Arduino VGM player on ESP32 (SN76489 chiptune) with a moving panorama stereo effect

video upload by Marcel Licence

"In this video you see the VGM player running on the ESP32.
All you hear comes directly from the PCB.
I made the 4 channels of the SN76489 emulation visible on the OLED screen.
In addition to that I tried to create a kind of moving panorama,
to generate a moving stereo separation.
The channels are floating around by changing the left/right volume
and the delay time changes too to simulate the changing distance.

The other features are the same as on the RP2040.

At the end of the video you will find a lot of music examples.

Used VGM files:
- Global Gladiators - 03 - Duelin-Dance.vgm
- Global Gladiators - 02 - Techno Tune.vgm
- Sonic The Hedgehog 2 - 03 - Act Start.vgm
- Sonic The Hedgehog 2 - 04 - Underground Zone.vgm
- Sonic The Hedgehog - 02 - Act Start.vgm
- Sonic The Hedgehog - 03 - Green Hill Zone.vgm
- Lemmings - 21 - Let's Go!.vgm
- Sonic The Hedgehog - 05 - Bridge Zone.vgm
- Sonic The Hedgehog - 06 - Chaos Emerald.vgm
- Sonic The Hedgehog - 08 - Bonus Zone.vgm
- Sonic The Hedgehog - 09 - Labyrinth Zone.vgm
- Sonic The Hedgehog - 10 - Act Complete.vgm
- Sonic The Hedgehog - 11 - Scrap Brain Zone.vgm
- Sonic The Hedgehog - 12 - Sky Base Zone.vgm
- Sonic The Hedgehog - 13 - Boss Theme.vgm
- Sonic The Hedgehog - 16 - Marble Zone (unused).vgm

Files were originally in .vgz format and I renamed them to .vgz, decompress them.
Finally, rename the uncompressed files back to .vgm before I could play them.

---

Projects can be found on GitHub: https://github.com/marcel-licence"

Arduino VGM player with rough SN76489 emulation - sneak peak of a video game music chiptune project

video upload by Marcel Licence

"Similar to the previous project I wanted to implement the playback of a new file format.
In this project VGM files are played on different platforms (decompressed VGZ files).
To get any audio I've implemented a very rough emulation of the SN76489 sound chip.
It has three square wave outputs and a noise channel.
The noise channel does not completely work as intended yet.
You might hear some deviations to the expected audio of the video game music.
This project is implemented in Arduino.
After adding some more features I will make this project available soon.


Used VGM files:
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - 07 - Sky High Zone.vgm
- Global Gladiators - 02 - Techno Tune.vgz
- Global Gladiators - 03 - Duelin-Dance.vgz
- Global Gladiators - 04 - Dance Tune.vgz
- Lemmings - 01 - Title screen.vgm
- Lemmings - 02 - Can-Can.vgm
- Lemmings - 03 - Levels 2 & 19.vgm
- Lemmings - 04 - Levels 3 & 20.vgm
- Lemmings - 05 - Levels 4 & 21.vgm

Files were originally in .vgz format and I renamed them to .vgz, decompressed them
and finally renamed the uncompressed files back to .vgm before I could play them.

---

Projects can be found on GitHub: https://github.com/marcel-licence
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marcel_lice...
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarcelLicence
Discord: https://discord.gg/yT8bQdZE (if the link doesn't work please check the description of the latest video)
Mail: mailto:marcel.licence.o@gmail.com

---
Intro, Raspberry Pi Pico via PWM: (0:00)
ESP32 playback via audio codec: (2:37)
ESP8266 test output via PWM: (3:27)
ESP32-S2 using I2S DOUT alone: (4:17)"

Arduino tracker on ESP32 developed from scratch - little sneak peak of a tracker/synthesizer project

video upload by Marcel Licence

"I have started to develop a tracker from scratch.
It runs on the ESP32 and also contains features from my previous projects.
The file format is quite simple.
All samples are integrated in the .mod file.
There are also patterns that are put together as a song.
I copied post effects from my old projects and added a feature to play the embedded sounds/samples.
Feel free to leave comments with ideas and suggestions to move the project forward.

