Zoom Sequencer Rhythm Machine 5317

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via this auction

This one almost deserves the Synth Rorschach label. Reminds me of a Buchla 700 meets Behringer mixer.

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Synth Rorschach #67

via @auralhistories, via symmetry

184 cyclotron found by Hainbach

"In May 2019, a Berlin-based, classically-trained symphony composer with a fondness for converting old scientific gear into musical instruments posted to a discussion forum: 'Any nuclear scientists here? 184[-inch] cyclotron question.'

In a single photo, he presented a mystery: His latest find was a ’70s-era piece of equipment labeled a 'LOCK-IN AMPLIFIER' featuring analogue displays, four dials of varying sizes, and a neat blue sticker label reading '184' CLYCLOTRON, BLDG. 80, RM. 121, EXT. 5467.” Could anyone help him find the story behind it?

Stefan Paul Goetsch, who uses the name Hainbach when creating electronic music, posted the plea hoping the equipment might be traceable via the label. He had no idea that blue sticker would provide a clear connection to a major piece of scientific history..."

Crafting the Score of APOLLO 11 with Matt Morton | TIFF 2019

Published on Apr 5, 2019 TIFF Originals

Highly recommend this film if you haven't seen it on the big screen, IMAX if possible. Just saw it for the first time yesterday. The soundtrack featuring the Moog IIC is great - very John Carpenter-esque. Be sure to see Matt Morton on Moog IIIc Modular Synth and the Apollo 11 Soundtrack, and check out the latest Apollo inspired synth rorschach posts here.

"Composer Matt Morton discusses the process of crafting the score for Apollo 11. He discusses the origins of the music, the instruments he used, and the labourious process of recording, and he breaks down the elements of a cue.

Directed by Todd Douglas Miller (Dinosaur 13), Apollo 11 recounts the momentous days and hours when humankind took a giant leap into the future. Miller's frequent collaborator Matt Morton wrote, orchestrated, performed, recorded, and mixed all of the music for the film and its trailers using instruments available at the time of the 1969 mission, including the Moog Synthesizer IIIc, the Binson Echorec 2 (tube echo), and the Mellotron (keyboard).

Crafted from a newly discovered trove of audio recordings and 65mm footage — including shots of the launch, the inside of NASA's Mission Control, and recovery and post-mission activities — Miller’s immersive documentary yields surprising moments of humour and camaraderie, along with remarkable new insights into key events of the celebrated 1969 lunar voyage.

Now playing at TIFF Bell Lightbox.

Special thanks to NEON, CNN Films, and Milan Records."

Synth Rorschach #66: Lauri Glocke and the Apollo 11 Moon Landing

This one is in via long time MATRIXSYNTH reader loscha, spotted it in this article: "How the Apollo 11 Moon landing was achieved with the vital help of Carnarvon Tracking Station"

"PHOTO: Lauri Glocke went from working as a waitress to an equipment operator at the base. (Supplied: Lauri Glocke)"

And: "For Lauri Glocke, who was aged just 15 when the Carnarvon base opened, it provided an extraordinary opportunity."


Reminds me of the recently posted stacked EMS Rehberg Analyse-Filterbank B1-IIs, but with knobs instead of sliders.  The bottom section also reminds me of a white Crumar Bit 01 rack synth.

Synth Rorschach #65: Bunker Modules!

Another one in via bÖsch

"@matrixsynth mixing room with plugins on the wall"

Indeed. My first thought was giant 500 format modules.  Then I thought eurorack or DIY modules of course.  The top sections which I'm guessing are vents, look like labels for the modules.  The bottom look like patch sockets.  The first three "modules" remind me of complex oscillators, followed by a mixer, followed by filters or modulators.  The desk section reminds me of a control section with additional patch points, sliders, knobs, and various controls.  How cool is that.  This one takes the cake.

Synth Rorschach #64: Moon Rocks

Where does NASA keep the Moon Rocks? - Smarter Every Day 220 Published on Jul 9, 2019 SmarterEveryDay

The source of Formant knobs. Moon rocks!

