MATRIXSYNTH

at 6/11/2006 03:36:00 AM

flickr by maggiexmischief. Alesis Micron.

at 6/11/2006 03:35:00 AM

And it was a synth one. Title link takes you there.

at 6/10/2006 03:11:00 PM

MooT BooXLe performing on the Synthesizers.com modular analogue synthesizer. This is not a perfect performance, as it was improvised in one go."

This is pretty cool. It does pick up so keep watching if it seems slow to start.

at 6/10/2006 10:25:00 AM

Title link takes you to a 2.47M mp3 Via legion of Help Wanted Productions.

"Two new Cyndustries modules arrived this week; a Submuxdeluxe and a mixSix. I put them to immediate use in this demo using the Submux as a sequencer. I'm feeding it a VCO and LFO from a Fenix and taking the various outputs (including the stair out feeding a second VCO) into the MixSix. The warbling drone that begins and ends it all is a DSC being tortured by a Burst Generator and Triple Rez filter. Ok so that really doesn't belong on a demo of the Submux but sue me, I can't do anything "normal" with this thing in my hands."

Nice cat shot via legion. BTW, if you can understand what he is saying you have advanced from apprentice to journeyman my fellow synth geek.

at 6/10/2006 02:07:00 AM

Title link takes you to shots pulled from this auction.

via Brian Comnes

at 6/10/2006 02:06:00 AM

Members of electro-music.com can now add their own photo albums to the Gallery of Photos. Title link takes you there. Pretty cool.

via cebec.

at 6/10/2006 02:05:00 AM

Serge, Wiard, Robert Moog and more. Title link takes you there. Via sequencer.de.

That's a shot of Grant Richter, creator of Wiard, with of course a Wiard modular.

at 6/10/2006 02:04:00 AM

Title link takes you to more shots pulled from this auction. I never realized they were this small. Check out the wall wart next to it for scale.

All analog design
51 Front-panel controls!
MIDI In and Thru
5 Sound Sections with 5 Individual Outputs
Trigger buttons for each of the 5 Sound Sections
Stereo Outputs
12 volt AC wall adapter included

at 6/10/2006 02:03:00 AM

I posted about Inquisitor Betrayer's Tangerine Dream site yesterday. I tracked back to the main site and found this cool little shot. Title link takes you there. No studio shots as of this post, but there are some interesting mp3s and links. The site does take a sec to load.

at 6/10/2006 02:01:00 AM

Looks like the site is in transition, as of the time and date of this post of course. Title link takes you there. I'm curious as to what's coming.

at 6/10/2006 02:00:00 AM

Title link takes you to shots pulled from this auction.

via Brian Comnes.

For more on the Roland Paraphonic see this Keyboard Magazine article. Scroll down when you get there.

"In the Dark Ages of electronic music, the words “synthesized strings” conjured images of just one sound; the Solina String Ensemble and its closely related cousin, the ARP String Ensemble. They did one thing well, which was to crank out sustained sawtooth-wave approximations of a string section. In the late ’70s and early ’80s, fully programmable polysynths such as the Prophet-5 from Sequential Circuits and Roland’s Jupiter-8 made dedicated string synths redundant, especially when programmable polysynths became more affordable with the advent of the Roland Juno series and the Korg PolySix.

But squished somewhere between the era of non-programmable mono synths (Minimoogs, ARP Odysseys, and the like) and the revolutionary programmable polysynths were a number of “in-between” units such as the Moog Opus 3, ARP Quadra, and Roland Paraphonic 505. These weren’t truly programmable, but they had separate — and polyphonic — brass and strings alongside a “lead synth” section. The sum of the parts wasn’t ever really competitive with real programmable polysynths, but these faux polys were a little easier on the wallet than a $5,000 Prophet or Jupiter-8."

at 6/10/2006 01:59:00 AM

Title link takes you to the Hollow Sun Nostalgia product page. What's cool about it is every instrument listed on the page has a details page with info and some history on the piece. So even if you are not interested in the product, the site acts as a great resource. I wish more product sites actually did this, so cheers to them. I should note they received good reviews from Sound on Sound - track back to the root of the site to see.

at 6/09/2006 02:50:00 PM

Enjoy. : )

More on Synthesizer Patel.

at 6/09/2006 09:31:00 AM

"they found a way to send network data from Quake into the free software Pd, using Pd’s netsend object to send UDP packets containing control data from the game. In other words, instead of using a MIDI controller, you can make the game your control instrument. netsend is in Max/MSP, too, so this should work for Max, as well."