Used tracker files:
- Patrick Phelan - Lotus3_Cd6-Shamrip.mod
- Patrick Phelan - Lotus3_Cd3-Lotus3.mod
- BOULA.MOD
- MONSTER.MOD
- PRES.MOD
- MINES.MOD
- bodyblow.mod
- 2unlimitedmagic.mod
- 2unlimitedmix.mom

---

Projects can be found on GitHub: https://github.com/marcel-licenc"

Arduino sample synthesizer is now full of samples - loading SF2 and WAV samples on ESP32 & RP2040

video upload by Marcel Licence

"I've been working on improving the sampler project, especially how it loads sound samples.
Now, you can load samples from SF2 soundfonts, wav files, and a chosen directory.
This project works on ESP32 and RP2040, and more support is in the works.
I've also included the effects section from the last project.

Soundfonts do contain one big chunk of 16bit/24bit sample data, a list of data sets.
They have details about the range, tuning, and loop points of the samples.
There's also a list of instruments that can use different samples for various key and speed levels.
Lastly, there's a list of presets with additional settings.
I tried to make it easy to load specific parts of the soundfont, leaving out some options on purpose for flexibility.

You can also load wav files. These files might have extra information about the samples, like loop regions and tuning.
They are stored in an additional tag: "smpl".

In the future, I'm thinking of supporting different data formats (like 8-bit and stereo) and adding more file formats for loading samples.
I'm considering vgm and spc (Sega Mega Drive and Super Nintendo samples) and aif files containing sample info.

Sample sources:
SM64SF V2.sf2 - https://www.smwcentral.net/?p=viewthr...
Emu EMAX II Soundfonts - https://archive.org/details/emax-2-sf-2
Linn LM-1 - https://www.dropbox.com/s/6lbofq90s54...
Enigma Flute Sound – Emulator II Shakuhachi sample - https://music.geisheker.com/download-...
SC55 Piano_V2.sf2 - https://musical-artifacts.com/artifac...
Yoshi's Island (WK 1.05).sf2 - https://musical-artifacts.com/artifac..."

Chris Meyer's Alias Zone: The Cave

video upload by Learning Modular

"This performance premiered on April 1 2022 as part of @SynthFest France. It’s a mythical, musical exploration of the Lod Cave in Thailand, with the various musical parts rushing off to explore its various chambers and celebrate its mystery and beauty, while others are more apprehensive and suggest caution.

More music by Alias Zone: https://aliaszone.bandcamp.com

In this piece, Chris Meyer plays:
Pandora’s Box (modular synthesizer)
Ableton Live
Korg Wavestation and Arturia Pigments virtual synthesizers
cave ambience by Marcel Gnauk of FreeToUseSounds
wordless vocals by Holly Drummond via Black Octopus
graphical treatments: Trish Meyer"

SFF2022 - MODOR NF1 et DR2

video upload by Les Sondiers

"Démo des produits MODOR par leur concepteur, Marcel GROSS"

Alias Zone: Iceland (performed by Chris Meyer of Learning Modular)

video upload by Learning Modular

"This performance of Iceland was created for the 2021 edition of SoundMiT. In a slight change from my recent instrumentation, I played my smaller portable modular synthesizer system, as well as several of my polyphonic synthesizers. Hope you enjoy it!

Field recordings of surf, wind chimes, and Arctic Terns by Marcel Gnauk of FreeToUseSounds.com."

Polyphonic synthesizer goes monophonic (monophonic mode for arduino synthesizer project)

video upload by Marcel Licence

"This video shows only a little update for the DIY synthesizer:
A monophonic mode is now available which can be turned on and off on the fly.
In addition to that it supports portamento with a tweakable time."

See the Marcel Licence label below for more.

ESP32 polyphonic synthesizer add-on - simple arpeggiator and virtual split (for Arduino)

video upload by Marcel Licence

"In this video you will find a short demonstration of the arpeggiator module and a virtual split point.
Both modules are still work in progress but also usable.
I would like to integrate them into existing projects to make them more accessible.

