New Analog Mafia RC-808 from Roland's "Mid-O Series" Developers and the "Failed" Roland TR-808

Published on Aug 8, 2019 藤本健

Update: demo above spotted and sent in via Soviet Space Child.

This post is a bit of a doozy so bear with me. :)

First we have a new software model of the TR-808 from the original developers of the 808:

"The RC-808 'Re-Create the 808' emulates the original TR-808 sound with analog manner synthesis. As the name implies, it is with respect to the original 808 sounds which is a criterion for sound synthesis as a vintage. Starting from this criterion, explore the multiverse of sounds, stretch out your vectors, to find out new criterion of your own. Yes, it can take you to the new sonic worlds that are completely different and yet so close and familiar to you.
Hence it is not a drum machine but is a drum synthesizer. No samples nor effects processing are being used, just genuine synthesis only, all in analog manner.

The sound source employs DCO which is in this case Down Chirp Oscillator, combined with a noise source that outputs various kinds of noises including metallic noises. There is also a infinite point wave shaper, a variable filter bank, infinite point envelope generators etc. With maximum 8 partials per voice, it allows sound designing in subtractive synthesis manner which is familiar to all and yet still with vast space beckoning to be discovered.
Thanks to this flexible architecture, all instruments can have Open and Close variations just like Hi-Hats or cymbal choke performance. Coupled with piano-roll sequencer utility this brings new expressions with gate time programming, that you don’t see on a drum sequencer..."

You can download the Windows version here. A Mac version is coming.

Second, the following is some info on the people behind the RC-808 (pictured above) via Vector808:

"We the Analog Mafia, lead by Tadao Kikumoto, is the original R&D staffs who developed the Mid-O Series from Roland Corporation. We would like to express full gratitude and respect to all the people who were in Roland, and supported us at that time.

In above photo, from left to right, we the Analog Mafia are:
Jun-ichi Kadoya: Roland 1977 - 1983, Mid-O Series software / hardware engineer, still is a programmer
Hisanori Matsuoka: Roland 1979 - 1995, Mid-O Series software / hardware engineer, still is an engineer
Kyokazu Fujiwara: Roland 1978 - 1981, Mid-O Series sound source, now a general manager of a software maker
Tadao Kikumoto: Roland 1977 - 2009, Mid-O and V-Series R&D, now Silent Street Music concept maker and promotion
Yoshiro O-e: Roland 1978 - 1988, System-700 and Mid-O Series R&D, now operating a chemical company

Also are:
Hiro Nakamura: Roland 1975 - 2000, CR-68, CR-78, TR-808 sound sources, engineer
Atsushi Hoshiai: Roland 1982 - present, sampling for TR-909, engineer

We all are still analog manias ;)

Because we are independent from Roland Corporation, they nor we can not answer to any kind of inquiries about us and our deliverables including this website. Thank you so much for your understanding and cooperation for everything.

Tadao Kikumoto is currently also working busy on another equally innovative project, called SSM - Silent Street Music. It is multi-channel concurrent streaming and listening technology that allows zapping through multiple music or lecture sources instantly. Join us on its exclusive introduction website (at the moment the website is only in Japanese language)"

Third, vector808 has a fascinating historical account covering the development of the Roland TR-808 starting with the x0x series, or as the original Roland developers referred to them, "The Mid-O" series. The following are three excerpts followed by a link to the full article. Note how they perceived the TR-808 was a failure compared to the LinnDrum in the second excerpt.

One:

"The Beginning
In 1983, a number of instruments were released with MIDI, the standard that I was involved in. After the tough times with all the difficulties of development, Roland launched the TR-909 the successor model of TR-808. Yamaha made debut of the ground breaking DX7, a serious digital synthesizer and again with MIDI. It was the opening of the new chapter in the electronic musical instruments, the dawn of full digital synthesis.

Roland then was still a new emerging enterprise, and did not have enough resources to pursue digital technology. To combat the situation, the Fundamental Research and Development Department was established."

Two:

"To meet the low target price, I employed oscillation technique of pulse wave modulating the simple T-network bandpass filter. By short circuiting the resistors in the T-type network for the certain initial duration with transistors, it was possible to raise the frequency. This allowed us to enforce the attack sound compared with conventional rhythm boxes.

But the initial reputation of the 808 was nothing but crippled as it was compared with the Linn products. Furthermore, the sound had insufficient impact or punch at the beginning, which resulted to have pronounced fundamental frequency 60 Hz. But then again, it was this prominent fundamental which attracted the attention of later time hip-hop and EDM artists, and they gave a name to it as “Deep Decay”. This led to the rediscovery of Mid-O Series. The long decay sound was made possible by decay parameter that I added to show at least as a sign or as an evidence of the 808 being a synthesizer. Even inside the company this was regarded as going too far, but later it became one of vital identities of the 808.“

Three:

"If you liken it in the picture art world, the TR-808 sounds are simple line drawings and illustrations so to speak. It puts more weight on showing essence simply rather than realistic photography. The traditional painting of Japan known as Ukiyo-e is a pictorial method and manner that is primarily made of outlines derived from specification of printing and paints. This manner has its own limits, and hence is a vector of criterion. Katsushika-Hokusai, famous for his Mr Fuji pictures, created The Great Wave off Kanagawa（神奈川南沖浪浦 Kanagawa Minami Oki Nami Ura）. In that piece of work, he threw off the photographic details into abstraction that boldly enhanced the great waves by outlines, and made contrast with a pointed Mt Fuji. This manner derived from its own limits is something impossible with realistic paintings that put priorities on details.
The inventor of the bass drum must have done trial and errors like enlarging the diameter or making the membrane thicker to produce fat low sound. Large portion of the beater strike energy to the skin however must have been consumed by uneven fractional vibration or parasite vibrations, resulting unwanted muddy sound. Also, the drummer spends a long time doing a lot of work on damping with blankets and else in order to suppress the unnecessary resonance with the body or with other drums. But once adequately used, this dirt will become important part of the sound, its identity, reality, and criterion.