Yep. Title link takes you to the post on CDM with much more detail. I might have time to post like a nut but I rarely have time to go into full detail. I'll leave the professional writing to the likes of CDM, Music Thing and Retro Thing. : )

at 6/09/2006 09:26:00 AM

Another via sequencer.de: "2 VCOs syncable, saw/square pw, noise, filter 24 dB/oct lpf - env AD, amp env ADSR, LFO with standard waveforms. midi / CV+gate - ALSO AS DIY KIT.. price? no idea. it’s not ready yet.. ask “lfo one” in the forum for more.."

click here for more.

at 6/09/2006 09:10:00 AM

This one via Doktor Future in the comments of this Acxel Resynthesizer post:

"Check out Symbolic Sound's new Tau re-synthesis algorithm. It has a lot in common with the Acxel:

- Dedicated Hardware
- Real time waveform manipulation

Screenshots
MP3's

Tau sounds *way* better than their previous resynthesis algorithm (which is still in the software if you want to use it). I have been working Sound that uses this re-synthesis algorithm and their 'cross-filter' convolution algorithm at the same time. It's pretty wild. I big fan of Symbolic Sound."

at 6/09/2006 08:43:00 AM

This link takes you there. There was also the

Clap Trap. I wonder how many one off clap units are out there. I seem to recall a newly produced one as well, but can't remember. If you know feel free to comment.

via synth ollie.

"this amdek is exactly the same as the boss hc-2 which is much more common, and I believe some owners maybe will find the mods interesting...."

Update via RZ4 in the comments:
"There's also the TBS (Touched By Sound) ACM-2 Clapcussion. They used to go around $150.00 on ebay. Nova Musik has them for only $79.99, in case anyone's interested..."

Update via inverseroom in the comments:
"Hey Matrix...Tom ran this on Music Thing once, but here it is again...I found this Russian handclapper for twenty bucks on eBay a while back...it works great, and all the ceramic caps inside are square instead of round."

Note: I ran a search for russian on Music Thing and couldn't find the post. My guess is search missed it as some of my posts don't come up via search as well. If someone knows it feel free to post and I'll update the Music Thing link to the post above.

at 6/09/2006 02:52:00 AM

Okay this is not a synth, but it's is just too damn cool. File this under the what I want in my modular category. Via Retro Thing. BTW, I love Retro Thing. Just felt the need to say that. : ) The stuff James finds is just too cool.

Update via Tom of Music Thing in the comments:
"In "Good Vibrations: History of Record Production" there's a story about how the Beatles employed some mad guy to build them an experimental console. It didn't really work, but it had level metering via an oscilloscope with 16 traces, one per track. That would be cool. "

Update via DVDBORN in the comments: The Tube Clock

at 6/09/2006 02:32:00 AM

Title link takes you there. Click on mysterious photos from the past when you get there.

at 6/09/2006 12:19:00 AM

flickr by upso. Title link takes you to more.

at 6/09/2006 12:17:00 AM

Two Speak and Spells. Title link takes you to the video. After the video, check out GetLoFi for more info.

at 6/09/2006 12:14:00 AM

Click here for shots pulled from this auction. For those of you not familiar with the OB3, it's a drawbar virtual organ produced by Viscount under the Oberheim name. Viscount also produced the somewhat controversial Oberheim OB12 VA.

Check out the gorgeous wood.

via Brian Comnes

at 6/09/2006 12:12:00 AM

Two shots pulled from this auction. Unfortunately the details didn't reveal much about the unit. If you know more feel free to comment.

Update via 7ate9 in the comments: found a description here.

at 6/09/2006 12:10:00 AM

A few more links via Chris Strellis.
mp3s
pics and info
Mov 1
Mov 2

And the Acxel Resynthesizer is featured in this DVD, also posted here back in September 2005.

Update via Doktor Future in the comments (also posted here):

"Check out Symbolic Sound's new Tau re-synthesis algorithm. It has a lot in common with the Acxel:

- Dedicated Hardware
- Real time waveform manipulation

Screenshots
MP3's

Tau sounds *way* better than their previous resynthesis algorithm (which is still in the software if you want to use it). I have been working Sound that uses this re-synthesis algorithm and their 'cross-filter' convolution algorithm at the same time. It's pretty wild. I big fan of Symbolic Sound."

