Groove Synthesis 3rd Wave OS 1.5 Update Adds MPE Support, Poly Unison, Free Running OSCS & Long LFOs

via Groove Synthesis

3rd Wave OS version 1.5

new in this release:

- support for MIDI MPE controllers - enable MPE from the GLOBAL menu and explore the new modulation sources at the end of the list. Pitch bend range can be set in the MISC menu

- option for free running analog oscillators in the MISC menu which is settable per patch - In the analog waveform mode, which you are using when you select the Axx waveforms like Saw and Square, now has the option to make the waveforms not reset when you start a new note. In this mode, the oscillators will continue to drift from each other as they do on some fully analog synthesizers. There are two side effects if you are using free running for the analog waveforms:

1. When two or more oscillators are running at the same time, the phase of the waveforms will not be reset and could start at any position. As a result, there will be phase cancellation compared to having the oscillators always start at the same point. What you will hear is that the notes will change volume level slightly as the oscillators start and also drift in and out of phase with each other.

2. In the normal mode the oscillator always starts at zero. Now it could start at any point in its phase position. That means when you hit a note, a single oscillator could be at 0, +1.0, -1.0, or anywhere in between. If it starts at or close to +1.0 ot -1.0, you are going from no sound to fully on immediately. This can cause a click at the beginning of the note depending on the phase. It is noticeable mostly when using a sine wave, and not too noticeable with something like a saw or square. If you want to use this free running mode, turn the attack time up to +20 or higher to quickly fade in and avoid the potential click.

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Yamaha CS-50 Polyphonic Synthesizer SN 1464

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via this auction

"The most natural sounding electronic instrument I’ve ever played. The aftertouch is soooo dreamy. Need to fund other purchases. This is likely one of the last opportunities to own a CS 50 for this kind of money before full blown vintage market sillydom claims it. Purchased recently from second owner, very well looked after."

The CS50 is four voice polyphonic. The CS60 is eight and the CS80 is eight w/ two simultaneous patches. All three feature aftertouch but only the CS80 features polyaftertouch.

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RHODES CHROMA KEYBOARD CHASSIS for Parts

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Additional Tone Tweakers Listings, also on Reverb

Some pics of the wooden keys and inside. The Chroma has a polyaftertouch keyboard. This one appears to be SN 21030 923. Karta Inglesias is written on the inside. Possibly once belonged to the Karta Inglesias School of Music.

"Here's a lot of 5 Rhodes Chroma Keyboards someone (not us!) sadly gutted many years ago. These units are in storage far away. They're obviously missing circuitry and are for parts only. No parts of these units have been tested, so they're being sold completely as-is, with no guarantees whatsoever. Since it's impractical to go back and forth to storage multiple times, we'd like to sell all 5 in one shot to one person.

We’ve heard that one or more people have remade and sell voice card circuit boards, so it may or may not be possible to make a complete working unit our of these chassis. But please verify this and check out the pics first - we can’t promise this is true as other necessary parts may be missing. Or perhaps the voice cards someone removed from these units are still floating around there somewhere and could be used to restore one or more of these (with additional parts found somewhere else)."

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waldorf microwave 1 polyaftertouch fun

video upload by synthlegends

"The Waldorf microwave 1 has a lot of modulation routings, like LFO 1 and LFO 2 or envelopes and Filter or Panning to polyaftertouch. I played this machine with a poly aftertouch keyboard (GEM S2) and routed panning and LFO 1 to it. In this example I used a simple SAW wave sound with two oscillators to emulate a classic string patch like from the Yamaha CS-80. The microwave sounds quite harsh and metallic, but with a bit tweaking you also can get nice typical analog 70ies string patches out of it. I used a very but of reverb for this example. Nor further processing used. Thanks for watching and listening."

Live w/ Hydrasynth, Moog Subharmonicon, DFAM, Empress Reverb, Echosystem, Multidrive, EHX Oceans 12

Jay Hosking

"A live track performed entirely on hardware. I've got something pretty big coming up (an actual workflow video!) but I wanted to capture this musical ice sculpture before it melted.

At its heart is the Moog Subharmonicon and its polymeter melody; I love how the Electroharmonix Oceans 12 adds some weirdness to it, via two reverb algorithms (one in reverse), plus its "tide" parameter which adds a gentle LFO to the panning.

As before, two DFAMs do the job of drums, with one running on its standard clock (kick and snare) and the other following the Subharmonicon's lead (hi-hats). At this point, I think it's impossible for me to enjoy the DFAM fully without the Empress Multidrive on it; the Multidrive brings out the highs and lows and adds some beautiful saturation, all at the same time.

And then doing most of the heavy lifting is the ASM Hydrasynth. No matter how good the Hydra sounds (and it does sound great), the experience of playing the Hydra is its best feature. It's hard to describe how responsive and expressive its polyaftertouch keybed is; suffice it to say that it shaped the chords, arrangement, and dynamics of the song. And with the Empress Reverb on it, it really steals the show.

Oh, and I added my voice again. Almost didn't. And some acoustic guitar? I don't know. It felt right.

Ashun Sound Machines Hydrasynth + Empress Reverb — Bass, pads
Moog Subharmonicon + Electroharmonix Oceans 12 — Polymeter melody
Moog DFAM + Empress Multidrive — Kick and snare
Moog DFAM + Empress Echosystem — Hats and bells
(Meris Polymoon does nothing in this one; it was just still set up from last time.)
Larrivee D-03 — Acoustic guitar

Performed and recorded live. Compression, delay, and reverb added to vocals and acoustic guitar during recording, and compression/limiting on the master.

https://jayhosking.bandcamp.com"

Yamaha CS80

images via this auction via Joshua
"I am the second owner. I bought it years ago from a Las Vegas musician who had not used it professionally for some time, although it had pride of place in his living room. SN is 1373. For those of you who are interested, that means that the boards are the later ones with the tuning modifIcation to make it more stable. Also included are the manual,the music stand inside the tolex top cover, spare parts, including key mechanisms and at least one circuit board, pedals, and a spare power supply ( the label on the box the spare PS came in is worth the price IMO and BTW the addresses are old ones for both parties). I do not know whether the pedals and the spare parts are functional ( spare parts are rumoured to have come from a cs80 once owned by Toto-although this could be a drawback for certain folks , I suppose) . I have recently tested all functions and every electronic function works, including polyaftertouch, except that some of the lamps on the preset buttons that light up to show which preset is operating have burned out- however the buttons still work. This Cs80 has one modification, a useful one I believe, As you probably know if you've read this far, Cs80s were notorious for generating heat that made the tuning go bad. They were also quite heavy. The original owner simply made the rather heavy power supply EXTERNAL- this cuts down on the weight of the unit. It is housed in a red toolbox (visible in one of the pics). The unit is ( a little) lighter and the tuning is quite stable. Cosmetically, the tolex is in good shape and the wood is well represented in the pictures."

VAX-77 Foldable Keyboard Controller with Polyaftertouch

More info here.
Your guess is as good as mine on this one...