The TR-808 bass drum was without the reality of the drums but was like an enhanced great wave depicted in the Hokusai’s picture. It is with abstraction of the details, but then again, also with dynamic and ideal low sound. It lacks with the attack impact and the release decay of sampling drum reality, but the artists chose its ideality."

You can find the full article here: https://vector808.jimdofree.com/home/episodes-of-the-mid-o-series/.

P.S. Not sure if the brand is Analog Mafia, vector808 or both. Giving this post both labels below.

Warp Records WXAXRXP 30th Anniversary Novation Bass Station II

via Novation

"Warp Records celebrate their 30th anniversary with three-day NTS Radio takeover, including exclusive mixes and giveaways.

For the past 30 years, UK based label Warp Records have been consistently setting the bar in the electronic music world, always pushing the boundaries of the genre and thrilling music fans worldwide.

Founded by Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell in the back of a record store in Sheffield in 1989, Warp has become the pioneer of its genre with a unique yet reliable catalogue of electronic music. Responsible for bringing to the world the likes of Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada, Squarepusher and Nightmares on Wax, plus loads more, Warp have also more recently ventured into film, art installations and their own online independent record store, Bleep.com.

This weekend, Warp are set to celebrate their 30th anniversary. Partnering with NTS, they’ll bring together their legendary roster with a packed out 100-hour schedule of music, including exclusive mixes, tributes and giveaways.

As part of the celebrations and in honour of the release of our recent Bass Station AFX update, listeners will have the chance to get their hands on a very limited edition Warp Records x Aphex Twin x Novation Bass Station II, 1 of only 5 made. For a chance to win, simply sign up for the WXAXRXP mailing list following the link below [bottom of page here].

LISTEN NOW

We’ve also compiled a selection of our favourite Warp releases spanning the past thirty years. With so many releases, we could have kept this list going on for ages, but here are ten particular highlights from the past three decades chosen by some of the team over at Novation HQ:

CLICK FOR MORE »

HKA Design Roland TR-626 ROM expansion

Published on Jan 1, 2019 dothkoi

"refer to the following pages
http://harryaxten.altervista.org/tr62..."

Be sure to check out HKA Design's other DIY projects. HKA Design is run by Harry Axten whose work has been featured here on MATRIXSYNTH.

"My TR-505 ROM Expansion has proven itself to be a popular kit, but I was regularly asked if it would work with the TR-505’s big brother, the Roland TR-626. The answer was no, as even though the two machines look and sound quite similar, the electronics inside are incompatible. Eventually, somebody very generously offered to send me a TR-626 to keep if I could produce an expansion kit for it. Naturally I accepted.

Sample ROM address map / encoding

The TR-626, although it has more sounds than the TR-505, fundamentally works in exactly the same way. Samples are played back at 25.0 kHz, and once again some are stored in sequential order, while others are interleaved in pairs. Cymbals are stored in 8K blocks, with a byte being read from each block in cyclical order.

The TR-626 even uses a standard JEDEC-type ROM pinout for its sound ROM; unlike the 505’s which had a horrible custom pinout, requiring a complicated adapter board. The kit I designed for the TR-626 does still use a board, but this time it’s to allow for two ROM chips to be switched. The only real catch with the TR-626 sound ROM is that address lines 6 & 8 are swapped (in the data). It’s easy enough to swap them back using an EPROM pin swapper utility.

For the new sounds, I reused all of the classic sounds from my TR-505 version, although there’s also some TR-707 sounds in there as well, thanks to the TR-626’s larger ROM size. The new sounds are spread across two banks, with LM-1 and LinnDrum sounds in one, and DMX and TR-707 sounds in the other. There's also a socket to install the TR-626's original sound ROM, so you can keep using those sounds as well.

The TR-626 has several strange quirks. One is the way polyphony is assigned across the 8 drum voices. Despite the fact that some sounds share the same key, they don’t necessarily share the same voice. For this reason, some of the key assignments for my new sounds may seem a bit odd, but the reasoning is so that you can play certain sounds together - i.e. the LM-1 hi-hats and snare drum. A full list of the sounds can be found in the manual (see below). As the TR-626 lacks an individual output for claps, I duplicated these sounds into the china cymbal and cup memory locations, so they can come out of the crash / ride cymbal outputs."

See HKA Design for additional details.

Moby's Drum Machines For Sale

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

You can find them on Reverb here.

Don't miss the video here.

Update: some pics and details captured. I made the mistake of trying to capture them all and then realized how many were listed. :) I ended up switching to the more esoteric models. Quite a few have never been featured here on MATRIXSYNTH before. What's a little bit interesting, is only two new labels were needed, one for Domino and one for Side-Kick-Er. All other brands have been featured before. See the labels at the bottom of this post. Side note: Blogger limits the number of characters to 200 for labels, so I wasn't able to capture them all for this post. You can always search for the brand names featured for more. I assume most do this anyway. The labels are more for maintenance and for finding posts that may not feature brand names in descriptions.