Update. We killed Chris's bandwidth. Chris gave me the ok to move these to Twango. Here they are:

at 6/09/2006 12:07:00 AM

You might have seen this one over at Analog Industries. Blogger had a major burp today so I haven't been able to put this one up until now. So... Looks like Carbon111 is selling his Serge panel. That's blasphemy in some circles. Title link takes you to more shots. I don't think the ant is included.

Details
1) ADP - 4each 1/4" to Bannana adapters
2) PRNV - A Preamp and Envelope follower, 2 linkable sections
3) PCO - Precision Oscillator with lots of modulation i/o, very stable,
linear and exponential FM available
4) RING - Ring Modulator, voltage controlable, very quiet
5) EQ - Resonant EQ, A fixed filter bank with boost, cut *and*
adjustable resonance
6) AMX - 4x1 audio mixer with 3 attenuators
7) UAP - Universal Audio Processor - dual VCA, Panner, crossfader,
voltage controlled AM
8) 2RVG - Dual Random Voltage Generator - smooth, stepped voltage and
random trigger sources (x2 of each - not linked) Voltage controllable rates.
9) QUAN - Quantiser. Either standard scale or special scales (see catalog).
10) SPRC - Scaling Processor. Voltage mixing, scaling, inverting and
attenuation, 3 sections

Send offers to carbon111 if interested. BTW, he is also selling a Polyevolver rack in very good condition for $900 + shipping.

Update via Carbon111 in the comments:

"I'm selling A Serge panel, not all of them ;)

I've still got my Animal Panel and my first custom panel...I'm basically looking to get a Serge TKB. "

Ok, there is now balance back in the world. : )

at 6/08/2006 12:55:00 AM

Apologies for being late on this one. Remember the Prophet64? Well, the cartridge is now available in limitted quantities.

"Prophet64 is a suite of very user friendly music applications for the Commodore 64 platform. Designed to hook up to modern MIDI equipment with either DIN-sync or third party MIDI interfaces, it makes your old computer become a highly useful music tool.

The software is distributed on a hardware cartridge that plugs right into the back of your C64. No disk or tape loading, just plug and play!

The Cartridge contains the whole suite of applications. You can read more about them in the links on the right side bar.

With an array of music software that mimics modern and classic sequencing devices through versatile user interfaces, Prophet64 opens the door for everyone who wishes to explore the world of the legendary audio circuit (the "SID") in the Commodore computers.

Instead of collecting dust in the closet, you can put your C64 at work right beside the synthesizer rig in your studio today! Add some in-fashion bleeps and blops to your latest track, an extra bass flavor, an additional lead sound or why not an 8-bar break with Rob Hubbard drums?

The possibilities are endless."

Title link takes you there.

at 6/08/2006 12:40:00 AM

Furious monkeysynth model 32.21.330 rev.C.

"Fifty year old children's toy with cymbals replaced with contact microphones. A beat-box from hell - quite temperamental. In the collection of G. Stevens."

Title link takes you to more gadgets and a sample of this monkey.

Creeeeepy. I thought clowns spooked me out. Via gerald in this post.

Update via the comments:
"I should have sent this link along with the photos: monophidelic"

at 6/08/2006 12:34:00 AM

"M64 is a program that will turn your C64 into a synth module. All you need is a MIDI interface that is either Passport, Datel or Sequential-compatible. To enable users to create good sounds, M64 provides an abstract assembly-like language (ASL). ASL programs are supposed to read MIDI controllers and act on key presses. Read the manual for more information."

Title link takes you there. Via gerald in this post.

at 6/08/2006 12:27:00 AM

gerald of logo-64 sent in the previous post on Babyland. I decided to check out logo-64 and liked what I heard. I noticed the following listed as band memebers: gerald - synths : S.A.M. - C64 vocals. I was curious what S.A.M was as well as the modular in the shot and any other synths he used. gerald replied with the below (also be sure to check out the update at the end of this post for an interesting bit of trivia via Cynthia Webster of Cyndustries). Title link takes you to the logo-64 MySpace page.

"S.A.M. - a speech synthesis program for the C64 "Software Automatic Mouth" The modular is my DIY synth. Paia, Blacet, CGS, and EFM modules. Plus a "FracSid" - midibox SID in a modular format with 6 analog CV ins, 8 analog and 2 gate outs. Will take some pictures, record some sounds and make a web page about the FracSID some day... probably put it up on my erinys site.

