2009 Remastered Vako Orchestron Disc - SAXOPHONE

YouTube via peahix. Details including ordering info at this post.
Comments disabled here to keep them in the prior post.

Update: better quality on Vimeo:

2009 Remastered Vako Orchestron Disc - SAXOPHONE from Pea Hicks on Vimeo.

The Third Of That Needed Seven

The Third Of That Needed Seven by peahix
"Minimalist electronica done entirely with my Yamaha CS01II analog synth, retrofitted w/ CV inputs, sequenced in Cubase via Kenton Pro Solo."

Human League DON'T YOU WANT ME Re-Created w/ Arturia Jupiter 8V

Published on Oct 20, 2018 peahix

"Next in my line of synthpop re-creations is this classic from 1982. I'd been wanting to take a stab at it for awhile, with th eventual goal of porting the whole thing to my Roland MC8 MicroComposer, which is the sequencer that the original was created on. That will be a huge project, though, so it'll have to wait for another day. For now, I've just used Cubase and basically limited myself to Arturia's Jupiter 8V plugin, plus the VProm plugin to cover the Linn LM1 drum sounds (http://www.alyjameslab.com/alyjamesla...).

As I always like to point out, I don't consider this a "cover," ie it's not a creative re-interpretation of the song. The goal is to get the arrangement, sounds, and mix as close to the original as possible WITHOUT USING ANY SOUNDS FROM THE ORIGINAL. Everything you're hearing here was done from scratch- there's no samples from the HL original recording. For now I've just made a quickie video with some screenshots, but if I have time I'll try to make a tutorial video on how I put this together.

Usually when I do one of these re-makes, I'm stuck with the original mix of the song, plus any remixes, surround mixes, or any sort of audio trickery I can muster to hear the individual parts more clearly. In this case, the job was made much easier by referencing the original stems of the song, which have been available on the web for years. Now, that didn't make it "easy" per se, as many of the stems have different parts mixed together, but it certainly made it alot easier than it would have been, as this is a very dense and busy arrangement. There are no less than four different bass patches that play in different parts of the song, and there are many different chord parts all mashed up together.

Most of the musical parts were fairly straightforward to work out, but a few were a bit tricky. The first part I tackled was the funky rhythmic synth chords that play in the verse and chorus. On the original this sound was created by feeding a live guitar into the envelope follower of a Roland System 700 modular, which provided articulation for the synth, which was playing a type of chord pad. So it's like a mutant funk guitar pattern. I got reasonably close by sidechaining a funk guitar loop along with a hi-hat to the synth pad track. It's not exact, but you'd never really be able to get it exact anyway- it's pretty organic for a synth part. Interestingly, there's a mistake on the original recording, where this part is slightly out of sync during the first chorus. It plays three 16th notes ahead of the beat. So I re-created that mistake faithfully. In the second chorus, it plays correctly, as it does in the original HL track.

Speaking of musical mistakes, there's a fairly glaring one that I can't imagine was intentional. Either they overlooked it, or just liked how it sounded and left it in. Just before the chorus, there one bar where three different synth parts are playing chords. Two of them are playing a B minor chord, but the other one (the stabby brass sound panned right) is playing a B diminished! So, if you've ever wondered "what the hell is that chord anyway?" now you know. I'm not even sure what to call it, technically. I put in a little text to point out this chord the second time it occurs.

Anyway, I guess that's about all I have to say about this one right now. Instead of fading it out, I opted to preserve the cold ending that you hear when listening to the stems. I also made a mix of this with the original lead vocals layered in. Maybe I'll post that version some other time."

New Optigan Disc - RADIOAKTIVOX

YouTube via peahix. Note: Oregon is pronounced Origgun, Optigan is pronounced Optigon. Think about it.
follow-up to these posts. We finally get an answer to the clock thing on the wall!
"It's the news you've been waiting for! We are now ready to release the first in a series of new, high quality Optigan discs. We've listened to your feedback and have produced a disc that contains the sounds most requested, and in the style that scored the highest in our survey. We call the disc Radioaktivox. Is in the style of a familiar German synthesizer band from the seventies. We used the much sought after Optigan/Orchestron choir sound for the keys- a sound made famous by said band. We used the original source material from the master tapes and have totally eliminated the clicks and pops at the loop seams.

We are now accepting advanced orders for Radioaktivox. You can help us reduce the cost of the discs by placing your advanced order by 12/15/2008. The more orders we receive, the lower the cost. The minimum quantity we can make is 25 pieces for a price $100 a disc. We think that price is too high. If we could get about 100 advanced orders, we believe we can knock off another $10 to $15. Whatever the savings ends up being, we will refund that amount to you at the time we fulfill your order.