Pictured:

Realistic Concertmate Electronic Accompanist-Metronome

"Fully analog rhythmic companion utilizing 5 beat buttons to combine how you wish. Features metronome, speaker and line out, and tempo control.

Serial: 42-2103. Works with no issue."

CLICK FOR MORE »

Experiments with music and electronics by Lanthan O'Ide

Published on Mar 11, 2018 Lanthan O'Ide

Playlist:

CLICK FOR MORE »

WP-20 Experimental Synthesizer - Noise, FX, Drone

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

The WP-20 is an MFOS DIY synth. You can find a couple of demos and other user designs in the archives.

"Here is a quick demo of me noodling around on my custom built WP-20 Synthesizer. There is reverb added. The last 4 minutes or so are two tracks of WP-20, with one track run through the Cimmerian Caves dual echo unit + CV and Gate input from my modular system."

via this auction

"Selling my hand made WP-20 Synthesizer. Keep in mind this is hand made (etched the circuit board myself!), and it has an appearance as such (see photo's). The panel lettering is hand painted with a clear coat of varnish over top. The end cheeks are stained oak.

It can best be described as an experimental / FX / drone synthesizer. It has the following circuits:

- One VCO synthesizer (square or triangle wave) with external CV input
- One LFO (square or triange/sawtooth) with multiple destinations. It will get into audio freq.
- One loopable Envelope generator (attack & release) which can be triggered via trig button or externally and it can also loop and act as a second LFO, with multiple destinations. It will also get into audio freq.
- One VCF with Hi/Low Resonance
- One VCA
- One Noise source

I have used it in conjunction with my eurorack modular to control the pitch CV and gate input (for the Envelope generator) and it works great. It comes with a North American power supply, but will run on any 9v DC (center negative) power supply with at least 500mA

Don't expect this to act as a traditional synthesizer, its an odd little machine!"

CLICK FOR MORE »

Synth Diy Guy Featured Builder: Vinicius Brazil!

Published on Sep 2, 2017 Synth Diy Guy

"A visit and a chat with my partner and teacher Vinicius Brazil of VBrazil Modular.

Here´s a translation of our conversation:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/slwj5baadyx..."

" SYNTH DIY GUY - Featured Builder - Vinicius Brazil
Q - Hi Vinicius! V - Hi
Q - All good? V - All great!
Q - Tell us a little bit about your path, how you got started with electronics and music.
V - I arrived at electronics thanks to music. When I was a kid, 15 years old, I got my first guitar, and in Brazil it was very expensive to acquire guitar pedals. So I started to take some of my friends’ pedals and study their insides, this was in the 60 ́s, and from there I started making my own pedals. Copying at first, then creating muy own solutions. This got me excited and I went on to study Electronics and graduate college as an Electronic Engineer.
Q- Cool, and what kinds of pedals did you make at first?
V - All were guitar pedals. I started of course with fuzz and distortion, then on to more sophisticated things like flangers, phasers and delays. This was during the 70 ́s. In the end of the 70 ́s synthesizers started attracting me. That ́s when I built my first semi modular synth in 1978/79.
Q - Do you still have that synth?

CLICK FOR MORE »

White Noise - All Sounds Within

"white noise only with filters and resonators and reverb

Well Todd Barton got me started on this from a lecture a long time ago. White noise is a treasure trove of sound but like truffle in the forest you have to dig for it a bit. Its lurking there waiting to get out once the proper door is opened.

This is one starts out with the white noise source only but then gets filtered, resonated and reverbed returning to white noise at the end, the stuff in the middle is the interesting part, although quite random.

The different notes emerge from self resonating Frostwave Resonator filter (MS20 clone) receiving 4 sample and hold random CVs for hi and low pass cutoffs and resonator levels,

A Murf adds the percussive fun, an H9 does for echoes and reverb

mostly this is an experiment, proof of concept, not really a 'piece' so to speak, use headphones if you can, enjoy the ride.

frostwave resonatormoog murfeventide h9"

MATRIXSYNTH Review and Overview of the Novation UltraNova

Hi everyone, you might remember, back in July I posted some pics of my newly acquired UltraNova, and mentioned that review posts would eventually follow. Well, I’m happy to tell you the first post is here. The UltraNova is one powerful synth, so to make the overall review a bit more consumable, it will be broken up over time. This first section includes an Overview, the Oscillators, and the Mixer sections. When new sections go up, I will be sure to let you know via a new post.

As with most of my reviews, I will say this one goes pretty deep into the synth engine and all editable parameters. If you are the type of person that likes to dissect and explore all of the available parameters on a synth, then this post is for you. I will touch on what each parameter does and will call out any interesting features and limitations as I do so. There are some pretty special parameters on the UltraNova that give you control beyond most other synths. Hopefully this review will give you some insight into what makes the UltraNova special.

