Sequentix P3

Saw this in a picture of someone's studio and wondered what it was. Turns out it's a DIY Sequentix P3 8 track sequencer that you can now get pre-built direct from Sequentix or from Analogue Haven in the us. Looks sweet. Two rows of sixteen knobs and sixteen buttons. Yowza! Haven't used that word before, so it must be good. ; ) More info and pics after the hop.

Also be sure to check out the custom gallery for more including a nice red one.

Vermona Performer change in design

Music Thing has a good post on how much the design of a synth can change the desirability of a synth. Aesthetically I like the design of the old Performer with those classy chrome knobs, but functionally I think the new Performer will be easier to use. It also looks inspiring in a more colorful way (pun not intended but I'll take it).

Picture from Music Thing:

It's amazing how much the design of a synth can influence your perception and quite possibly the sounds you create. The Korg MS2000 and MicroKorg for example have essentially the same synth engine, minus a few deltas like being able to capture formant samples via the vocoder on the MicroKorg, yet the interfaces will pull you in different directions. I have an Alesis Ion, but every time I walk into the local Guitar Center, I play with the Micron and I walk away really, really wanting one. It's not just the fun factor, but for some reason the design inspires different sounds from me; it's as if it has a different synth engine. Heck if interface didn't matter, why not get a Yamaha AN1X rather than a Roland JP8000?

Creamware Minimax ASB now shipping

Sleek hardware with knobs running Creamware's Minimax software.

Elka x705 on Ebay

This interesting item came up on Ebay. It's an Organ with string ensemble, analog brass, mono-synth for bass or higher notes, and 16 analog rhythms. Some info on harmony-central. It was used by Jean Michel Jarre live: JMJ kit list.

Elka x705 on Ebay:

Some pictures of Jean Michel Jarre playing the Elka x705 live off of jarreography:

Ever wonder what chips your old analogs use?

I was wondering if the Prophet 5 Rev 2 and Korg Mono/Poly and Polysix all shared the same SSM (Solid State Music) filter, so I shot an email to AH. But then I remembered, duh, it's probably on synthech. The Rev 2 used an SSM 2040 while the Mono/Poly and Polysix both used the SSM 2044. If you are wondering what your synths might be using or if you are just curious what synths had what chips in common take a look at the list. You'll be surprised to find out different synths used the same Curtis chips. Note that the design of the synth and implementation of the chip made a huge impact on the actual sound of the synth, so two synths like the Prophet 5 Rev 3 and Oberheim OB-Xa which used CEM3320 VCFs will sound different. Other synths that used the CEM3320 were the PPG Wave 2.0, PAiA Proteus, Elka Synthex, Crumar Trilogy, SCI Pro One, SCI Prophet 10, Lindrum, and CMI Fairlight II. Pretty versatile chip. : )
NOTE: Synthtech is also home to the MOTM modular. Check em out.

Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 Rev 2

Gorgeous Prophet 5 Rev 2 for sale on AH. It has some nicks, but it still looks beautiful to me. There were three primary revs of the Prophet 5, Rev 1, Rev 2, and Rev 3 which was followed by Rev 3.2 and 3.3. The Rev 1 was notorious for tuning problems, with the Rev 3 the most stable; however, the Rev 2 had and SSM filter chip while the Rev 3s had Curtis chips. Most say the Rev 2 sounds warmer. I haven't had the luxury to A/B the two myself but I have heard SSM filters on a Korg Mono/Poly and Polysix and they definitely sound different than most Curtis filters I've heard - much more liquid or bubbly with some resonance.

Simmons SDS6

Recently saw a picture of this and wondered what it was. It's a Simmons SDS6 drum pattern programer with 8 rows of 32 steps. Unfortunately no midi. Click here for more pics as well as other Simmons gear. Great Simmons site. Thanks to GG for link.

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.

CLICK FOR MORE »

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):

Yamaha GX1 site

This just in via AH. The Yamaha GX1 was the precursor to the Yamaha CS80. Check out this link for more including some video! Make sure to check out the bass pedal video. Sick.

More MacBeth M5 Samples

http://www.imnotsoho.net/M5/M5.html

New and old samples by Nico Schaap. Check em out. : )

Update: Also check out the MacBeth Studio Systems site for updates and some beautiful shots.

Museum of Making Music - Moog Flickr shot

Minimoog shot in via Flickr. Interesting thing is it was taken at the Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad, California. I never knew about it. Click through to check out the museum site and be sure to check out the virtual museum. Electronic keyboards start coming in with Gallery 4, 1950-1969. Pretty cool. Definitely need to check this out during my next visit to LA.

Update: unfortunately the shot that was here is gone.

Morrison Digital Trumpet

Found this posted on Engaget. Click here for more including pictures, videos and sound samples. It's great to see more controllers out there.

Can a Polyevolver sound like a Yamaha CS80?

One thing I noticed listening to the demos on carbon111's Polyevolver site is how much the Polyevolver actually sounds similar to the Yamaha CS80 to me in his examples. I particularly noticed it in the warm pad demo . I thought it was just me, but somone else pointed out that the soft lead demo sounded a bit like this CS80 demo. It's interesting; the CS80 filter has that swarming bee quality to it, missing in the Polyevolver, and it sounds a bit fuller in these samples, but that certain organic quality is there.

More OB-Mx Samples (via zengomi)

http://zengomi.com/music/4-vox%20rag.mp3

Just in from zengomi. Bass and lead on this track are the OB-Mx. Nice track.

Great Polyevolver Site

Carbon111 has put up a nice Polyevolver site containing some softer demos of the Polyevolver as well as programming tips, waveshape charts, and wallpaper. Click through for more.

