"Oxygene VII" - on Elka and Wersi organs

Published on Mar 27, 2017 organfairy

"There has been some requests that I should do more Jean Michel Jarre melodies. So here I play Oxygene VII on Wersi Prisma DX-5, Elka X-1000, Yamaha HE-8, Roland JX-8P, and Korg Poly-800."

Roland JX-8P repair

Published on Jan 9, 2017 organfairy

"My Roland JX-8P synthesizer had developed a problem in the left channel: Sometimes the sound would disappear but I could bring it back by moving the plugs on the back side back and forth. So I knew that it was probably a bad connection somewhere.

The music in this video is 'Remember the nights' by The Motels which I play in a somewhat understated fashion. In addition to the Roland JX-8P I also used Roland CR-68 for the rhythm, Siel DK-80 for the bass, Korg Poly-800 for the strings, and Elka EM-44 and Casio CZ-101 for the rest."

"Fotonovela" - on Elka X-30

Published on Jan 2, 2017 organfairy

"...and Roland JV-35.

I think it is the first time I have made a cover of a Spanish song. But there is a first time for everything and this song is one I remember from the mid 1980s where I taped it from the radio.
The artist was called Iván and he seems to have had some succes in France, Switzerland, and Germany.
And then he disappeared without a trace and the internet doesn't know more about him. It's not even possible to get a birth year. But maybe some of you know more than I could find.
Please comment."

Synth song #11

Published on Dec 27, 2016 organfairy

"Again, this is more a demonstration than an actual 'song' and it isn't actually nice in any sonic way.

But

I have made several frequency dividers over the years. Most of them are based on the 4017 or 4024 integrated dividers. But this time I wanted to make a frequency multiplier. The way I have done it is to use a 4046 phase locked loop with a 4017 decade counter in the feedback loop. I made three of those and build them into the same box.

The other sounds are a made with my drum synthesizer through a spring reverb and one of my synthesizers with the filter controlled by a random generator."

"We dont need another hero" - on Roland SH-2000

Published on Dec 5, 2016 organfairy

"I had just been to a Christmas party so before putting the clothes back into the closet I thought I might as well use them in a music video. So I hope you can excuse that I am a little more dressed up than usual.

Anyway

'We don't need another hero' was a big hit for Tina Turner in the mid 1980s. It was also featured in one of the Mad Max movies. Here I play it on Technics SX-C600 and Elka X-1000 organs, Roland SH-2000 synthesizer and my old Yamaha saxophone. I had to play the sax solo an octave lower than the original because I am not so good at doing overtones or flageolett which would have been necessary for the original tonal range."

Side note: listen to :17 above, then listen to :19 below:

Clinic - Walking With Thee (2002)

Uploaded on Feb 14, 2011 Domino Recording Co.

Synth song #9

Published on Nov 21, 2016 organfairy

"The rhythm of this melody is a little unusual: It is made by running a simple low frequency square wave through a homemade spring reverb. I have never tried that before.

Another first for me is to connect an envelope generator to the pitch control so that each notes starts by the tone generator ramping up the frequency from zero and ramping down again when the note is released.

Finally I am using the little "cigar box synth" for the solo in the middle."

Homemade synthesizer song #8

Published on Nov 14, 2016 organfairy

"This is not so much of a song. It's more a demo showing what will happen if a simple 16 step sequence of notes are ring modulated with a sweep up and down of a square wave.
But to make it sound more like an arrangement I have added some bass notes and some bursts of modulated noise."

See the organfairy label at the bottom of this post for more.

Homemade synthesizer song #7

Published on Nov 7, 2016 organfairy

"In this video the sequencer plays a vamp with the 16 notes that it can store and I play a simple melody using the 'fairysynth' that I made some years ago."

"Hold me tight tonight" - on Roland SH-2000

Published on Sep 19, 2016 organfairy

"... and Roland JX-8P (bass), Korg Poly-800 (pads), Roland D-20 (harmonies), Elka EM44 (guitar), Siel DK-80 (arpeggios), and Yamaha RX-11 (rhythm).

Someone suggested to me that I should do some Italo-disco and at the same time I wanted to use my synthesizers more so I killed two birds with one stone and made this version of the 1980s song "Hold me tight tonight" by Night Society."

"Java" - on Yamaha SY-1

Published on Jul 11, 2016 organfairy

"This is one of those melodies that has been been performed by so many artist that it is hard to find out who was first. But according to Wikipedia it was written by Allen Toussaint and later made popular by Al Hirt.

It was just an attempt by me to play something on my newly restored Yamaha SY-1 synthesizer. I recorded it without the usual multitracking but just a single stereo track. I did edit it slightly though because the levels of the various presets on the synthesizer are not well matched so I had to adjust the level between the verses. So I have edited out the parts where I adjust between preset."

Yamaha SY-1 demo

Published on Jun 20, 2016 organfairy

"I bought this synthesizer more than a year ago and normally it doesn't take this long to make an instrument playable again. But because I had to make an entire new circuit board after having been forced to give up on the old one it became a quite long process.

But now it is finished and therefore I have made a short demo where I play one of Ronald Erle Grainer's most well known melodies: The theme from Dr Who (in case anyone haven't heard it before). Everything is played on the SY-1 and only echo is added in the final mix."

Failed repair attempt on the SY-1

Published on Jun 6, 2016 organfairy

Thought this was interesting. I always thought circuit board encapsulation was just an outer case. Apparently not.