Overview & Quick Comparison to Previous Nova Synths

The Novation UltraNova, released back in 2010, is a 20 voice virtual analog & wavetable synth with three oscillators, two ring modulators and one noise source per voice. The UltraNova also features two audio ins that can be assigned to the oscillator section and/or a 12-band vocoder. It’s worth noting that the Novation Nova from 1999 featured a 40-band vocoder, while the Supernova II from 2000 featured a 42-band vocoder. The UltraNova is a monotimbral synth while the 12 voice Nova was six part multitimbral and the Supernova II (24, 36, or 48 voice) was eight part multitimbral. The UltraNova supports up to 5 simultaneous effects per patch. The Nova supported 42 simultaneous effects, while the Supernova II supported up to 56. The Supernova II also supported FM synthesis while the Nova and UltraNova omit it.

The UltraNova, however, is the first Nova synth to feature wavetable synthesis. An interesting side note is that all of the oscillators on the UltraNova are actually stored as wavetables, including the standard waveforms. According to Novation, “The wavetables in the Supernova series are all calculated. The wavetables in the UltraNova, even the standard analogue waves are wavetable oscillators. This change in oscillator generation was first used on the A-Station and K-Station and subsequently in the KS series, X-Station and Xio.” This allows the UltraNova to have some advanced tricks when it comes to the oscillator section, which will be covered in detail below.

I asked Novation about the lack of FM synthesis and they told me, “FM would have been a lovely addition to the UltraNova, but it would have been asking too much of the DSP to be able to run everything the UltraNova can do and also add in FM. The wavetables were a really good way to introduce a new (to Novation) type of synthesis that is able to cater for some of the synth sounds that FM is known for and also to be able to create lush evolving pads.”

The UltraNova features two routable filters per voice with a total of 14 filter types to chose from including 6dB (no resonance), 12dB, 18dB, and 24dB with Lowpass, Bandpass and Hi-pass modes. The Nova and Supernova II lacked a 6dB mode.

As for hardware, although the UltraNova may have fewer knobs per function than its predecessors, it is extremely well laid out and super intuitive to use. Along with both keyboard velocity and aftertouch, the UltraNova has touch sensitive knobs. They literally respond to touch and can be assigned to various parameters. Worth noting, velocity is configurable, however, aftertouch is not. I found the aftertouch to be good, but it does require a little extra force than I prefer; it’s good for not accidentally triggering it, but not so good for subtle, natural performance.

Please note the above comparisons with the Nova and Supernova II were only for quick reference. The UltraNova of course is its own synth with a few tricks up its sleeves that are lacking in the original Nova line, including a level of control over the synth engine often only found in the modular realm. It sounds incredible, and for the price, currently only $599 new, it is an extremely flexible and powerful synth. You get the current top-of-the-line Novation Nova synth engine with new wavetables and more. The UltraNova is both a performance oriented synth as well as a synth programmers dream. It can be configured for easy access to specific parameters for a live situation, or you can dig as deep as you want with a clearly well thought out interface.

That said, let’s dig in.

The following review and overview will essentially go over the signal flow of the UltraNova followed by performance controls including the arpeggiator and the hardware interface. I’ll go into a little detail on what each feature can and cannot do in an attempt to give you a detailed idea of what the synth is capable of. Because my reviews tend to be a bit on the longer side, I will be posting the sections in chunks over time to make it easier on you to consume and for me to compose.

First we start with…

CLICK FOR MORE »

Modified Roland TR 606 - Vintage Analog Drum Machine

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.
Published on May 15, 2016 Phyllis Dealer

via this auction

"This is a modified Roland TR 606 Programmable Drum Machine.
This machine has served me for years. Not just as drum machine but also as a drum sequencer since it has 7 trigger outs. This is a bit of an unusual mod so please make sure to read carefully so you know exactly what to expect:

Here’s a video that I took of this actual machine - VIDEO [above]
Here’s another video that might be helpful - I used the 606 trigger outs to trigger an external drum synth (that's also for sale) - VIDEO [posted here]

I’ll start with the flaws - There’s a bit of a hum sound when you touch the metal plate but nothing crazy(sounds like a ground issue) Sometimes, and mostly if the machine is set to ‘write’, you will hear the sequencer playing a very light tick sound 16th notes. Again, it ’s quite weak, listen to it in the actual video.
I believe that I got the best results when using the individual outputs while making sure that all the individual sounds volume knobs are all the way down.

Whoever modded this machine used the battery door to pass wires so you cannot run it on batteries but only with the adapter. Since there’s no access to the batteries, the patterns technically can’t be saved. However, I did notice it will save your patterns for a few hours.

In some positions, the mods will be very effective but in other positions, the changes will be very subtle. For instance, you can change the kick’s pitch but below a certain point, you hardly hear any difference. Still, these mods are pretty awesome, you just need to get familiar with its range.

The mods include:

5 individual outputs - kick, snare, toms, h.h, cymbal. You can still use the mono main out as well and control the volume from the individual volume knobs.

5 additional trigger outs - Each voice also has a trigger out so you can use this as a sequencer for multi channel drum modules etc. If counting the original Hi/lo tom trigger outs, you have a total of 7 trigger outs!

There are 8 different mods for the different sounds. I’m not 100% sure what are exact description of these mods but here’s my guess (See the actual mods in action in the video) -
Bass drum pitch, Snare pitch, Snare snap?, Tom hi pass filter, Tom...maybe resonance? Cymbal hi pass filter, H.H high pass filter, and the last one, the one on the bottom right is another sort of a filter on the cymbal.

Cosmetically, the machine has some wear - scratches, marks, small stains, etc.
Please refer to photos for condition.

I'm including an after market 9V power supply."