Synths used for logo-64

Elektron Machinedrum
Elektron Monomachine (by the way, it ships with a preset I made for it - B6, kit22 "gerald", the benefits of being a beta-tester!)
Access Virus Indigo
DSI Evolver
OB Matrix1000
Yamaha DX200
Crumar Performer
Nord micromodular
Casio SK-1, SK-5, SK-60, RZ-1, CZ-101, HK-700, RapMan
Yamaha CS-01
Roland TR-55
Simmons SDS8, SDS400 and clap-trap
Commodore SX-64 with midi-cart and M-64 (http://gallium.prg.dtu.dk/anyware/)

That's all I can think of right now - lots of junk scattered about... all of the synths below the Nord were thrifted."

Update: Interesting bit of trivia via Cynthia Webster of Cyndustries:
"the S.A.M. Software Automatic Mouth listed as a band "member" in Logo-64, was software written back in 1979 or so ago by none other than Designer Mark Barton of Cyndustries Zeroscillator fame, (he wrote the MacinTalk speech synthesizer program a few years later as well!)"

at 6/08/2006 12:03:00 AM

Title link takes you to the Babyland website.

Via gerald:

"My personal favorite synthpunk - Babyland is worth checking out if you haven't heard them before.

http://www.myspace.com/babylandmusic

They're still sequencing with Cubase on a mac classic - have been since 1989. I miss their old "fire" shows - they'd dump motor oil in tin drums, light it up and then play the drums with pipes. Billowing, choaking black smoke, crazy beats, jumping flames - damn I wish it was the early 90's again. They still put on a fantastic show - Dan is a crazy-energetic vocalist.

Also check their main page - www.babyland.info - you can see the mac classic in the video.

-gerald
http://www.myspace.com/logo64"

Very cool, I like what I hear so far. I definitely need to check them out, and logo-64 (good stuff).

at 6/08/2006 12:02:00 AM

Shot of the Technos Acxel Resynthesizer via Jam.se. There's a ton of other gear there as well, new and vintage, worth checking out. More on the Acxel Resynthesizer here.

at 6/08/2006 12:01:00 AM

"The seventh annual San Francisco Electronic Music Festival will take place Thursday, August 10th to Sunday, August 13th, 2006 at SomArts Cultural Center located at 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA 94103. We are planning a full festival this year with electroacoustic composers, sound installation artists, and interdisciplinary performance." Title link takes you to more info including shots from previous years. Hey, Morton was there. :) Via Brian Comnes.

at 6/08/2006 12:00:00 AM

"Multitracked MEK, drums from Spectrasonics Stylus and Steinberg LM4" Title link takes you to a 5.05M MP3 by Stefan Tripper.

at 6/07/2006 09:34:00 AM

Ok, this is one of those "how the heck did I not know about this before" posts. Title link takes you to the pics page of The Music Technology Labs at Evergreen State College right in my back yard so to speak. They have Buchla, EMU and more. Thanks to sequencer.de for this one. Funny that I found out about this via Moogulator all the way over in Germany. : ) Thank you Moogulator!

P.S. I see a cat in the shot.

at 6/07/2006 09:17:00 AM

Title link takes you to a track title SuperCatDeluxe2 by Spookeyman on VSE. Note the cat. : ) I thought it was a pretty cool track and a good example of the synths listed below.

"Again...i took part to a "one instrument" competition. The only synths that were allowed are : Korg MS-50, Korg MS-20 or Korg MS-10.

I have the last, the little one VCO/ENV/Filter MS-10.

The Drum Machine that i used is the Roland CR-68, and the effect is a Roland RE-201. Thats all. No sequencer, or modulation effect."

Track also saved here.

at 6/07/2006 01:22:00 AM

Title link taks you to the Blackstrobe Studios synth manuals page. I ran into the site looking for an Arp Axxe patch sheet for UNIT-Sound in the comments of this Synthwire post, and my previous post. Note, that the list of manuals on the page appear to be links to other sites hosting the manuals. It's cool that they didn't just copy the manuals down and host them themselves, but via links would be nice. : ) Regardless, the links are there if we need them.

at 6/07/2006 12:40:00 AM

Title link takes you to more on Synthwire.

at 6/07/2006 12:39:00 AM

Title link takes you to some shots of Mutek Montreal 2006 sent my way via Mike Jerugim. It looks like it was a great show. For more on Mutek in general, click here - note the language links on the top right of each festival.

