ARP and Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Nice video of Philip Dodds (head of engineering for ARP) and the ARP 2500 in the film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Click here then here for a couple of interviews with Dodds on the Rhodes Chroma site that mentions how he ended up in the actual film and a "close encounter" with George Lucas who came to check out the set after completing the post production of Star Wars. Amazing bit of synth history. If you haven't actually seen Close Encounters of the Third kind, rent it. It's a great sci-fi film of the era.

Brothers Separated at Birth?

Update: More keeps coming in the comments. Make sure to check em out.

Update: And the twin via the comments of the post:

Casio Rap-Man


Interesting Flickr shot of the Casio SK1 and the Realistic Rap-Master with a cpation states the Rap-Master was a copy of the SK1. Who knows... I bet some circuit benders out there would. If you know, feel free to comment.

Yamaha CS2X - New Flickr Shots

Title link takes you to a couple more. Love the blue knobs, and I actually like how these shots are blurry. Adds a little warmth to the crisp digital of the synth.

DVDBORN

David Vanenborn sent me an email announcing a new synth blog he just set up inspired by Matrixsynth! Very cool. I am flattered. It looks like he is off to a great start including a post on the Fairlight CMI Demo Tape with an mp3 sample. Definitely worth checking out. Pictured below is the first shot on his first post. Title link takes you there. Update: DVDBORN added to my blogroll on the right.

If You Own or Plan to Own a Fizmo...

read this.



Be sure to read the comments.

Analog Synthesis in Nuts and Volts Magazine

Title link takes you to Nuts and Volts magazine. This month's issue has an article on Analog Music Synthesizers by Thoms Henry. There are also more articles by Thomas Henry available in pdf format on the site via this link. Enjoy. Via John L Marshall who gracefully hosts the Pacific Northwest Synthesizer meeting each year. Thanks John!

Stefan Trippler 2006 - Mono Evolver Keyboard Sample

Title link takes you to Stefan Trippler's motto for 2006 expressed via one of two prototype Mono Evolver Keyboards. Right click and save. Enjoy. : )

Chamberlin Rythmate Videos

Title link takes you to Roth Handle studio's Chamberlin Rythmate page with info, shots and video. Via Mattias on AH. We finally get to see and hear Mattias as well. Nice grin. : )

Cockos Incorporated

I previously posted on Ninjam, an online jamming program with latency in mind. Now Cockos (nice name btw), has come out with Reaper a "multi-track audio prototyping and recording environment." Title link takes you to the Cockos site where you can also find Jesusonic, a realtime programmable effects processor as well as some non-music utilities. Interesting bit is I didn't realize this software was from Justin Frankel, the man behind Winamp. Thanks to Music Thing.

Aliens Project Toy of the Month - EMU XL-1

The Aliens Project January 2006 toy of the month is the EMU XL-1. Title link takes you there. Includes a couple of shots and sixteen samples. Via Machinesound.