I am made from the wires of my synthesizer

Tons of updates on Bleepsandbloops including shots, samples and thoughts. Title link takes you there.


The Q107 Filter

Synesthesia and the Mandala

"Essentially, the mandala detects where and how hard you hit it and translates that information into sound and sound controllers for your playing pleasure and exploration. " The mandala comes with it's own brain drum containing sounds and it can be used as a MIDI controller for other gear as well. Via meeglosh in the comments of this post.

thank you, stereolab - New Flickr Shot

flickr by tromasbronot.

About the Little Phatty

In case you missed it, the following touches on how the new Moog Little Phatty was born. Note that Axel Hartmann, designer of the user interface for many Waldorf products, the Andromeda A6 and of course the designer of the Hartmann Neuron, was involved. It's fascinating to realize that the physical design of the Little Phatty has ties to Waldorf, the A6, and the Hartmann Neuron.

"Mike talks about the conception of the Little Phatty.

I cannot think of a better transitional topic from my previous memo “Moog without Bob” to “Little Phatty”; Bob’s last project. He was very excited about the possibilities of this keyboard from our earliest discussions. I believe he felt that the technology and the team that we had (have) in place would finally enable him to bring a synth to thousands of musicians who were previously in no financial position to enjoy a Moog synth. I am very proud to say that is exactly what we are about to accomplish with the release of the Little Phatty.
As a starter, let me give you a bit of history about the development of the project. I am not exactly sure when the concept first entered Bob’s mind but I do have notes on it from early 2004 when we had a product planning meeting and Turnkey requested us to give this some consideration but I am sure he had thought about of it long before that. Then during the Summer of 2004 Steve and Bob really began the serious work of technical conception which resulted in Steve writing the initial technical spec in August, 2004. From there my memory gets a little fuzzy because 2005 was such a difficult year. What I do remember is that we sent off our first ideas to Axel Hartmann around October of 2004 and we met with him at the NAMM Show in 2005. (Axel Hartmann and his Design Box industrial design associates have been a long time collaborators of the company.) At NAMM and then subsequently at last year’s Messe, the first concepts of this keyboard began to take shape.

From there, Cyril Lance came on board. While he did not have the time he wanted with Bob, Cyril is an extremely talented engineer in his own right. This will be evident to those who discover the Little Phatty. The project team that worked on this design has come from the far corners of the world – Asheville, North Carolina where Moog is headquartered; Germany where Design Box is located; software from our consultants in California; and importantly our Chinese partners. Yes, our Chinese partners. No, we are not making this keyboard in China. It still will be made right along side the Voyager in Asheville but without the component level support from our Chinese partner we could never reached the low price point of this product.

So what about the name, Little Phatty? Taking a cue from Bob’s choice of the name “moogerfooger” for our line of effects modules, we adopted the moniker “Little Phatty” for our new synth because of its irreverent; tongue-in-cheek nature. At first it was just funny, but it grew on us as the personality of the synth developed. The Little Phatty name is a description of what we wanted this synth to be: smaller, less imposing, a chip off the old block as far as the sound character, and a price point people have a chance of reaching. It is a true Moog synth. It sounds really fat and ballsy. In this way we feel the name echoes the “minimoog”. Bob liked the name Little Phatty. He had a great sense of humor about these things. I know if he were still here we would be enjoying some great laughs, and I think he would really love the way the LP sounds. It definitely contains the sound that he created.

So that’s it. We hope you will buy one, enjoy it, and drop us a note about your experiences with this or any other Moog product.

As always, we appreciate every single one of you.

Warm Regards,


Mike Adams"

Korg Keyboard - New Flickr Shot

flickr by Ke Wynn.

Analog Dust - New Flickr Shot

flickr by violator3.



Me & a Yamaha CS10

Terratec Area 61 Expandable Keyboard System

Now this is interesting. The Terratec Area 61 is a MIDI controller with optional built in DSP boards that can host different synth engines. To start they will offer the Terratec Komplexer (basically a Waldorf uQ) and the WaveXtable (more below). In via Harmony Central News. Title link takes you to full release.



"TerraTec Producer will unveil a unique keyboard at the Frankfurt Musikmesse - AREA 61. Based on an unprecedented design, AREA 61 is an expandable keyboard system for studio and gigging musicians. It is a genuine musical instrument with freely selectable, integrated sound generators (optionally available DSP soundboards) that may also serve as a central control unit for all software sequencers and virtual instruments in computer-based music studios.

Sound Generation Options
In addition, keyboardists can equip AREA 61 with optionally available sound modules for use as a classic synthesizer, that is, without a computer. To this end, TerraTec Producer now offers KOMPLEXER, a synthesizer that runs as a VSTi plug-in and as a standalone DSP application. Comprising a real synthesizer based on the Waldorf μQ, it provides more than 400 parameters for shaping the perfect sound. And if this complexity seems a bit overwhelming at first, keyboardists can go to the Easy Edit page, choose from the many presets and easily manipulate their selections using eight Macro controls. Best of all, entire banks port from KOMPLEXER VST to AREA 61's on-board KOMPLEXER DSP. This means KOMPLEXER VST goes wherever the keyboard goes, without having to tote a computer.

Released last year, the WaveXtable module is a 128-voice, GM- and XG-compatible Waveboard offering more than 500 top-drawer sounds. Further modules are in the works. Users can employ other vendors' compatible Wavetable cards, making the AREA 61 a remarkably extendible instrument.

The integrated sound generator's analog output signal goes to the output mixer and may be auditioned with the 2.0 audio system's playback signal as well as over the input monitor. Recording the output signal via USB 2.0 is also an option. The AREA 61 Controller Keyboard will be available in stores in Q 3/ 2006 retailing for 749.00 USD (MSRP)."

SUPERBUTH at the Musikmesse

Title link takes you there. This is the equivalent of the Analogue Haven booth at NAMM. Can't tell if it's actually live or not, but there is some webcam action going on.

Memotron on One Blue Monkey

Title link takes you there. Video link under date under title.

Ambient 24 Video - Zengomi

Roland JP8000 and Korg Z1 drones. Zengomi posted the video on the-gas-station. Title link takes you to a 10M WMV. There is a 60M version in the post.

"In part, the JP8080 is making 'the cycling higher pitched drone followed by the sander sounding piece', which is triggered by channel aftertouch. The JP only is fed to a lexicon MPX500. The Z1 makes what sounds to me like a cello. "