All you hear comes directly from a single ESP32 (with PCM5102A DAC).
The project is a modified basic synthesizer with the alpha juno oriented sound generation.

Key features:
- virtual split point listens to all midi channels
- an upper and lower area can be defined
- notes are forwarded to different MIDI channels
- 16 bit arpeggiator
- sequences can be predefined and part of the code
- sequences can be overwritten by playing the notes
- variable tempo - variable gate time

This may be also interesting for you: Mono stepper synth with arpeggio
The first try with the alpha juno like sound

Both and moreposted here]

Projects can be found on GitHub: https://github.com/marcel-licence"

DIY synthesizer soundengine (using ESP32 Arduino) - Little demo of the Roland Alpha Juno like sound

video upload by Marcel Licence

"This video is only a short sound demo of a little sound engine I tried to implement.
I recommend using a stereo output (phones or speaker) for the best listening experience.
It is based on the Roland Alpha Juno synthesis but slightly modified.
The sound is some kind of pulse width modulated saw wave without chorus.
A LFO drives the pulse width for both channels independently creating the stereo effect."

Projects can be found on GitHub: https://github.com/marcel-licence

Additional demos:

CLICK FOR MORE »

New Superbooth Berlin 2021 Presentation Videos

You can use the controls on the bottom left or upper right of the player to skip around.

Playlist:
1. Joranalogue - SUPERBOOTH21 Gesprächskonzert (lecture concert)

The Belgium Eurorack synth maker Joranalogue presented not one, but three new modules at SUPERBOOTH21: Orbit 3, Enhance 2 and Step 8.

During their Gesprächskonzert at Fuchsbau they not only talked about these new modules, but Alter Fritz also performed a live session with a Joranalogue based Eurorack system.

Driven by an unrelenting passion for analogue circuits, Joranalogue Audio Design offers an expanding series of high-quality Eurorack music synthesizer modules. They're continually introducing new approaches and techniques to the Eurorack platform, making waves in the waters of analogue synthesis. All products are designed and made in Belgium, guided by experiences in both modern hardware engineering and vintage synthesizer servicing.

This year, the Joranalogue crew finally returns to Berlin to present its latest developments. Join designer Joran van Gremberghe and artist Frits Jacobs (Alter Fritz) for a whirlwind ride through the exciting world of these black and silver modules!

2. u-he Wiretap - SUPERBOOTH21 Gesprächskonzert (lecture concert) @SUPERBOOTH21

For this Gesprächskonzert Urs Heckmann, founder of Berlin based company u-he, teamed up with Sebastian Hübert for their performance and presentation at Fuchsbau during SUPERBOOTH21. The former one-man show u-he is now a tightly knit team of employees, active associates and 3rd-party contractors – with ambitious plans.

Famous for very accurate and widely appreciated software synthesizers and effects, u-he showed their first eurorack module at a previous edition of Superbooth – the CVilisation. At SUPERBOOTH21 it was time for another announcement. They took the chance to present their latest development with a Gesprächskonzert, of which you can find the video documentation below.
The module is named Wiretap and it played a major role in creating rhythm during their performance.

Wiretap is a double gate extractor for v/oct signals. It will generate a gate when the voltage goes high, when it goes low, when it's steady, when it moves, when it's higher than the other one and when it's lower. And you can set the gate length and get additional envelope outputs.

3. Bitwig - SUPERBOOTH21 Gesprächskonzert (lecture concert)

Berlin based DAW-makers Bitwig played a Gesprächskonzert on Thursday of SUPERBOOTH21. With the idea of - Less is More - Dave Linnebank showcased Bitwig and its possibilities, concentrating on simple ideas and how to creatively make them more complex. In other words: In this performance Dave starts with some short phrases, and then uses Bitwig Studio to extend them into musical passages. These will then become performance-ready clips by adding Bitwig's Operators for some fuzzy logic, getting the computer to make compositional choices while Dave is busy playing new lines on top.

Dave Linnenbank is a musician, technologist, and teacher. Over the past 20 years, he has crafted musical tools for pop and jazz artists, Broadway musicals, and desktop electronic musicians everywhere. Dave is part of Team Bitwig in Berlin, regularly making YouTube tutorials and more.

