The Who Synth Porn

Great video on The Who and synths. Gear porn galore! : ) In via AH.

TimewARP 2600 Goes Native!

This in via Harmony Central. The TimewARP 2600 was hailed as the best ARP 2600 soft synth by many, but it was only available in RTAS format. It will soon be released in VST and AudioUnit format as well as stand alone. I can't wait to check it out.

The Ultimate Analog

Via Music Thing. I actually saw this a bit earlier but didn't have my blog going. Better late than never. : )

http://www.whitwell.ndo.co.uk/musicthing/images/cassini.jpg

Dewanatron - Exotic Performing Electronic Instruments

Some interesting instruments. Samples on site.

VA Cowbell

This in via Boing Boing. Kind of reminds me of my "It's not a piano!" post.



Link to Rad Monkey.

Alesis Andromeda A6 resource site

http://www.wohmart.com/a6/
Link to great A6 resource site with user tips and demos. If you haven't checked it out yet, it's worth the click.

Yamaha Tenori-On music box

This in via Music Thing, via Cikira. Designed by Toshio Iwai. Looks groovy... Me want one. This reminds me that I still want to pick up a Korg Kaoss pad one of these days.

Yamaha Tenori-On

More Polyevolver madness

http://www.trippler.net/files/poly/anapoly.mp3

More from Mr. Trippler. Think I'm going to need to open up a Samples section just for him. This one showcases the Polyevolver as a standard analog poly. Sounds like Mr. Trippler may be the first to tame the beast. : )

Looper's Delight

http://www.loopers-delight.com/loop.html

This just in via AH. Description from the site:

"Looper's Delight is a cultural and informational resource for musicians creating with audio loops of every sort. Loop based music essentially involves the repetition of audio samples, or loops. From that basic premise looping moves off in numerous directions, encompassing a wide range of techniques for building, manipulating, and using loops. The technique crosses many musical boundaries and appears in a wide range of musical styles and genres. "

It's not a piano!

The following is a great post on the AKAI EWV-2000 that came in via AH. The author gave me the ok to post it. This post made me think about how much more a synthesiser is than a piano with other sounds. When I bought my first synth, an Oberheim Matrix-6, the first thing I did was start programming my own instruments. I say instruments instead of sounds because that's what they were to me. I was simply blown away by the possibilities. The great thing about the Matrix-6 was that it had all these control features like release velocity, key velocity, pressure aftertouch, the pitch bends, tracking generator, ramps, etc. So I sat there litterally creating hundreds of instruments never heard before. Most required different techniques in playing style. One of my favorite things to do was to create a sound and then let the sound play me. I'd find that a particular sound I created required a specific technique to get the most out of it just like a saxaphone, flute, guitar or any other unique instrument would require. But... It was all via a piano style keyboard. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but when you think of it, a synthesiser is not a piano. It's a means of creating musical instruments that in many cases have never been heard before. It's amazing to think that in probably 99% of the time these instruments are accessed and possibly limited via the interface of a piano keyboard.

Back to the AKAI EMV-2000. The EMV-2000 is an analog rack mount synthesizer that is meant to be played with a wind controllor similar to a sax or clarinet. AKAI made a line of synthesizer wind instruments under the product name of EWI for Electronic Wind Instrument. Click here for a great site on these amazing instruments. I haven't gotten my hands on one yet, but definitely plan to. It would be amazing to see what these controllers open up. I think I'll skip the midi sofa I posted earlier though; not sure what that would open up. : )

Now for the great post on AH:
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Akai EWV-2000 Analog Wind Synth Module:

2 VCO, 2 VCF, 2 HPF, 2 VCA, 4 EG, + 2 other Filters.

It is basically a 2 voice, played in unison (not duophonic):

VOICE 1:
VCO1 feeds into a VCF1, then HPF1, then VCA1.
EG1 is shared between VCO1 and VCF1. EG2 for VCA1.

VOICE 2:
VCO2 feeds into a VCF2, then HPF2, then VCA2.
EG3 is shared between VCO2 and VCF2. EG4 for VCA2.

VCO1 can sync to the VCO 2.
Voice 1 has External Input mixed in before VCF1.
VCO 1 can be modulated (FM) by VCO2+VCF2+EG3 after the output of VCF2.
All 4 VCO waveforms have width/shape control (not just the pulse).
There is no LFO.

Output from Voice 1 and Voice 2 is mixed to one of:
Direct Output
String Filter to Output
Basoon/Oboe Filter to Output
String Filter + Basoon/Oboe Filter in Parallel to Output

In addition to a few unique unique things listed above and numerous
parameters for control input from several sources, all the typical
parameters you find on other analog synths are available.

You don't often rely on EG in the usual way. Your Breath pressure and Bite
strength on the mouthpiece both act as envelop controllers with real time
variability. You mix those with the ADSR style EG for total envelop.

There is no LFO. You control vibrato or other LFO type of effects directly
in real time from your breath, bite, or a wiggle controller (kind of like
the pitch bender on Nord lead). This results in much more natural vibrato or
tremolo than you get from an LFO.

Portamento can be assigned to the bite controller. This allows you to easily
play lines with portamento controlled on each note transition. This can be
very musical, like it is when programmed on a TB-303.

All this real time control of parameters (that are usually controlled by EG
or LFO on other synths) makes the EVW-2000 very musical.

It's a pretty good module, with a wider range of sounds than an average
monosynths (so many filters). Raw sound quality is reasonably good. The
total output is extremely musical. The high musicality certainly benefits
greatly from the fact it is controlled by a wind controller instead of a
keyboard.

It can sound like a keyboard based monosynth and it would hold its own in
that type application. But you might not use it that way very often; under
breath control it can sound so different from any keyboard based instrument.

There is no MIDI input or CV/gate input. MIDI out only. I think CV/gate
input could be added by a tech that knows analog synths. Core of each voice
is CEM3394. Also some SSM chips in the design.

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