Please visit http://shoptigan.ecrater.com/product.... to place your order!

Thanks for your support! We are excited about releasing the first Optigan disc in 34 years, and we hope that there will be many more."

McRorie-Live Electronic

Regarding that worst keytar video ever post... YouTube via mcrorielive
I think I just pwned Analog Industries. Check. No offense McRorie.
"McRorie-Live Electronic promo music video.www.mcrorie.net"
via peahix

Depeche Mode - In The Studio (2008) - Web Clip #17

YouTube via dmdotcom. sent my way via peahix
"Martin, in his Prada cape (with "ample, gothic circumference"), playing a Theremin.

Martin: "You'll all be wearing them soon..."

Camera: Andrew Fletcher.

Check http://www.depechemode.com/ for all Sounds Of The Universe (and Tour) details!

Sounds Of The Universe - Released April 20th (Europe) / April 21st (North America), 2009"

orch marimba

YouTube via peahix
"From Optigan.com! This is a quick audio demo of the first NEW Vako Orchestron disc since 1975 - MARIMBA. This is a recording of an acoustic marimba from the original Optigan/Orchestron master tapes. This particular sound never made it onto any Optigan or Orchestron disc... until now! Please note that my Orchestron is not in the greatest health, and I also live close to some radio towers that cause some pretty bad interference. Hum, buzz, radio intereference and the occasional scratchy key contact should be disregarded in your evaluation of the quality of the marimba sound.

We are now taking pre-orders for this disc at http://www.optigan.com/shoptigan/. The initial run will be limited to 25 copies, and we will require 15 pre-orders before we go to press."

Update: the official release:

"Now available for pre-order at:

http://www.optigan.com/shoptigan/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=39

New 2009 Vako Orchestron Disc - MARIMBA

MARIMBA is an entirely NEW sound for the Orchestron. The source is an acoustic marimba recording from the original Optigan/Orchestron master tapes. This marimba scale was never used for any Optigan or Orchestron disc... until now!

As soon as we have 15 pre-orders, we'll go to press and start shipping. It's unlikely that there will be sufficient demand to do a second run of 25 of these discs, so your best bet is to buy as many of these as you need while you can! Any future additional copies will most likely be done as one-offs, which are twice as expensive to produce, and thus will cost twice as much.

PLEASE NOTE: This disc WILL NOT play properly in an Optigan! They WILL play, but the sounds will NOT be mapped correctly to the keyboard- they will be mapped mostly haphazardly across the chord buttons. Please don't order this disc expecting to easily use it in an Optigan. In the future we will be porting the Orchestron sounds to the Optigan- please be patient! :)

Stay tuned for more Orchestron discs, both new and remastered titles!

Also, for those who missed it the first time around, we're also now taking pre-orders for a second pressing of our Optigan disc RADIOAKTIVOX!

http://www.optigan.com/shoptigan/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=38"

Yamaha CS01II plays JUST CAN'T GET ENOUGH by Depeche Mode

YouTube Uploaded by peahix on May 12, 2011
follow-up to Yamaha CS01II plays NEW LIFE by Depeche Mode
"Download a higher quality copy here: http://snd.sc/mCXyWu

The Yamaha CS01II is the first real synthesizer I ever owned. I got it when I was about 14 years old, back in 1985 or so. I noticed that I could get reasonable approximations of most of the sounds from Depeche Mode's "Speak & Spell" album with it, but at the time I didn't have the means to make decent multi-track cover versions, even after I got a 4-track.

Recently I was studying the Depeche Mode 5.1 surround mixes, and realized that I could clearly hear all the distinct parts of alot of the songs, so I decided to throw together some renditions using just my trusty old Yamaha CS01II as the sole sound source (including the drums), just to see how close I could get to the originals.

This version has no vocals at all, but otherwise it comes pretty close to the original. The actual musical arrangement is about 100% accurate. The sounds themselves are of course only approximations, and most of them don't have the same level of timbral detail as the ARP originals. I sequenced the whole thing in Cubase via a Kenton Pro Solo going into the custom CV/Gate inputs on my CS01II, recording each monophonic line in one at a time. Cubase provided the reverb and EQ, otherwise it's all CS01II.

The trickiest bits to transcribe accurately were the brass stabs and arpeggiator in the bridge, both originally played on a Roland Jupiter 4. The brass stabs are a series of 4-note chords, which of course I had to record in one note at a time, since you can't play chords on the CS01II.