4. Verbos Electronics Complete Systems – SUPERBOOTH21 Gesprächskonzert (lecture concert)

During his Gesprächskonzert at SUPERBOOTH21 Mark Verbos is introducing the audience to the newly designed Verbos Electronics System Configurations: Designer Configuration, Performer Configuration, Producer Configuration.

Mark Verbos explains the intended use of each configuration as well as the philosophy behind not only the module selection but also module arrangement. He also plays some examples with all three system to give a musical reference to the explanation of the ideas behind each system. This Gesprächskonzert is a great opportunity to watch and hear all three configurations right next to each other – where else would that be possible? Enjoy the video!

5. Modor DR-2 - SUPERBOOTH21 Gesprächskonzert (lecture concert)

Modor introduced its powerful DR-2 drum machine at SUPERBOOTH21 with a short explanation by Marcel from Modor Music about its most deviant possibilities. This six-channel drum machine is completely digital – a discipline that Modor shines in. The DR- drum synthesizer features a sequencer with 128 steps and a very tidy user interface.

It positively surprised many people when it was introduced, because it is unusual and brings something new to the table. Luckily the DR-2 is not a copy of a classic, but uses modern digital synthesis to create drum sounds. A drum model can be assigned to each of the six channels. You can also assign the same model to several or all channels. The models include: Three bass drum models, three snare models, three cymbal models, claps, two tom models and miscellaneous, the latter divided into three subcategories: rimshot, rattle and cowbell.

This Gesprächskonzert was a very welcome opportunity to hear this rare drum machine in action. Enjoy the video!

6. Polyend Tracker - SUPERBOOTH21 Gesprächskonzert (lecture concert)

Sobutane presents his upcoming album Future Cake using two Trackers and one Medusa durng this Gesprächskonzert at SUPERBOOTH21.

After working with the Yamaha RM1x sequencer for 13 years Sobutane discovered the Tracker by Polyend. Originally bought just for drum parts, it revealed itself to be a great live-oriented tool, making him compose music outside his trusty RM1x for the first time in his life. Although the idea of a tracker is not particularly new, the Tracker still feels fresh and inspirational to many musicians. The Tracker brought Sobutane ideas and a new approach to composing his music, so he bought a second one and a Medusa, also made by Polyend. That was the starting point for the creation of the music you hear in his Gesprächskonzert for Polyend. Enjoy!

7. Ploytec Boom Kick - SUPERBOOTH21 Gesprächskonzert (lecture concert)

This Gesprächskonzert was unusually opened with a steel-guitar performance by DobBroMan, showing the Ploytec Boom Kick (Guitar Pedal).

Ploytec always valued the opportunity of Gesprächskonzerte at Superbooth and so they took the chance to do another one in 2021 this time for a rather unusual product – a guitar pedal that generates a kick drum in sync with the tapped in tempo. Additionally it sends a MIDI clock to other gear. This is useful for simple backing of what the guitarist is playing. The addition of a bass drum completes the otherwise solo guitar and with the MIDI tempo output, other instruments can play in sync – whether these are additional drum machines or synthesizers or whatever.

And there is one special thing to note about the bass drum sound – there are no samples saved to this machine. The drum sound is generated through synthesis and it has a huge range of possible sounds, suitable for pretty much all music genres.

And if you haven’t heard the Superbooth blues yet, watch until the end!

8. LPZW & Tubbutec - SUPERBOOTH21 Gesprächskonzert (lecture concert)

Kai and Tobi (aka LPZW & Tubbutec) probably could have sold every second SUPERBOOTH21 guest a 6mod6, that's how well their first joint product was received. At Fuchsbau the Berlin based manufacturers presented the result of their collaboration: a highly modified homage to the 606.

They were accompanied by an opening performance from Cem Oral a.k.a. Jammin’ Unit in which he used the new module intensively, giving a good idea about what the module sounds like in a musical context.

After the performance Kai and Tobi walked the audience through every sound engine of the module and showed their modifications of the original 606 circuits. Not only with the Gesprächskonzert, they convinced a lot of people that they created a great sounding and very versatile 606 inspired drum module.

