DSI Evolver OS 3.0 Update

http://www.davesmithinstruments.com/support/rev2-0.html

From the PDF:
Evolver Version 3.0 Update
The following changes have been made to the Evolver as part of the update. In general the changes were
made to make the it compatible with the Poly Evolver Keyboard.
1) A number of MIDI CCs have been added (see list at bottom of page); these are active for MIDI input
only; only the sysex parameters are transmitted.
2) Auto-sequence implemented; for some trigger modes, such as MIDI gated, the sequencer will
automatically turn on when the program is selected. This means you no longer have to first hit the Start
button for programs with these modes when playing from a keyboard.
3) LFO sync feature has been added; just turn the LFO amount over 100, and LFO sync will be on.
4) There is a quick reset of the Main parameters; just hit row 1 and 4 buttons at the same time, and the
Main parameters will be re-initialized.
5) Two MIDI clock modes, Ext In Step and Key Step, have been moved from Main parameters to
Program parameters, so there are now two additional Trigger Modes available.

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Yamaha VL1 and VL70-m Guitar Samples

Some good Yamaha VL1 and Guitar Samples in via the-gas-station.

VL1 guitar.

VL70-m guitar.

Nice track.

Hans Zimmer and Wife advice

In via Music Thing. Click through to read. Too funny!

Buchla Music Easel for sale

You don't see these come up for sale too often. Guido Welsch of Guidotoons is selling is Easel pictured below along with a Wiard modular. He is only accepting serious offers only, so don't inquire unless you are serious. These things are highly coveted and usually go for quite the pretty penny, and this one is in pristine shape.

Bergman Tubon & Klavinette

Update via the comments: Some nice pics.

The Tubon came up on the AH list. It's a sort of tube shaped keytar manufactured in 1966 with contrabass, saxaphone, electric bass and woodwind. No one had any information or pictures on it until the following popped up from Mikael Lindgren. The Klavinette is also featured.

Here's a picture of the Bergman Tubon and the Klavinette organ:

"As a matter of fact, the "Tubon" was made in Sweden starting in 1966 by a company named Joh Mustad AB. This early strap-on keyboard is shaped like an oblong tube with a 2 1/2 octave keyboard at one end and controls for the voicings (Contrabass, Saxophone, electric bass, woodwind) at the other end. It ran on batteries and came with a built-in speaker.

Joh Mustad AB were probably most known for the Bergman Klavitron (circa 1964), a small 2-manual spinet organ utilizing vacuum-tube technology. They also came out with a couple of cool portable tube-organs like the Bergman Klavitron and Klavinette, in 1965 and 1966 respectively.

P.S. the Tubon, the Klavitron and the Klavinette were used by numerous Swedish (and Finnish) rock & pop acts during the mid to late sixties."

Update via Frederic in the comments: "Check out the tubon up close! The first keytar?"

Update via Anonymous in the comments: "http://vstforum.clubcubase.net/viewtopic.php?t=17787"

Be sure to see the comments below for more updates.

[Note: this post originally linked to http://hem.bredband.net/linmik/Bergman_Tubon_&_Klavinette.jpg which appears to no longer be on line]

Bob

I almost didn't post this. Someone on AH posted for help on a Moog Micromoog. Mark Pulver replied back with two links, one of which was this. Click through for the link and a bigger picture. Read the last cursive paragraph - the bill. Whenever I hear about Bob Moog or see him in film, I hear two things, one his passion for bridging the gap between technology and the human condition through musical instruments, and two his sense of humor. That "bill" just reaffirms what a great person Bob is to me. Mark, you are one lucky man. I wish I had the good fortune to have met him.

Yamaha JP8000

The Korg Oasys post got me thinking of the different virtual analog and physical models that trickle their way down through different versions of a given manufacturer's products. I remember big debates on how the Prophecy sounds more alive than a Z1 and how the Z1 will disappoint if you are expecting a poly-Prophecy. I remember painstakingly trying to recreate the Prophecy's Prophetic Steps on a Z1 thinking man, I can't wait to hear this polyphonically. I painstakingly went through each parameter side by side, only to finally give up in frustration. The parameters were different enough that I just couldn't get there. Then I remember a bit of hoopla that came out with the Yamaha AN1X release in the UK. The UK Yamaha site had a bunch of goodies including, get this, a JP8000 preset bank for the AN1X. Rumor has it that Roland asked Yamaha to pull them because of how good they were. I happened to A/B them and I simply could not believe my ears. For the majority of presets, (I'd lean towards 95%), the patches were identical. And I don't mean similar or close like the Nord Lead Prophet 5 preset bank. This was spot on. But then there is always the interface... Starting with the exact same patch you can't help but go in completely different directions because of the differences. Still, I bow before the AN1X programmers that pulled it off. Maybe they can program a polyphonic Prophetic Steps on the Z1 for me. Simply amazing. Click here for a Sound on Sound review of the AN1X.

Update on Korg Oasys Post

Wow! Peter Kirn, Editor-in-Chief of create digital music dropped by to comment on my Korg Oasys post. I'm very flattered as it is one of my favorite blogs. Click through to read his comments. He points to an article on the Oasys in Keyboard Magazine, and he mentions an article he is working on the Oasys for O'Reilly. I look forward to reading it. Very cool. Thanks Peter! BTW, I'm assuming it's this O'Reilly. For you computer geeks out there (me included), I wonder what animal would grace his article. : ) All bow to the camel...

Lemur-like Rear projection control

This in via pixelsumo. Check out the video. It's not a Lemur, but if you think about it... Imagine a virtual modular in your wall where you can interchange modules on the fly and have tactile control over everything. One of these days we'll have our touch screen wall displays with the quality of a Lemur (with a remote tablet to boot so you can fiddle away on your recliner), but between now and then I wouldn't mind one of these.

Multi-touch interface.

The Oasys before the Oasys - Korg Oasys PCI

The new Korg Oasys will run you roughly 8k for the 76 key version at Sweetwater. I remember years ago when the Prophecy came out followed by the Z1. There was a bit of buzz going on about Korg coming out with an Oasys keyboard, the grandaddy of all physical and analog modelling. It never materialized. But... I remember at one point you could get the original Oasys on a DSP PCI sound card for the blowout price of $199! I never got one because I didn't want to be tied to the PC and I figured with upgrades and Moore's Law it would soon enough be available in portable software. If I only knew then what I know now... Anywho. Click here for more including some sound samples and a demo that doesn't require the hardware!!! But doh! It also doesn't make any sound. You will need the hardware for that. : )

I'm not sure how the new Korg Oasys keyboard compares. The PCI was more of an open synthesis system like Native Instruments Reactor. Some interesting sites like zargmusic came up with instruments for it as well.

List of emulations:

Analog
Prophet™
Minimoog™
Percussion & VPM
Physical Modeling
Tonewheel Organ
Electric Piano
Guitar & Bass
Brass & Woodwinds
Vocals & Microtuning
Sample Playback



Update: I didn't think I'd be able to find a picture of this, but here it is. This is a mockup of what the original Korg Oasys was thought to look like during the days of the Oasys PCI (note the Oasys logo on the right of the synth. Looks like a mock-up of the Korg Trinity):