OK, this one is a bit of stretch, but when I saw the small thumbnail for this video on YouTube, my first thought was, "did SmarterEveryDay do a video on modular synths?!". For a split second I thought that was a Formant modular in the background. In the larger still above it now reminds me of square Mattson Mini Modular panels with Formant knobs.

Synth Rorschach #63: PPGs Ready to be Connected at Apollo Mission Control

via bÖsch


"Loads of PPGs ready to be connected"


You might recognize this from: Synth Rorschach #64: Apollo Mission Control. Nice contrast in this shot compared to the color and perceived hustle and bustle in the previous post.

Synth Rorschach #62: Dream Synth Studio Completed!

This one is in via Gerard:

"My dream synth studio completed!"

Spotted on The Vintage Beauty of Soviet Control Rooms.

---

The guy on the left looks like he's actually playing a synth with a vocoder. Right looks like he's reading a patch layout, and the center guy looks like he is admiring a sequence and/or watching a monitor above. All while wearing fast food caps!

You can find more Synth Rorschachs here.

Synth Rorschach #61: Apollo Mission Control

This one is more synth meet than synth. Get behind your synth console for the event. Wouldn't that be cool? Someone should set that up with a bunch of PPG Waveterms.

via Engadget:

"NASA reopens Apollo mission control in time for Moon landing anniversary"

Synth Rorschach #60: The Outer Limits

This Synth Rorschach in via Atomic Shadow.

"Is It A Synth? No. It's from the first episode of The Outer Limits which aired in September, 1963. The Galaxy Being starred Cliff Robertson as a radio station owner who used his transmitter to reach out across the galaxy. After establishing contact with a being from another world, a series of events (brought about by his carping wife) leads to the physical transmission of the Galaxy Being to Earth. A heavy handed moral about the human race being prone to violence ensues.

The episode has some great examples of mid 20th century Gizmology. Gizmology is term that I coined to describe movie tech that is designed to look all "Science-y". If you look at the photo, you see what appears to be a Eurorack synth! Just out of the frame, on the right, there is the obligatory reel to reel tape recorder. In those days if you wanted your set to look like real science, you had to have an oscilloscope displaying a sine wave and a tape recorder. This episode lacks a scope, but makes up for it with that crazy nest of wires.

An article about the episode here...

I started watching that episode on Prime the other night. When that scene happened I thought, 'How did Cliff Robertson get his hands on Richard Divine's euro rig? In 1963!'."


Bottom reminds me of Dewanatron meets Folktek. Top right reminds me of Anyware's Tinysizer.

Synth Rorschach #59: Scanimate: The Origins of Computer Motion Graphics

Scanimate: The Origins of Computer Motion Graphics from LinkedIn Learning on Vimeo.

This one is for the video synthesis fans out there.  As for the Synth Rorschach, see what specific synths you are reminded of watching this one. This one is in via Soviet Space Child.

"Digital artists have been trying to replicate the ephemeral quality of graphics from the 70s and 80s for years. But nothing comes close to the real (analog) thing. Get to know the first computer used for motion graphics and animation, Scanimate, and the men who've kept the machine alive for the last four decades. In this short documentary, Nick Campbell of Greyscalegorilla talks to Roy Weinstock, one of the original Scanimate animators, and Dave Sieg, the engineer who has kept it running all these years. Find out how this system of "tubes and 2x4s" became the predecessor of many modern motion graphics plugins and controls, and how the unusual collaboration between operators and engineers led to some of the most iconic motion graphics of the 1980s—including spots for Super Bowl VIII, Star Wars, and children's shows like The Electric Company and Sesame Street."

Synth Rorschach #58: Traffic Lights

via @thonk_synth, via @Tetley_uk

"I never knew that secretly, on the inside, traffic lights really want to be synthesizers."


You can find more Synth Rorschach's here.