Now the wait begins, the first batch of the 6mod6 still has to be built. Let's hope that the chip shortage does not delay the production too much.

9. Erica Synths PĒRKONS - SUPERBOOTH21 Gesprächskonzert (lecture concert)

Erica Synths team of engineers and musicians have been working hard to bring surprise us all with a new instrument that no one expected and everyone wanted. Erica Synths had their booth completely dedicated to their latest product the PĒRKONS HD-01 drum machine.

PĒRKONS features four sonically versatile hybrid voices (digital sound engine + analogue multimode filter with overdrive) and a sequencer with simultaneous control over all four percussion tracks, an internal analogue BBD FX send, parameter automation and much more. This is a modern drum machine with a serious vintage look.

For their Gesprächskonzert they brought not one, but two of these machines and finally explained it and showed what it is capable of. For everyone’s surprise, the demo started with a drone set – yes, it can also do drones. And for the final concert part of this presentation, no other than Kodek entered the stage. Sounds fun? Enjoy the video!

10. Nonlinear Labs C15 – SUPERBOOTH21 Gesprächskonzert (lecture concert)

Stephan Schmitt, the founder of Nonlinear Labs, plays some improvisations on the C15 and shows the enormous tonal possibilities of this instrument and its ability to be played very expressively – with up to four expression pedals and the two large ribbon controllers. The C15 is a puristic and distinct digital synthesizer. Its sounds are generated by elementary algorithms and feedback structures. This opens up new fields for sound design and gives musicians an expressively playable and dynamical behavior, similar to acoustic instruments. The C15 is an instrument that has to be played by hand to unfold its full potential. After the performance Stephan explains what features are new and which special features of the C15 he used.

This isn’t the first Gesprächskonzert by Nonlinear Labs, so be sure to check out the previous editions for more information about this unique instrument.

11. Haken Audio & La Voix du Luthier – SUPERBOOTH21 Gesprächskonzert (lecture concert)

Haken Audio and La Voix du Luthier have been presenting together at Superbooth for several years now, showing how well these two companies and their products fit together. This Gesprächskonzert features a Haken Continuum, the all-new Continuum Eurorack Module and the large Pyramid Resonator.
Watch Edmund Eagan passionately talk about his products and enjoy the demonstration and performance of the Continuum Fingerboard by Rob Schwimmer.

The almighty synthesis engine behind all these sounds is the Eagan Matrix, that now is also featured in the Eurorack module. This is a huge opportunity for sound designers and artists to expand their sound palette with very expressive and unique sounds.

12. UDO Audio Super 6 Desktop - SUPERBOOTH21 Gesprächskonzert (lecture concert)

UDO Audio brought the world one of the most interesting poly-synths of the recent years. Very rarely a company achieves such a success with their first ever product – but the Super 6 made it. Now UDO Audio showed the desktop version of this incredible synth. Great looks, ergonomics and the sound of the original Super 6 make this machine a very interesting option for many musicians and studios on the hunt for a capable poly-synth.

In this video George gives a little insight into the development of the company in general and his view on the past two years, since he presented the Super 6 to the world at SUPERBOOTH19.

The toy keyboard mod - stand along synthesizer

video upload by Michael Nolan

"Recently - as a response to the pandemic I followed my dreams to skill back up in electronics, software development. I went through a lot of projects - a huge number and started to talk but today I'm sharing a really big step up in my work. Many firsts had to be worked through to design, make and then develop the software and hardware user interface for this full working keyboard and digital synth (that simulates analogue sounds to a great extent).

This is a fork of the original code from Marcel License
https://github.com/MichaelPNolan/Stan...
I wrote a lot of the parts for physical controls, the display, the arpeggio functionality and more. Without the code from Marcel though I wouldn't be anywhere as far making music. Initially it was a steep learning curve but this is about the 3rd object for making music I've made and i'm starting more projects. Eventually I hope to have a suite of different keyboards that do different things or work in different ways."

Additional details via github:

"StandAloneSynth37key

This is for someone who wants to wire up from a toy keyboard and pots, buttons to play the synth in a self contained unit. That is why I forked from Marcel Licence who has developed a number of modular synth projects and shared.