MPC - no not that one.

This turned up on AH via Cikira. It's not an Akai MPC model. MPC stands for Music Percussion Computer. It was manufactured in England as a drum kit, sequencer, mixer and computer according to Synthony. It also had a Timex Sinclair 1000 personal computer interface. More after the hop.

Photos from rrooyyccee

Some amazing synth shots from rrooyyccee on Flickr. This actually came in from royce via AH. This one with the green oscilliscope running in the background is my favorite. Gorgeous.

Korg Poly-800 Moog Slayer Mod

Just saw this on the Vintage Synth Museum boards. It's a DIY mod for the Poly 800 that adds knobs and increases the range of the filter. From the site:
"This thing can do dangerous sounds, like the speaker-blowing (and ear-blowing!) sounds of old modular synths. It's really sick.... In addition to the usual disclaimers (if you break it, it's your problem, not mine!), I'd like to also point out that I will not be responsible for blown speakers, amps & ear-drums." Hard to beleive but it did score high marks from some who have tried it.

Update: I was trying to figure out what looked off about the picture below other than the mod. I didn't think the Poly 800 had volume and speed pots of the same design of the Polysix and I don't remember a tune pot, then I realized, duh, the picture is the EX-800, the Poly-800 desktop unit.

J and Moog - Flickr shot

Synth shot in via Flickr.

Update: unfortunately the image is gone.

Psych-Tone Melody Synthesizer

Someone posted a link to this on AH regarding the Muse. From the manual:

"This is a new and unusual approach to music synthesis. The sounds it produces are modern - to say the very least - and the operation is extraordinarily simple. Technically, this is a 'psuedo random sequence generator' operating as a tune computer with tempo, voicing selection, tone shaping, and pause gates."

Jomox XBase999

For all us 808 and 909 style dum machine lovers, the XBase999 is slated to come out this Fall or Winter. I haven't had the luck to play with a Jomox yet, but all I ever hear is how great they are. This one looks pretty promising. Click here for specs and more info.

Triadex Muse - (Link to VSTi of Muse)

It's funny how some things come in waves. I was reading the new issue of Future Music magazine and the "Back to the Future" feature item is the Triadex Muse. It's a rare and interesting piece of gear known as the first digital musical instrument. It came out in 1971. It's basically a sequencer with built in speakers and tone module. I thought how cool it would be if you could midi it up and use it to control other synths. Well, I catch up on email and there's a thread from Cikira on AH on just that. The owner of the Muse below converts the output to MIDI. Also, there is a software simulation of the Muse that transmits midi. Pretty cool.

From the email thread, "We agreed that a good word for these things is "inscrutable". It's tough to figure out how the sliders interrelate, but sure enough you get repeating, evolving patterns, and as it plays you start to identify recurring motifs. Its internal speaker puts out a decent level, and it does a little light show that reflects what it's doing, only it doesn't really help you figure it out. "

http://www.trovar.com/muse/muse.html

Sonic Steel Bass - You've heard this sound in film before.

Someone sent email to the AH list asking for the source of a low droning bass sound in a film. I instantly recognized the sound from numerous films and wondered where it could have come from. I thought it could have been Symbolic Sound's Capybara Kyma system, but someone posted a link to Sonic Steel Instrument's Sonic Steel Bass. That was the sound. The instrument was used by Lucas Skywalker Studios for their filmscores as well as the Discovery Channel's "The Power of Music." Amazingly rich sounding instrument. Click here and have a listen.

"The Space Bass is a 10 ft sheet of mirror finish stainless steel with 5 octaves of tuned steel and brass rods bolted to a bar. The rods can be double bowed, struck percussively or the metal sheet can be rubbed to create still another effect. Several tones can be created by bowing a single rod, creating a multi-tiered overtone series. The Space Bass emits deep, primordial, archetypal resonances that invariably put audiences into altered states."

GenoQs - OCTOPUS

Interesting new sequencer coming out. Click here for more info.

It reminds me of a mix between the Latronic Notron Sequencer and Buchla's 250e pictured below.

Legowelt... Ah, gear lust...

Legowelt sums up gear lust perfectly. Click here for more pictures. Crazy cat, Legowelt is... I love his writing sytle.

From the site:
"The studio is where its at'..the place where the music is made.A sanctuary, a gearfreak's fatherland or whatever. A dangerous place also...You might spend days here forgetting there is a world outside. The machines are no machines anymore: you treat them with respect, they have personalities...some of them love, others don't give a fuck...but they are alive...and might even be considered close family.

Its difficult to describe to a stranger what it is like to be a 'gearfreak' (i.e. having a keen interest in electronic music instruments, especially old analog ones). Bob Moog ( a famous inventor of synthesizers) once said: "its halfway between being a musician and hot-rodding your car" and thats pretty much right...its nerdy but macho at the same time, and for fellow gearfreaks there is nothing quite like the exhiliration of the 'gearlist'...where the people tell what gear they use and have.

That is the point of this part of the Legowelt site, to see what gear is used in the Legowelt studio. For a non-gearfreak this might be complete nonsense, but for those who dig it....here it is (with the additional pictures!)..and also remember there is some fancy shit here, but also lot of tracks are actually made ghetto style in the living room or on the road on cheap ass equipment such as Amiga computers, boss drummachines and borrowed portable grooveboxes, just to be mixed in this studio on the mixing desk...and fuck yeah sometimes that don't even happen. "

And I'm back!

Had a great weekend at Ocean Shores, WA with my wife, kid and good friend Scott. Just caught up on email and some goodies came in. Posts coming shortly!