CLICK FOR MORE »

An Interview with Barry Schrader

Hi everyone! As you know Barry Schrader will be giving his farewell concert at CalArts on September 26. The following is the beginning of my interview with him. I opted to post the questions and answers as they come in.  New QAs will get a new post so you do not miss them and they will be added to this post so we have one central post for the full interview. This should make it easier for all of us to consume in our busy lives, and it will allow you to send in any questions that may come to mind during the interview process.  If you have anything you'd like to ask Barry, feel free to send it in to matrixsynth@gmail.com.  This is a rare opportunity for us to get insight on a significant bit of synthesizer history, specifically with early Buchla systems, and I'd like to thank Barry for this opportunity. Thank you Barry!

CLICK FOR MORE »

MATRIXSYNTH TURNS 10!!!

We are slowly maturing... :) Today marks the 10 year anniversary of MATRIXSYNTH! It's hard to believe 10 years have gone by since I started this format of MATRIXSYNTH. If you are curious what the original version of MATRIXSYNTH looked like, take a look here. That was a portal to all the sites I used to visit. I started the site back in October of 1997. Some people might falsely think the matrix alias and site name came from The Matrix movies, but the first movie did not come out until 1999, two years after matrixsynth.com went live. Did I have the foresight to predict the name, or were the Wachowski's a fan of the site and computer terminal green? :) The truth is the matrix alias and name of the site actually came from my first synth, the Oberheim Matrix-6. I could have gone with a blue on black theme, but my favorite color is green and I liked the retro terminal look, so green on black it is.

Every now and then I get some confusion as to what exactly is the point of this site. Is it a professional news media outlet or just some guy's blog? The truth is it's a bit of both. It started as "some guy's blog" sharing everything he came across in the world of synths and eventually it caught on and grew. It's now a mix of official press releases, demos, videos and everything else I find out there as well as what people send in, with some rules. I promised myself I did not want to fall into the trap of becoming a media outlet only. There is one reason this site exists - to share the world of synthesizers from a synthesizer's perspective. Think about what that means. Nothing else matters. A few days ago I updated the intro to the Post Guidelines. I think it sums up the spirit of the site:

"MATRIXSYNTH is a daily glimpse into the world of synthesizers with the focus on specific, individually identifiable synths. Every single post on the site is created manually, by hand. The current format of the site launched in 2005 at the birth of sharing platforms like Blogger, YouTube, Vimeo and Flickr. SoundCloud wouldn't launch until 2007. Facebook wouldn't open to the public until 2006. Prior to these platforms the only way everyday users of synths could share what they were doing was by having their own dedicated website. Sure there were forums where people could talk about synths, but to upload videos, audio demos, and hi-res pics, you needed your own website. Print publications were dedicated to professionals in the industry, rarely featuring non-professionals, and media was limited to static images. MATRIXSYNTH is meant to compliment print by showcasing what us, the fans of synthesizers, do with our gear on a daily basis. The site is a mix of what I (matrix) find out there and what readers send in. The content is balanced between press releases, official demos, and what everyday users of the site are doing with their synths, along with a glimpse of the used synth marketplace. The site evolved over time to meet both the needs of readers, and to maintain the overall spirit of the site. Imagine if we were able to capture what users of synths were doing back in its infancy. Much of that time may be lost, but we can capture synth history moving forward!"

So how many posts have gone up to date? A whopping 127,448 including this post. Every, single, post, is edited and posted by hand. The sad thing, is because of format changes over time, along with Flash going by the wayside, I have had to start the long process of updating the majority of posts in the archives. It will be slow, but MATRIXSYNTH is a labor of love and I think it will be worth it. The site has received over 46,832,215 pageviews to date. Some question why I chose Blogger as a platform. The reason is because I want the site to live on long after I'm gone. Blogger is free and is owned and hosted by Google, so that's about as safe as it will get. Someone will need to switch the the URL back to matrixsynth.blogspot.com so the site doesn't disappear when/if the matrixsynth.com domain name expires, but hopefully I'll be able to take care of that ahead of time, when I am much, much older. :)

I don't want to take too much time in this post, so I'll cut it short. I just want to say running MATRIXSYNTH has been quite the experience. As with everything there are good days and bad. I feel a sense of ownership and identity when it comes to the site, almost in a parental sense. The site has become my best friend and has been a constant companion over the last ten years. BTW, in the last ten years I have only missed a single day of posting back on August 6, 2005, the first year of running the site, when it definitely was just "some guy's blog". I had no idea there would be something to post every single day of the year moving forward. Think about that a bit. There is something to share every single day. What an wonderful world of synths we live in.

I want to end this by saying thank you for an incredible ten years. I want to thank everyone that has supported the site in their own little way. I am humbled that others love the site as much as I do. THANK YOU!!!

On to another 10 years!

Update: Thank you to everyone who has wished me a happy anniversary in the comments below, on Twitter , and Facebook (and here), email and websites - thank you Palm Sounds!  Below is a screen grab of the initial post from @chris_carter_ (wikipedia) and a cool little image from Audio Hoarder made on his phone.  Thank you!

New Elka Synthex 2 Digital Desktop Synth From Mario Maggi in the Works

This one is in via swissdoc and indirectly via Florian Anwander on the AH email list. This is not the new analog Elka Synthex clone from the new Finnish Generalmusic. This is however from the creator of the original Elka Synthex, Mario Maggi, and it is all digital. An interesting side note mentioned below is that Mario Maggi owns the Synthex name. Not sure what impact if any this might have on the upcoming Generalmusic Elka Synthex remake.