I made a thread where I started to list new features. https://github.com/marcel-licence/esp32_basic_synth/discussions/60

This project is moving along as a fork of basic synth. I've made my own knobs, banks of parameters physical interface in this self contained unit. I am milking this code for all I can to develop something I have a good deal of control.

Ran into a lot of little electronics building issues with physically making it stable and wiring it. My projects are kind of semi-wired and semi-wires into temporary pin-connectors like you have on a test arduino where I soldered some connectors to the ESP32 dev module. Getting it to be stable and using the right wire and lengths so I can keep opening it up and improving it without breaking some connection takes experience.

Issues I am starting to look more at the modules I was just using at how the work and learn from that. Had some weird DAC issues when i had a floating local SCLK instead of earthing it. Sometimes I get a bit of clipping with the sinewave or the current use causes it to lose it's stability until I had the wiring done right. Started to use my on AWG22 solid core breadboard style wires cut from a spool so I could make things stable.

Feature upgrades I like my display setup - i have 8 sectors and a routing for showing the set levels. I need a button I think to put it into edit or not edit so that I can change sets of parameters without overwriting things.

New Features to be started I need to make a patch write/read or at least read out a list of numbers to save as presets. I need to make a physical 5 pin DIN midi in/out so I can slave or master out the keys."

MFB's Manfred Fricke Has Passed Away

Left: Manfred Fricke (via Amazona.de) back in the day with his first creations, the MFB-501 drum machine (right), and MFB-601 digital sequencer (left).

2nd image is Manfred Fricke with the MFB SYNTH II at SUPERBOOTH (unknown source).

We lost another legend in the synth world. Sad news in via STROMKULT: "'On June, 17th around 11am Manfred Fricke from Berlin alias MFB sadly passed away after having had a hard time with cancer for a while already. He left his wife Gloria and his son Jean-Marcel behind, we are all very sad having lost this partner, friend and father.'
HerrSchneider

Manfred Fricke was one of Berlins pioneers of analog synth and drum machine makers. He has been the weapon of choice for many (not only) starting musicians. Let’s be honest, who didn’t have one of his creations early in his or hers journey into electronic musical instruments – or at least thought about getting one – and why shouldn’t you? Manfred Fricke's machines always brought something unique to the table, they were mostly analog, affordable, in small plastic housings and just did the job. Manfred always focused on keeping his products affordable for his clients and the instruments quite often made their way to professional use later on, and the musicians often kept their first units as something almost holy, because it were these machines that paved the way into analog electronic music making.

But it would be too short-sighted to associate MFB only with budget entry-level products. Especially the drum machines Tanzbär and Tanzbär II, or the great Dominion 1 show that Manfred Fricke also built machines that met higher demands. The Tanzbär, in particular, is considered by many to be their favorite drum machine of the last few years, especially in terms of its amazing sound.

We hope that MFB will continue to exist and that it will continue to make it easier for many generations of musicians to enter the world of electronic sound production.

We wish Manfred Fricke's son Jean-Marcel continued success for the future of MFB and extend our condolences to him and his family. And lets hope that Manfred will finally meet up with all the other good guys on the other side.

Rest In Peace."

MFB TANZBAR 2 pic via STROMKULT.


video upload by 7V-STUDIO

MFB's Manfred Fricke's first procuct, the Fricke MFB-501 drum machine.

Description via this video:
"This little analog beatbox was developed in 1980 1979 by Manfred Fricke. It was offered at 380 DM. As a low-cost model on the market for analog rhythm generators the small black and white "Switch Box" quickly found a lot of friends, because its configuration could be compared to its expensive far east competitors: 64 patterns and as many fill-ins switchable via micro switches, speed ​​control via potentiometer, 10 analog percussion instruments (activated by means of micro switches), combined mono/stereo outputs (jack), In & Out (5 Vss) and trigger footswitch inputs (jack) for start and fill-in
(retail price for the switch at 16 DM). An external wall power supply provides 12 volts.

Approx. 5000 units of the MFB-501 had been sold. Not so bad for a one-man company. So this drum machine is one of the top-selling devices in the history of the Berlin engineer offices M. Fricke . If you're lucky, this iconic device can still be found on the relevant internet sales platforms.

Today, maintenance of this tiny noise machine is still easily feasible, because Fricke employed only commercially available components. Therefore, 'presumedly dead 501's' can be reanimated without major problems."

MFB 601 Vintage Digital Sequencer, Teardown, Repair and partial analysis


Published on Feb 2, 2015 FPV Electronics

Note this video is FPV Electronics of course, and not Manfred Fricke.
"This device is exclusively built from 7400 and 4000 series basic logic ICs. Making it must have been so much more difficult than just programming a generic µController as we would do today."

Timeline via http://mfberlin.de/en/about-us/:

1976: MFB was founded by engineer Manfred Fricke. So far there were more than some hundred products constructed and distributed. The first developments and products were primarly video games for industrial playmachines.

1979: A lowcost drummachine was introduced in 1979. (98 DM for the self construction kit). The legendary drumcomputer MFB-501 was finished and sold. Although it was not the most prominent drumcomputer of that time it surely was one of the best selling drum units in Germany. Some shops sold ten times more MFB-501s than Roland TR-808s. More products for the musician followed, such as the Digital-Sequencer MFB-601 and the digital drum machine MFB-512. All of these featured rich products were offered at exceptional low prices.

1984: The E-Drum module series 1000 and 2000 followed with corresponding pads.

1986: A new construction period started in 1986 with product launches of the MIDI-CV converter MFB-201 and the MIDI drummer MFB-SYNTH was finished in 1997, although its development dates back to the eighties. The machine never went into production since 2001, the year of the company´s 25th anniversary because of decreased interest in analogue synthesizer technology especially in the sales channels.

From 1986 Manfred Fricke specialized in products for video applications. Alone 20 different framegrabbers for the Apple II, C-64 und IBM compatible PCs were constructed. A very high percentage of these framegrabbers were and are still in use for special industrial purposes. Custom development is still done here, so these specialized tools are not available for other customers.

1994: MFB introduced the world´s first videomixer below 1.000 DM, the MFB-901. Its successor MFB-902 was available in 1995. Another important development in the video section was the model MFB-912, a digital video memory. This 1998 product was highly acclaimed by the press.

1999: The successor MFB-915 added sound and higher picture resolution. It´s available since October 1999. Another successor is the model MFB-920 with an integrated harddrive offering better options for nonlinear cutting and post processing of the recorded material.

2001: During this year, Manfred Fricke also developed another new MIDI drum-module. MFB-KULT, includes most of the famous sounds of the older machines. Both MFB-SYNTH and MFB-KULT are availabale since December 2001. Because of constant requests for the digital sequencer MFB-601 a successor MFB-602. was introduced in May 2002.

2002: Since August 2002 there´s also a little brother of the MFB-SYNTH, the MFB-SYNTH LITE

And of course the MFB DOMINION series and the MFB SYNTH PRO.

There have been 1747 MFB posts on the site prior to this one. MFB has been a mainstay on the site and Manfred Fricke will be greatly missed.

Polyphonic synthesizer, first steps with DaisySeed (DIY MIDI module based on STM32, no arduino yet)

video by Marcel Licence

Timeline (description and resource links below) Intro: (0:00) Overview: (0:50) Hardware: (1:36) (Basic)Oscillator: (1:52) VariableSawOscillator: (4:02) VariableShapeOscillator: (5:17) Delay: (6:41) ReverbSc: (7:48) Unisono: (8:32) Chorus: (9:12) Overdrive: (9:48) Tremolo: (12:31) Outro: (13:06) "I've started trying out the Daisy™ Seed from electro-smith. It's an embedded platform using the STM32 as a microcontroller including DAC, external RAM etc. To get a first impression I've created a little polyphonic synthesizer project using the Open Source DSP Library (DaisySP). In addition to that some voice processing etc. was required to get the synth working. At the moment I do not have a direct comparison to the ESP32. It is compatible with arduino but you can also just program with your C++ editor. The STM32 board library has been updated in arduino recently and caused compiling issues. Now I just worked with a makefile based project to get it running. I think soon an arduino implementation would be also possible. Finally the sources are basically the same (arduino does just the multi file compilation magic) References: https://www.electro-smith.com/daisy/d... https://github.com/electro-smith/Dais... https://github.com/electro-smith/DaisySP https://github.com/electro-smith/libD..."

