first "synth" is debatable. The Telharmonium (1897), Ondes-Martenot (1928), Mixturtrautonium (1936), Novachord (1939), amongst others predated it. The Theremin, although not a keyboard instrument, but the inspiration if not the basis for Bob Moog's creations arrived in 1921. For a timeline of electronic instruments see https://120years.net, and for more synth centric, as we know them, see The First Synth to.....

For reverything Ondioline see https://ondioline.com

And related posts:

Jean Jacques Perrey & Dana Countryman - The Good Old Days

New Website Dedicated to the Ondioline

Jean-Jacques Perrey et son Ondioline (pics of my copy here)

And of course, see the Ondioline label for additional posts.

Jean-Jacques Perrey & Dana Countryman in NYC, 1st October 2008 (Part Two)

Part 2 added to this post.

Football Commercial, using Jean-Jacques Perrey tune!

YouTube via ElvaLives | September 01, 2010

"Here's a 2010 Football commercial, using Jean-Jacques Perrey's tune, "Brazilian Flower"!
What a combination!"


This one spotted and sent in via Dana Countryman. "It’s all “Moog” -- done in 1968. From JJ’s 1968 Vanguard LP, 'The Amazing New Electronic Sound of Jean-Jacques Perrey.'"

on Amazon.

Added to the synth CDs post.

You might also recognize the track from What you see when you die, previously posted here.

CLICK FOR MORE »

PNW Synth Gathering 2010 Pics

flickr set by matrixsynth (click here for a full screen slideshow - 127 photos)

It was a great event this year. Speakers included John Bowen with the Solaris, Dougcl with a Buchla 200e, Aaron of Analog Bytes with the Atari Pokey module, Carbon111 with the Yamaha VL1, David Skinner with new modules from Synthesizers.com and the Korg MicroSampler, Scott Jaeger of The Harvestman, Scott Rise of Division 6, John L Rice and his massive modular, George Mattson of Mattson Mini Modular, Sonja of flight of harmony, James Husted of Synthwerks, Computer Controlled with the Bitchen Sync and other gear, Jeff Sanys with the OLPC, Lorne with various noise makers, and Dana Countryman with the Ondioline and his DIY pitch controller based on the Ondes Martenot.

This was also the last PNW Gathering to be hosted at the Renton Technical College by our gracious host John Marshall. Carbon111 and Laura picked up the cake below for him.

Videos of each talk will follow through the week. I took 23.7 G of pics and video. Big thanks to John L Rice for his 16 G memory card! And Jarett for loaning me his PC to move pics and vids off my memory card.