An Update: via swissdoc. It appears a filing for the name SYNTHEX was made on April 29, just three days ago. The filing is under category 15 which covers: "Electronic musical instruments; Electronic synthesizers; Electronic musical apparatus and instruments; Electric and electronic musical instruments; Mechanical, electric and electronic musical instruments; Electronic apparatus for synthesising music [musical instrument]."

"Hello to everyone,

my name is Enrico Cosimi, I'm the author of the text on ACM concerning the Synthex 2. I have been in touch, here in Rome/Italy, with Mario from the late Eigthies and, from the mid Nineties, I'm working with Mario on his "version two"; as you can imagine, Mario is a very very very busy kind of genius, who conceived and realized a lot of third party non-musical items (especially for telecommunications and health). I am not allowed to reveal all the data concerning the new Synthex 2 (b.t.w., it will be a digital equipment: would you dare to conceive an analog instrument with 128 LFOs and 64 EGs in the same box?), but - trust me - when it will be done, it will be a GREAT machine.

CLICK FOR MORE »

Yamaha DX-7iiFD: Classic Tines + electric bass (split patch A/B)

Published on Apr 1, 2015 TheSynthFreq

"Hi!! :)
I'd like to introduce to you, my Yamaha DX-7iiFD! This fantastic synthesizer is full of awesome classic 80s sounds. This video is a short improvisation using patches: Tines and Clav bass. I have these two patches split so that patch A (clav bass) is not sustained by the hold pedal while patch B ( tines) is able to be sustained with the hold pedal. The split sustain feature in the DX-7iiFD is just fantastic to work with and really makes the DX-7iiFD function as two synthesizers all on one set of great action synth keys.
I have not owned this synth long and I already love it. It fits into every song very well and the data cartridge also functions great."

Yamaha DX-7iiFD Classic Tines improvisation

Published on Apr 1, 2015

"Hello out there in synthland! This video features that classic all familiar DX-7 Full Tines. In this song, I am improvising and writing what comes to mind from just the way the sound effects me as I play it. This sound has a calming effect and shimmers gracefully when played carefully. Tines are programmed here (preset 5), to have a nice KF setting so that the higher frequencies ring brightly at the higher register and sound softer and more mellow in the lower register of the keyboard. I am of course thrilled with this preset and find it very useful for those classic ballad, slow 80s songs where a delicate full tines sound is needed."

CLICK FOR MORE »

modular carousel

Published on Oct 3, 2014 diafragma365

"An unprocessed recording of a rather simple but musical patch on my eurorack.

It started as a test of the Scale Select Mode of the Intellijel μScale II, with the Make Noise Pressure Points & Brains used to step through a simple sequence of eight chords.

A Make Noise Maths in combination with a Doepfer S&H were used as a random arpeggiator for the organ-like sound from the Synthesis Technology Morphing Terrarium, going through the E440 VCF to the Make Noise Echophon and Erbe-Verb in order to create some room around the sound.

The rhythm for the “organ” arpeggios is somehow randomized by applying a randomized Ginkosynthese TTLFO multiplication function to a tempo from the ALM Pamela’s Workout, the basic tempo engine for this patch.

While the bass kick sound is a straight 4/4, the hi hat is triggered by a patch on the 4MS QCD, partially controlled per measure by the Make Noise Pressure Points and Brains.

This patch was a nice experiment for me to introduce some randomness in a limited musical framework of eight chords and the sound reminds me of the organ going mad with its short notes on the carousel on the fair where I used to go as a child."

Ekdahl Polygamist in there as well.

via PatchPierre.Net

Rare Italian ELEX Vintage Analog Synthesizer SN 173 62

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

Note this is the first ELEX post on MATRIXSYNTH.

"This 1970s analog synthesizer is so rare that I can find absolutely zero mention of it anywhere on the internet (though if you do find something, please let me know!). I have come across a couple of references to other Elex branded synths online, but those appear to be fairly standard Italian string-synths along the lines of Hohner/Logan etc.

While the synth for sale here would also likely be classified as a string synth, it is not like any other I have owned or heard. The bass cello sound alone justifies owning this. It is obviously not the most versatile of synths, but what it does it does extremely well. With the added bonus that, due to its extreme rarity, you can be pretty sure you are one of the very few people in the world with access to precisely these sounds.

I'm about to relocate to the US, and considering that this is the heaviest synth I've ever lifted in my life (almost 27kg) it unfortunately has to go. I've used it on several recordings and it will be missed, but I cannot justify the cost of dragging this half way round the world along with all the other junk I own.

I brought this synth over from Italy and it still has an Italian plug on it. A simple and cheap travel adapter will fix that.

There obviously was once a lid, but it was already missing when I bought the synth. I have removed the slider switches so they don't get damaged in transit, but these will be included in the parcel along with the synth (it's a while since I removed them though, so I cannot be 100% sure all of them are there, but certainly most are). Other than that, see photos for various marks and defects. No problems with the sound at all."

Update: here's the Hohner version. via Ryan on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge.

Update2: some info via Micke on VSE (via Lorne on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge as well): "The keyboard you're describing is a basic electronic piano built in Italy by ELEX (Elettronica Excelsior for Hohner International* Belgium & UK. It was preceeded by a similar model called the HI piano I (K-1). Afaik, the original model appeared in '74 or '75 and the II about '77.

Elex were also releasing these ep's as well as the K-2 stringvox, K-3 Jazz-rock organ/piano and the K-4 stringer under their own brand name.

Around 1979 or thereabouts ELEX brought out new versions of some of their older keyboards like the Hohner International Globetrotter ep and Hohner Int. stringvox 3/XL (the same instrument is ocassionally found with the name "String-thing"), which were updated versions (all-black in color) of the Hohner K-1 ep and K-4 stringer respectively.

Hope this helps

Micke

* not to be confused with Matthias Hohner, Germany."

CLICK FOR MORE »

Roman Bayou's Cinq: SE80 Beats 'n Band in a Boom* Box, in 5 (or so) Movements

Published on Jul 15, 2014 StudioElectronics

"Studio Electronics' SoundCloud (http://tinyurl.com/oq6c5sd) Copy:

What happens when one disappears into the wilderness road of one's mind (and mighty-mighty DP8) with a Boomstar SE80, a little help from its friends: Boom*s 4075, 5089, SEM, 3003, no fixed deadlines, the power and elegance of Kontakt, and a desire to inspire and be inspired? This piece "right there"—my two and a half year old daughters' go to phrase.

The Boomstar SE80 got the party started early with its remarkable capacity to generate very warm, acoustic sounding drum sounds, in addition to the emblematic, voltage-flavored fare. Hundreds of samples later—some put through "Waves" paces—I dragged my favs into a new sequence window at bar 1, with a fixed tempo, sans bar lines, and no particular key signature in mind.

Very non-random, if avant garde sounding patterns and melodies emerged, preparing me for an immersion headlong into West African rhythms, and demanding an extended vacay to the Isle of Dub. Once those pillars were in place all of the Stevie, Gino, Duke, Cameo, Zap, Monte Moir, and St. Regis (the band yo) chords, leads, and turns—produced by both the 4075 and SE80 Boomstars—colored and kept pushing until the Roger "vocalisms" of the dual resonant SE80 filters sat atop the throne, playing the solo diva, wowing the key Dub backbeats, and hitting the combo-organy voicing stretches. It was with great difficulty that I backed away the '80s knobs and switches, because of that intoxicating "vocality and warmth."

The drums, excepting one distorted fill which I enjoyed complimenting and co-opting with synthiness, the triangle (Drew Nuemann's brilliant 3003 creation recorded at 3% of unity—it's true Drew!), a crisp D. Neumann tom design (4075), a very Mike Neuble-ish 16th note triplet figure (SEM), an open hi hat (SEM), the crash cymbal (SEM), and the "Bonham" room mic kick drum from "Boomstar the Beguine" (SEM), were generated by the SE80; I made far more samples than I could press into service, but it was most enjoyable slipping and sliding them in whenever I could.

All of the leads are single sample stretches in Kontakt, or sampled performances (some of which went under the knife and tune); the chords are a mix of the same and individually tracked single note performances, which were in turn repurposed/retuned in various places spectrally in DP. The more percussive and filter driven polys represent the latter. It was amazing how good the "stretches" sounded—kind of reminded me of working with valve instruments and their gradually lower register, longer and slower envelopes ramps.

A bit of Boomstar 5089 begins supporting the last half of the Dub groove with a bass double, figure, and slide or two, snapping once in the 1st Movement (a pull from the "Shootout at the Boomstar Corral" YouTube vid for those still awake). The B* Moog filter also supplies the sub in the rejected "Simon Says" soundtrack moodiness in Movement 5. The piano and synth patches are from GarageBand, ported in via that .aiff stripping trick.

Boomstar 4075 gets its Gary Wright/Rene and Angela 2600 bass groove on, above the 5089 sub fray, yet under it's own classic lead sound; a bony redux of Movement 3's "Moir-ish" charm brings the effort to a conclusion.

Boomstar 5089 boomed both the intro bass and 1:53 breakdown.

Lest I forget, the SE80 freeform synth jazz dance of the 4th Movement (3:03), grinds into "that perfect machine voice like ELP's, "I am perfect are you!" Directly following it is my friend Dan's "kind of atmospheric, distorted, Tomita-esque mood till 4:51 whence come the mysterious morse code signals from the nether reaches of outer space." All of which follows the sub movement (small m) of the SE80 Beat/Glitch Boxing: the punctuation for the preceding micro Glam Synth beatdown.

Final Note: The ambient, "spooky sound starting at 0:43 which weaves underneath awhile," following the 1st Movement (really another sub movement...), is an SEM lead subjected to generous Paulstretching in Audacity.

And do c.f. tinyurl.com/nmk7rfx for your purest listening pleasure!

Special Thanks to David Bowie whose fascinating, multimbral life and entertainment genius distracted and reinvigorated me near project's end; throw Gino Vannelli into that motivational kettle as well—THAT VOICE! Well, as my beloved mother Maria Therezia was wont to say without undue emphasis: "He's an Italian."

Enjoy near responsibly, preferably over some worthy Genelecs or Audix speaks,
Marc Alexandre Theriot St. Regis 6-24-14

(Quoted commentary by Peri O'Meri)"

New Roland Jupiter-8 Tracks by Danielle aka TheSynthFreq

"Its Got To Be Magic" by Danielle Published on Jan 29, 2014 TheSynthFreq·209 videos

"Hi! The new year of 2014 is starting with some fast paced pure Jupiter-8 magic. :) I recorded all tracks just from the analogue Jupiter-8 only. The only sounds not from the Jupiter of course is the drum track. The drum track was written and programmed by me using an awesome app for the iphone called FunkBox, using a Linn drum machine emulation.