Electrosmith Daisy posts

DIY Synthesizer with ESP32 (super/hyper saw, aliasing free oscillators)

video by Marcel Licence

"This video shows some impressions of using the ESP32 for a little synthesizer project.
All processing is done on one core with sampling rate of 48kHz.
I've connected a master keyboard via MIDI to a serial input.
The synth actually can play 6 voices together (also with 6 oscillators per voice in unison/detuned mode).
The oscillators are aliasing free (wave forms had been generated in advance to avoid fold back of frequencies above nyquist).
Rough ADSR for velocity and filter is implemented.
---
I am preparing a little arduino project for sharing. It will be available soon..."

You can find additional posts featuring the ESP32 here.

After the break

Published on Jul 7, 2019 Marcel Krol

"After 1.5 years I finally did 'something'. Live, raw and unedited.
Korg Z1, 01/Wfd, Behringer DeepMind 12 and Roland JD800."

Soundmit 2018 - International Sound Summit - Overview

Published on Nov 23, 2018 SOUNDMIT

Soundmit 2018 - 3/4 Nov 2018
www.soundmit.com

Soundmit 2018 - Overview
www.soundmit.com/en/s2018
www.soundmit.com/it/s2018

Exhibit at Soundmit 2019!
Contact us at info@soundmit.com

The second edition of the Soundmit - International Sound Summit ended keeping all the promises. 35 exhibitors from 11 different countries, over 800 visitors and 170 operators in the sector. Institutional patronage increased with the Italian Trade Agency, E.M.E.A., Politecnico di Torino, Politecnico di Milano, DAMS Turin, University of Rome Tor Vergata and Arduino.

We would like to thank all the companies, manufacturers, makers, supporters and artists who participated in this fantastic edition.

Thanks to:
Arrel Audio, AudioDj, Ausr ltd, Baloran, Bastl, Bjooks (patch&tweak), Cavisynth, Euterpe Synthesizers Lab, Eventide, Fase Lunare, Finegear, Fingersonic, Grau Modular, Haken Audio, Intherphase Audio, Jomox, Keen association, La Voix Du Luthier, Modor Music, Nondestructive Design, Roland, Schertler, Schmidt Synthesizers, Soundmachines, Special Waves, SSSRLabs, Synth Fest France, Theresyn, This is not rocket science, Wavelicker, Yamaha, Zirante, Audio Modeling, Audiolino, Midiware, Moog.

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Superbooth 2018: Modor Comb Filter Eurorack Prototype

Published on May 4, 2018 sonicstate

"Marcel gives us a run down of the Comb Filter prototype from Modor. Giving you all sorts of comb type sounds within the eurorack format."

Superbooth 2018: Modor unleash a new Comb Filter and more

Published on May 4, 2018 Future Music Magazine

"We visited Belgian synth outfit Modor Music's stand at Superbooth for a demo of their new standalone Comb Filter along with a first look at an early iteration of their Noisy oscillator."

MFB's Jean-Marcel and Uwe Performance at SUPERBOOTH17

Merry Christmas Jean-Marcel and Uwe from HerrSchneider on Vimeo.
Merry Christmas Jean-Marcel and Uwe

"And thank you for the music and all the best to you and your families around Manfred and Gloria - aka MFB who presented their new products in a very danceable fashion at SUPERBOOTH17 here. The Gesprächskonzert showed the new Dominion Club, Nanozwerg Pro, Digital Delay and their well known drum machines. The whole performance is done entirely with MFB products and shows the wide palette of products they offer these days."

Just a little live jamming

Published on Aug 1, 2017 Marcel Krol

"Jamming a bit. Gear used: KS5, S30, JD800, DeepMind 12, D50, S3, X7, EX5 and JV1000."