Synth Rorschach #57: German Mainframe Computer DERA - Documentary from 1963

Published on Feb 12, 2019 MonoThyratron

"[Enable English Subtitles, please]

At the time of this film (1963) the computer colossus DERA (Darmstädter Elektronischer Rechenautomat) was actually already outdated. It was created in the tube era of electronics. The construction of the calculating machine was conceptually based on the American calculator MARK IV by Howard Aiken (* 8 March 1900 † 14 March 1973), which was constructed between 1949 and 1952.

In 1951 at the Darmstädter Institut für Praktische Mathematik (IPM) they began, under direction of Prof. Dr. h.c. Dr. Alwin Oswald Walther (* 6 May 1898 † 4 January 1967), with the conception of the mainframe computer DERA, a serially working automatic calculator in tube technology with memory, floating point representation and decimal output. It was first used in 1957, but the further development of the computer was already reduced in 1956 and finally abandoned completely in 1959, as DERA had already been overtaken by the newly emerging semiconductor technology. Furthermore, the machine was prone to errors and was therefore shut down after 1961.

Although Prof. Alwin Oswald Walther belonged to the luminaries of early German computer development and his pedagogical as well as technical abilities in teaching were undisputed, his work during the Second World War was repeatedly discussed. Thus he and his team were involved in the ballistic calculations of the Wernher von Brauns rocket experiments in Peenemünde during the 3rd Reich.

The astronomer Dr. Rudolf Kühn (* 27 January 1926 † 4. December 1963), who conducts the interview with Prof. Alwin Walther in this film document, appeared for the first time on German television in 1955. He also co-founded the magazine "Sterne und Weltraum" (Stars and Space) and had the gift of presenting science topics to a broad television audience in generally understandable words. He died in a traffic accident in the same year as this television documentary.

People in this documentary:
Rudolf Kühn (* 27 January 1926 † 4 December 1963)
Alwin Oswald Walther (* 6 May 1898 † 4 January 1967)
Waltraud Krötz [phon.] (trainee programmer)
Elke Geist (programmer)
Mr. Pohlmeier [phon.] (Electronics engineer, shows DERA tube assembly)
Mr. Maul [phon.] (operates punch card doubler)
Mrs. Brink [phon.] (only briefly to see)"

Synth Rorschach #56

Spotted this images on BoingBoing regarding an article on George Dyson. I'm not sure what the image is off and how it relates to that post, but there it is. If anyone has any more info on the pic, let us know!

You can check out more Synth Rorschachs here.

Synth Rorschach #55: HP 5105A Frequency Synthesizer

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

via this auction

via wikipedia:

"A frequency synthesizer is an electronic circuit that generates a range of frequencies from a single reference frequency. Frequency synthesizers are used in many modern devices such as radio receivers, televisions, mobile telephones, radiotelephones, walkie-talkies, CB radios, cable television converter boxes satellite receivers, and GPS systems. A frequency synthesizer may use the techniques of frequency multiplication, frequency division, direct digital synthesis, frequency mixing, and phase-locked loops to generate its frequencies. The stability and accuracy of the frequency synthesizer's output are related to the stability and accuracy of its reference frequency input. Consequently, synthesizers use stable and accurate reference frequencies, such as those provided by crystal oscillators..."

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Synth Rorschach #54

I'll be surprised if anyone gets this one.

Hint: it looks like a button got loose.

Synth Rorschach #53: ARPEGGIO | ROMA

What's ROMA? Oh wait...


This one spotted by @jasperhamill.

Synth Rorschach #52: Oh, where the hell is that filter cutoff knob?

via @Earthnik

"Oh, where the hell is that filter cutoff knob?"

5U, euro, or frac? Euro on the right. 5U or Frac she's working on in the middle. Mults on the left? Bass Station Rack, Drum Station, and rack synths to her right? Definitely DIY... What is that falling off on the right?

Synth Rorschach #51: Synth Station

via f*mass

"bÖsch soundcheck"

Synth Rorschach #50: Keys

via @KorgUK

"Just can't get away from it... even when on #holiday! #piano #keys #keyboard #synth #summer"