Track 1 on the 4-track recording machine (MRS4b), is chords, drums and bassline all in one take at one time just like using a real tape machine. Now venturing in to the world of audio track over track recording, many more possibilities are available for recording full complete songs with our beloved analogue synths that do not feature MIDI or the MIDI implementation doesn't allow multi-timbral recording to a 16-track midi sequencer.

Synths used: ONLY JUPITER-8 :)

Please enjoy the pure Jupiter-8 funkiness!
:) Danielle"

"Evolve" by Danielle

Published on Jan 29, 2014

"HI!
This purely Jupiter-8 new wave style composition features new patches recorded to 4-track. Only 2 of the 4 tracks are used here and lead is played live.

This song is about evolving positively in every day.
Keep things synthy out there everyone! :)

Please enjoy
:) Danielle"

"Forever and Ever" by Danielle

Published on Jan 29, 2014

"Hi! :)
Here is a somewhat Rock/synth pop kind of composition, with a soundtrack to an 80s movie kind of feeling to it. I used all new original Jupiter-8 patches and used 2 tracks to the audio recorder which is on the stand above the Jupiter-8. I recorded JP in split mode, bass on the lower end and strings/synth on the top end of the keyboard.

The lead patch is a massive lead sound that has been set to mono or "solo" on the Jupiter-8 and also has some mild portamento added in for control with the pitchbend.

This lead is originally played in harmony with the Moog Liberation keytar.

Please enjoy :)"

New MOOG SUB 37 Paraphonic Polyphonic Synth Coming to NAMM?

Click the pic for the full size shot.

Some discussion on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge and MATRIXSYNTH Facebook.

Update: [see Update4 below] for those not familiar with Paraphonic synths, a definition via wikipedia followed by a couple of notes:

CLICK FOR MORE »

Rhodes CHROMA ARP Analog Polyphonic Synthesizer

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

This is the second one listed today. These are beautiful instruments and thanks to the iPad, Chromas with the CC+ upgrade can now be edited in real time with a dedicated iPad editor.

Notes on this one via the listing: "Here is a Rhodes Chroma that has recently been restored to full operation by William Santana at Santana Musical Electronics of Portland, OR. The unit was purchased from the original owner and has already been upgraded with the SPSU that is currently available for the Chroma.

))))))))PLEASE READ(((((((((
The CPU in the unit is the original design but the CC+ CPU upgrade is on order now and will be available some time in March. Once the kit is available I would be willing to ship it to the seller as it's value is included with the sale price in this auction. No further costs will be incurred by the buyer of this unit for the value of the CC+. The CC+ will be shipped as soon as is received from the manufacturer. The only thing the buyer will have to make arrangements for is for the installation of the upgrade. The CC+ along with the SPSU brings the Chroma truly into the 21st century providing an enduring stable service life for many more years to come as well as many new and valuable features provided by the CC+. Read more info about it at: rhodeschroma.com

The CC+ is essential for full CC control of all parameters and has already been used to great benefit by the designer of the
Enabler Chroma interface, and the iPad Touch OSC interface:

The woodwork is all original. Due to the typical nature of the aging Rhodes Chroma, often the end caps are found to be stained from the degraded foam that lines the flight case for the Chroma. This unit came to me with foam stains but has since been refinished and the case has been refoamed as well.

As you can see in the pics, the cosmetic condition is very clean. I have since provided bushings under the front panel screws to give it a cleaner look. The tolex is very clean as well. Overall, this unit is an excellent example of the Rhodes Chroma model.

Also included is 2 extra channel boards. Parts have been removed from both of these boards to facilitate the restoration of this Chroma. Currently, NONE of the CEM ICs are present on these boards. However, there are other parts that are specific to the Chroma including the cards themselves. Both of the extra cards are the 2nd or 3 revisions that still had to have a jumper installed at the factory. The need for this jumper was corrected by the later revisions of the channel board which are what all 8 channel boards are currently loaded in the Chroma you see here.

The sound of the unit is big, organic and very deep. The keyboard is a real, wooden 64-note velocity-sensitive dream come true. The programming features are truly unlike any other synth. The "patch" parameter gives you several different routing options between the 2 voices on each card. Some have compared this to the "Algorithm" concept found in the Yamaha DX7.

This unit comes with all of the original accessories including:
Dual sustain/sostenuto pedal (Rhodes)
Single patch advance pedal (Rhodes)
Variable voltage control pedal (Rhodes)
3 x cassette interface cables (original) 2 x 5-pin 1 x 8 pin
Programming manual
Performance Manual
Syntech MIDI interface with all documentation
Front panel interface feature chart
2 x original factory patch cassettes

The Rhodes Chroma was the last product to come from ARP. This unit was to be ARPs big push back into the very competitive synthesizer market. They were definitely onto something. There were many innovation that were developed for this machine that were way ahead of its time. Unfortunately, ARP could not hold things together to release the product to market. Phillip Dodds, who was responsible for the Chromas development and the shutting down of ARP, managed to convince CBS to take up the design along with the R&D team to release it to market under the Rhodes badge. The Rhodes Chroma saw some hi-profile use and was definitely the "players" synthesizer in its day."

CLICK FOR MORE »