"Thought you might want to see some of the pics that I posted from the Mutek festival in Montreal last Sunday Night. I had to leave after the second act, as the subways were going to stop running, but hopefully you'll get the idea. It was really inspiring to see an electronic music scene that was so alive and vibrant. They truly appreciated the music that (thankfully) was not 100% boom boom techno. It really felt like this crowd was sophisitcated in their tastes, and generally accepting of music that most neophytes might consider a bit "challenging". My hat is off to the Mutek organizers, performers, and most of all the Montreal audiences. They were simply great. I can't wait to come back next year!!!"

Hey, what's wrong with boom boom techno? : P

at 6/07/2006 12:39:00 AM

Simon (... snafu ...) posted this piece along with a few others he has on auction to the AH list. Title link takes you to a few more shots he sent my way. Some notes from the auction:

"it has been modded, so that each (of the two) voices hast a single output."

"in the 70s it became famous, because it was used to make these wierd disco-sounds bioooouuuuu biiiiuuuuuu - but behind those cheezy sounds there is a hidden gem not many know about... i have been told, that it can do very cool bass-drum hits, that can ever out-boom the TR909 (that is why i bought it :-)."

Nice description snafu. : )

It's interesting how this looks a lot like a Roland. Anyone know if there is any connection there? The shots of it on it's side, however, make it look completely different. I'd love to hear some samples of this as well. If anyone knows of any, please post in the comments. I asked Simon if he had any, so we'll see. I also tried Audio Playground's Virtual Drummachine page and no go.

Update via zerozeroisland in the comments:

"The syncussion is great! In addition to all the 70's disco sounds, it's capable of a lot more. Skinny Puppy used it in the early days and it's definitely useful for very aggressive, heavy sounds...

if you have a copy of Reason, here is a refill for the Redrum drum machine of some amazing sy-1 sounds: link"

at 6/07/2006 12:38:00 AM

Two shots of a custom modular based on Ray Wilson's Modular Circuits, built by lanxe. The shots come from this electro-music post.

"The top row is all ray's circuits and the second row has a few of his modules (a couple of state variable filters, two envelope generators, two dual vca's and two oscillators)

The keyboard is rays matrix scanning circuit added to an old hammond keyboard donor.

i just bought some sheet aluminum, cut and milled it, had it anodized black and cnc engraved the lettering...........about $80 for all 8 module panels.

There is still alot on his site i have yet to explore"

Title link takes you to Ray's Soundlab page.

Update via Pickleinn in the comments: "yeah, this is mine (lanxe). i have done a lot more diy synth stuff since this post. you can see most of it here: www.pickleinn.com in the pictures section under synth. or here"

at 6/07/2006 12:37:00 AM

Sébastien in France sent me info on a Moog Modular clone he is building. He is considering making more of these for sale. Title link takes you his site with more info and shots. Currently he has the following listed:

921a Oscillator
921b Oscillator
902 VCA
904a Low Pass Filter
911 Envelope Generator

It will be interesting to hear how these sound and compare to the real deal.

at 6/07/2006 12:36:00 AM

Just love this song. It reminds me of everything synth.

at 6/07/2006 12:35:00 AM

Title link takes you to more shots via this thread. For more on Electro Music 2006, click here, and here.

at 6/07/2006 12:05:00 AM

flickr by campingcar_disc. I haven't seen a white one before.

at 6/07/2006 12:04:00 AM

flickr by Skinfitz.

at 6/07/2006 12:03:00 AM

flickr by RowleyRegis.

at 6/07/2006 12:02:00 AM

flickr by janvanvolt. Shots are of a project sequencer he is building.

at 6/07/2006 12:01:00 AM

Well sort of. It will be free with Issue 102 of Computer Music.

"As you can see, there are three LFOs; each one can be synced to host (at various musically useful divisions) or free-run from 2Hz on up to audio rate. The "PULSE DEPTH" knobs determine how hard each LFO hits the VCA. The "PULSE SHAPE" knob sweeps from square through forward ramp, reverse ramp, to sine wave at the clockwise position. Using these 7 controls, you can get some really odd moving tremelo patterns."

Title link takes you to more on Analog Industries.

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Friday, June 09, 2006

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Search MATRIXSYNTH

Useful Links: