Yunost-21 on the *bay

Saw this one on Music Thing. Russion Yunost-21 keytar synth up on the *bay. Title link takes you to the auction shots saved for posterity. And yep, it definitely looks and sounds like a Juno-106 clone based on the name. Check out this post I put up a bit ago on Russion synths for two great sites with samples.

RIP Larry and Anne Hendry

I didn't know Larry personally. You will hear when the big names like Bob Moog leave us, but rarely will you hear about those that love synthesis and make it their hobby. Although I never had the fortune to meet Larry, many on AH have and they all have kind words to say about the man. This is a synth blog. It's about the instruments, the music and more importantly, the people. My condolences go out to those hurt by this sad news. RIP Larry, you made a lot of lives better out there.

Larry and his MOTM


More shots of Larry at the yearly AHMW

Should I open the site to other posters?

I've been thinking about opening up this blog to other posters. That would mean you and others could create an account, login and start posting your own content. You would be limitted to just posting and editing your own posts. The rule is that it has to be about synths. If anyone abuses the site, they would be banned from posting again. Let me know if you think this is a good idea or not via the comments link below. Currently I am the only one posting. If I do open this up then I lose this site being my personal blog, but if I do open it up, Matrixsynth would have the potential of becoming something bigger. Let me know your thoughts.

Thanks,
matrix

EML 400 Modular on the *bay - Are dealer markups worth it?

You don't see these come up to often. Minimi123, aka synthland123, has this EML 400 and a ton of other gear up for sale again on the *bay. Some complain that dealer prices on vintage gear are marked up. Are they worth it? I say a big fat YES. Well, of course it depends on the markup, but I personally think it's worth it knowing that you will get a quality piece of gear.

My story: I once picked up a Prophet 5 in "the best condition ever!" from the *bay. Turned out it looked nice but had some serious problems with it. I wasted a couple of months sending it to a tech recommended by the seller (who said he'd pay for it). The seller dragged me along just enough to get past the feedback limit of three months (I was unknowing and naive having never dealt with a bad experience on the *bay and him being local to me). Well, he disappeared and I got my synth back from the tech unrepaired. I ended up sending it to Wine Country Sequential. After a few hundred dollars of repairs there was still work to be done and it was in such bad shape that they did not know how much more work was needed. We needed to try things one step at a time, each one paid up front. I ended up deciding to recouperate some of my losses by trading it in for one of thier Perfect Prophets before I sunk too much into the bad one, and I have never been happier. So, unless I can fully test a used piece of gear before I buy, I won't bother. But... I do trust dealers and if I can't test it out, I'll gladly pay the mark up to be sure I get what I pay for. In my experience it is more than worth it. Why do I trust vintage dealers? Because they have too much on the line to screw you over.

Synth Color Schemes & Custom MacBeth M5

Interesting post on Vintage Synth Explorer regarding synth color schemes. Some pictures of the usuals and then this...

Tim Love Lee's custom MacBeth M5. Wow.

Altres: An Evening of Space Music - Scotland

Via Electro-Music.com. Title link takes you to post. Looks interesting.



"ALTRES are presenting an "Evening of Space Music" on the balcony of the Mills Observatory, Balgay Park Dundee [map] on Thursday 13th October 2005 (weather permitting - if it's raining we're not doing it!).

We'll be playing two sets of mostly improvised music between 7.30 and 10pm. Come along - it's free!"

I made Music Thing!

Sweet shot of me in via Music Thing (guys I'm a Chimp, not an Ape!) They know that. : ) I'll be a chimp and post this. Title link takes you there.



BTW this has become my background wallpaper. If anyone asks I'll tell them, "Ever hear of Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hide? Well, that's actually me after a few minutes under the influence of a modular.

PS: And no I didn't take that shot. Click through title link for who did.

Korg MicroKorg - New Flickr Shot

Two beers, a smoke and a MicroKorg. Nice. : )

Roland History - Sound on Sound Article

Click here for a Sound on Sound article on Roland's history. This came up on the AH thread discussing the SH-3 vs SH-3A. I didn't realise the SH-3 was originally sold under the Ace Tone label.

"Then there was Japan's first synthesizer, the SH1000 (see the box on the previous page) and its more powerful sibling, the SH3, which appeared as both the Roland SH3 and the Ace Tone SH3, and remains highly sought-after to this day."

"Not everything was plain sailing, and it appears that Kakehashi infringed one of Bob Moog's filter patents when he designed the SH3. So a new version appeared in 1974. Externally, the SH3A was almost identical to the SH3, but it sported a new VCF and VCA, and it was this model that Vangelis and a handful of other famous keyboard players adopted in the mid-1970s."

2A03 Synthesizer - NES Virtual Synth

In via Tom McClintock. Interesting. Title link takes you to a site hosting the virtual 2A03 Synth. The 2A03 was the synth chip used in the Nintendo NES.



"For those of you familiar with the 8-bit music scene, the 2A03 was the integrated circuit at the heart of the old Nintendo Entertainment System. The 2A03 was a custom IC containing, among other things, a 6502 processor and audio generator circuits. These circuits are what gave the NES it's unique sound."

"It is an 2A03 freed from the limitations of the original hardware. The core 2A03 "sound" howerver is preserved and faithfully reproduced.

At it's core, the 2A03 contains 4 sound generation circuits:

triangle generator
2 square wave generators (each having a slightly different sweep algorithm)
noise generator"