The drums also require multiple passes. For instance, the "timbale" part required a white noise burst (band-pass EQ'd) and a low sine wave (hi-pass EQ'd). The kick and snare also have multiple components.

Sorry for the boring repeat visuals- just can't be bothered! :)"

Optigan LED Disc Simulation Thingy

YouTube via peahix
"This is a quickie video I shot to demo the modulated LED thingy that Robert built so I can monitor sounds directly from my computer thru a real Optigan's signal path. This essentially tricks the Optigan into thinking there's an actual disc spinning inside it, though it only works on the very first channel (ie, the outermost soundtrack ring on an Optigan disc). There's a spreadsheet which automatically calculates a 10-band EQ curve for each of the 57 Optigan soundtrack rings, so if I'm trying to work on, say, the sound that goes on track 42, I EQ that sound using the settings for track 42 in the spreadsheet. These EQ curves are only for monitoring purposes through the Optigan. We did some tests, and it actually models the way a real Optigan disc sounds very accurately. This way I don't have to shoot in the dark and spend ~$200 on a test disc only to find out it the end result sounds terrible.

I also shot this video out of exasperation at the totally unreasonable amount of radio interference I get on Optigans at my house. Trying to discern subtleties in the sound through all the radio stuff is not easy or fun. Coming soon: the Orchestron FRENCH HORN disc, remastered. Stay tuned to http://www.optigan.com."

The First NEW Optigan Disc since 1974!

YouTube via peahix. Be sure to check out optigan.com blogtigan! for more.
"Over the years, I've had lots of folks propose various schemes for making new Optigan discs using computer software. Finally, someone has come through with a workable system! Robert Becker is the engineering wizard that made this technological advance possible! And what kind of sounds do I give him to make the first test disc with? Crappy-ass cheesy 80s synth pop!!

OK, this is just a quickie demo, and actually the sound quality on this video isn't that great but trust me, the disc sounds fantastically lo-fi and sounds just like an Optigan disc except with brand new sounds!

We screwed up a few of the chord button assignments, but that's an easy fix. The drum sounds are from an Oberheim DMX. The chord patterns are sounds from Native Instruments Reaktor, sequenced in Cubase. And the scale tones are also from Reaktor.

We're working on developing a scheme for making more discs and making them available. All I can say right now is that generating a master is very expensive, and additional copies are also quite expensive. So unfortunately we won't be able to just do whatever the hell we want. But soon I'll post a survey of some sort at optigan.com so y'all can weigh in on what kinds of discs you'd put down some cash for!

Oh, and yes- we'll be able to make new Orchestron discs too! (In theory we could make new Talentmaker discs, but the demand for those probably would not justify the expense.)"

Webcor Music Machine

via Pea Hicks
(click for more)

Pea runs www.optigan.com

Webcor Music Machine demo by peahix

New Optigan Disc - Radiotaktivox Rev. B

YouTube via peahix
"This is a test of the final release version of our new Optigan disc, Radioaktivox. Please note that the audio distortion is from my camera and not on the Radioaktivox disc itself. For all those who have pre-ordered the disc, it's not quite ready to ship yet, because we've had a slight delay in the making of the disc jackets. We don't have an exact ship date yet, but it will be soon! Please visit http://shoptigan.ecrater.com/product.... to place your order! Also, you can find out more about this project at http://blogtigan.wordpress.com/ Thanks for your support!"

Yamaha CS01II plays ICE MACHINE by Depeche Mode

YouTube Uploaded by peahix on May 18, 2011

"Download this track here: http://snd.sc/jE70lS

The Yamaha CS01II is the first real synthesizer I ever owned. I got it when I was about 14 years old, back in 1985 or so. I noticed that I could get reasonable approximations of most of the sounds from Depeche Mode's "Speak & Spell" album with it, but at the time I didn't have the means to make decent multi-track cover versions, even after I got a 4-track.

Recently I was studying the Depeche Mode 5.1 surround mixes, and realized that I could clearly hear all the distinct parts of alot of the songs, so I decided to throw together some renditions using just my trusty old Yamaha CS01II as the sole sound source (including the drums), just to see how close I could get to the originals.

This version has no vocals at all, but otherwise it comes pretty close to the original. The actual musical arrangement is about 100% accurate. The sounds themselves are of course only approximations, and most of them don't have the same level of timbral detail as the ARP originals. I sequenced the whole thing in Cubase via a Kenton Pro Solo going into the custom CV/Gate inputs on my CS01II, recording each monophonic line in one at a time. Cubase provided the reverb and EQ, otherwise it's all CS01II."

Also see:
Yamaha CS01II plays NEW LIFE by Depeche Mode
Yamaha CS01II plays JUST CAN'T GET ENOUGH by Depeche Mode

Pea runs Optigan.com

Kraftwerk Pocket Calculator on Bee Gees Rhythm Machine

YouTube via peahix.

"Further adventures in extreme music geekdom. This is me playing Kraftwerk's "Pocket Calculator" on a Mattel Bee Gees Rhythm Machine keyboard, followed by Kraftwerk's Ralf Hutter playing the song live one their Mattel Bee Gees Rhythm Machine. Except theirs is all painted black to hide the "Bee Gees" bit. Clever. You can also see this keyboard on the "Computer World" LP jacket. The other hand-held noisemakers are a Stylophone, TI Language Translator (same sound chip as the Speak & Spell), and a home-made electronic percussion trigger." Sent my way via J Lesser.



And the original. YouTube via technik.

Amiga - The Music Studio - Original Song - PRETTY COOL

Published on Mar 4, 2017 peahix

"Here's an old song I rescued off a floppy from 1987 or so. An original piece of music I made for Activision's The Music Studio for the Amiga, back when I was in high school. It's being played on WinUAE here, but the sound is pretty authentic! The video is a slightly flickery/glitchy due to the compression of the codec I used, but whatever."

Hammond NOVACHORD Synthesizer Service Manual

via this auction

"This is an original (not a photocopy) service manual for the Hammond Novachord 1930s tube synthesizer. Actually, it's two complete copies of the manual, both 2nd edition, but different revisions. One is rev 1051 and the other is rev 1246. I don't know what the difference in the revisions is."

via peahix

The Optigan Archives Vol. 1 Sample DVD-R!

YouTube via peahix
"This video features a series of very simple demos of sounds from the Optigan Archives Vol. 1 Sample DVD-R, compared with their related sounds from the Optigan/Orchestron/Talentmaker sample CD. (Please see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeUeME... for an infomercial for that CD.)

This is an exclusive set of loops and keyboard samples culled from the original Optigan/Orchestron studio master reels.

While the Optigan itself always sounded very lo-fi due to the limitations of its optical-soundtrack technology, the original master tapes retain their hi-fi sound quality (albeit in mono).

The Optigan master reels are a vast archive of early 1970s era musical building blocks, covering a wide range of popular styles from the period. Ultimately, only a small portion of this material ever made it onto production Optigan discs. For this initial collection of samples, I'm focusing on that small portion and related out-takes. Future volumes in this series will comprise entirely unfamiliar material- out-takes which never saw the light of day on any Optigan disc.

To find out more information about this DVD-R, and to place an order, please visit http://shoptigan.ecrater.com/product...."

2010 Optigan Sitar & Tabla Disc - Teaser

YouTube via peahix | June 29, 2010 | 2:06

"Here's a little teaser for the soon to be released Optigan Sitar & Tabla disc (official title tbd). This is some footage from the recording session featuring Rama Douglas on sitar and Justin DeHart on tabla. The keyboard will feature a variety of different sitar riffs (and possibly some harmonium notes on part of the keyboard), the chord buttons will have 15 different tabla loops, and the SFX tabs will have tamboura drones and other effects. More details coming soon at optigan.com!

More about Rama: http://www.cordhead.com/bio_cd.htm
More about Justin: http://www.justindehart.com"

Vintage King Beat 7 Drum Beat Machine - 7 Different Beats

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

via this auction

"Machine was made in Japan and features 7 Different Beats: Slow Rock, Latin, Twist, Fox Trot, Waltz, Mambo and Go-Go. Also features volume and tempo control dials."

I don't believe I've ever seen or posted one of these before. If anyone knows who made it feel free to comment. Giving this one a new King Beat channel label for the time being.

Update: video courtesy of peahix posted here.

CLICK FOR MORE »

Elka Synthex Analog Synth Noodlings

YouTube Uploaded by peahix on Jul 6, 2009
This one is currently listed on San Diego Craigslist.
"A series of short noodlings on my Elka Synthex, all using the brilliant onboard sequencer. No other synths or effects are used. One track also features my E-Mu Drumulator, which the Synthex sequencer is sync'd to (somewhat unpredictably) via trigger pulses."

"This particular Synthex has factory MIDI (not the clunky MIDI retrofit version) and also comes with its original flight case (case has some minor damage but is 100% functional). The owner's manual is a printout copy. You can also find pdf manuals online."