"Last year I bought a Yamaha SY-1 that unfortunately turned out to be defective - and to add insult to misery the defective circuit board is potted with some black unknown substance.
This video shows my failed attempt to remove this material using acetone.

The music is "June Night" written by Abel Baer and I play it on a selection of toy keyboards from the brand MusicTime."

Homemade Synthesizer song #4

Published on Apr 18, 2016 organfairy

"This time I use the tuning fork controlled synthesizer to make a sort of arpeggio. Another thing to notice is the keyboard with aftertouch. It is actually made really simple: The entire keyframe is on hinges and held up with two springs so that it can be pressed downwards a couple of millimeters. The edge of the frame then dips into an optocoupler fork and thereby generates a variable voltage that can control other modules."

Homemade synthesizer song #3

Published on Apr 11, 2016 organfairy

"Again I am using my telephone exchange step sequencer to control my XOR based drum synthesizer. But this time the bass is made a little different: Instead of just running forwards in the bass line, the analog sequencer goes forwards and backwards. In other words instead of 1234567812345678 it goes 1234567887654321.
The melody and the solo is played on the analogue system with the switched capacitor filter as VCF. I use the same envelope, cut-off, and resonance settings for the melody and the solo but switches between high-pass and low-pass."

Synthesizer song #2

Published on Apr 4, 2016 organfairy

"It's not very often you hear a waltz performed on a homemade synthesizer. So I thought it was about time somebody did it.

In the beginning it sounded a tad ordinary or one might even say boring. But then I added the 'duck arpeggio' and then it sounded sufficiently wacky.

Again I use the step sequencer for controlling the drum synthesizer and analog sequencer. But this time I play the bass manually because I use the sequencer to make the non-quacking arpeggios."

Homemade synthesizer song #1

Published on Mar 28, 2016 organfairy

"I have had a number of requests to do actual music on my homemade synthesizers and sound gadgets instead of just an assembly video and a quick demo.

So, Gentlemen and the occational Lady, now I have done it!

I wrote the music AND build the instruments. If it should be more homemade I should have carved the keys out of wood myself or cast them in plastic (we have a 3D printer where I work so it could be done - but I have used keys from scrapped organs instead).

The rhythm comes from my XOR based drum synthesizer, the bass from the little polyphonic system with sequencer. Both are controlled by the telephone exchange step sequencer. The melody is played on a modular system with a waveshaper I made in 1995, The envelope generator was made in 1996 but has been modified a couple of times since (the first version was not very good because I didn't know much about synthesizers when I made it). The filter was made somewhere in the early 2000s and is light controlled by LEDs and LDRs. The keyboard is only a couple of years old. The solo is played on a simple synthesizer I made out of leftover parts in 1999. It is not completely in tune but that is one thing that has improved over the years: My newest instruments are more precise in tuning. The chords are from a little Oz-inspired mini organ that runs through a stereo phaser. Both are made in the early 2000s.

I hope you don't dislike it too much :-)"

Tuning fork controlled synthesizer

Published on Feb 15, 2016 organfairy

"Some years ago I made a tuning fork oscillator. [see this post]

I have now created a chromatic system where I first multiply the tuning fork frequency by 128 and then use divide down technology to make the individual notes.

The music is something I put together using Elka X-30 organ and Roland JV-35 synthesizer."

Synth Rorschach #41 Christmas lights..... or is it a rhythm sequencer

Published on Dec 21, 2015 organfairy

Literally turning a synth rorschach into a working synth device. Be sure to see the Rorschach and Holidays channels below for more posts in each category!

"I found this old telephone exchange device in my garage. I remember buying it quite a while ago. But for some reason I have not used it for something untill now.

I converted it to a kind of drum sequencer somewhat inspired by the Eko Computerhythm from the 1970s and it can control the little drum synthesizer I build some years ago.

The music is "No milk today" that was a major hit by Herman's Hermits in 1966. I play it on my Wersi Prisma DX-5 while the rhythm comes from another distinctive drum machine namely the Wersimatic II."

"Song for Henry" - on analog synthesizers

Published on Dec 14, 2015 organfairy

"In 1983 Danish television was trying to gain a more modern reputation and therefore they replaced the ordinary written programme presentation with an animated interlude showing a clock face that started as one round picture that had a connection to the previous show and during the one minute interlude the picture was replaced with one related to the next show.

I have tried to recreate this animation and I think it went quite well. I have used pictures of the synths that I used to play the music.

The music is the composition 'Song for Henry' that was one of the melodies that were used for the 1983 interlude. It is composed by the Danish keyboard player Kenneth Knudsen who is known for his well groomed hair and mustage - that guy was so 80's already in the early 1970's - and for his mastery of the synthesizer. He has been referred to as "the Joe Zawinul of Scandinavia" so he is a very respected musician.

I play Song for Henry on Roland SH-2000 (melody and solo), Roland JX-8P (Bass and percussive sounds), Korg Poly-800 (chords), and for the first time I play a solo on my Yamaha SY-1. So as you might have guessed I managed to repair it properly (there will be a video later)."

"Equinoxe 4" - on Elka organs

Published on Dec 7, 2015 organfairy

"This is one of the more complicated things I have done. But still it was not actually hard to do - maybe because it has been one of my favourite compositions by Jean Michel Jarre ever since I heard it for the first time.

The arpeggio runs as a MIDI files but most of the other tracks are hand played in real time. Apart from the Elka organs EP-8 and X-1000 I use Technics SX-C600 organ and Roland SH-2000 synthesizer."