MATRIXSYNTH

8 Bit on La Orange Factory

Title link takes you to some Commodore 64 goodnes on La Orange Factory. The post is in French. Here's a link to it translated to English.

Update via the comments. You can find the software available for Windows and Mac here.

MKS-30 ROM Upgrade

Title link takes you to a software update for the Roland MKS-30. The following are just two of the many feature updates:

"Key Window Function - The Key Window function allows you to specify a split point and only MIDI notes above or below that split point will be played by the MKS-30. This function adds two new parameters for each patch."

"Chorus Speed - Chorus speed is now adjustable and programmable. The high pass filter must be sacrificed to enable this feature. Chorus speed can be assigned to the 'hold' switch allowing realtime MIDI control. Chorus now has three programmable parameters"

Buchla 200e Sample

Title link takes you a Buchla 200e mp3 (2.87M) via mritenburg.

"my demo is recorded in one pass with no efx or multi-tracking. My system is identical to the the system shown on the front page of the buchla.com site."

I mirrored the mp3 here as well.

Carbon111 Goes Soft?

Title link takes you to a post by Carbon111 on Synthwire that features a very nice shot of the Moog Little Phatty on top of a DSI PolyEvolver Keyboard. I was about to put that shot up, when I scrolled down and found the following on Massive:

"Its a 3-oscillator wavetable synthesizer with one of the broadest palletes of sound I have ever heard. I know I've only come to softsynths lately but, right now, I would have to say its my favorite synth ever! Previously the MicrowaveXT held that honor...don't fret though, I'll never get rid of my beautiful orange beastie but for a realtime scanning-wavetable synth, nothing else can touch Massive right now. The interpolation between waves is smooth as silk. It can be brutal or caress your ear like a butterfly's wing."

Now I know this probably isn't that big of a deal to anyone out there, but, a few of you know how much Carbon111 loves his XT. Crazy. Carbon111 knows his synths. He's gone through quite a few including a Yamaha CS60 he recently parted with and he has a Serge Modular. Nothing has dethroned the XT until now. Crazy... Apologies for any images the title might infer. Apologies Carbon111. : )

Custom Waldorf Q

via synthforum.nl. If you can read the thread and/or know more about this, please comment.

Update: The synth is a project by Roelant.

via Hans.

FPGA - Martin Hollingers Airböurne AVS04A Synth

Another shot from the Swiss Synth Meeting. Check out this post on sequencer.de for more shots of this particular synth.

What's funny is not too long ago Moogulator of sequencer.de told me about how we were lucky in the US because of all the synth gatherings, and the images that come back from the events. Then we see stuff like this. : ) Hmm...

Update via sendling: "oh yes, and btw the rest is here."

dataton03

"Dataton modular synthesizer. Made in Sweden, from the late 70's. Spotted in the Synthorama, Switzerland."

Flickr via hugo_33_im_toaster, via the synthesizerforum flickr set. Title link takes you to more Dataton modular pics in the set.

Update via M. Aftermark in the comments:
"Dataton means "computer tone" in swedish. some more pictures in this sales thread on 99musik.se.

less than 40 made

Apparently, dataton nowadays produce watchout a software which controls visual projectors to create huge video screens. used in bond movies. link

info from AH list:
"My info sheet came from Bjorn sandlund in the fall of 1977. Dataon AB was in Linkoping Sweden (sorry about the umlauts etc). About half the units were available in October 1977 with several units expected in2nd quarter 1978, such as the Quad bus tranceiver and the force sensitive keyboard. Lots of QUAD modules, tactile controllers and a light sensitive element, a module with 2 quad-axis joysticks, and quad universal filter, each with 4 modes per filter), a power amp unit, a digital sequencer unit, lots of links to lighting voltages, ring mod unit, analog electronic cross-coupled reverb unit (3102), octave based graphic equalizer unit, quad enevelope generator that can be patched for use as a tremelo unit or vocoding. The module brochure is 33" x 23" so it wont scan on my scanner, sorry, and it is an odd colour. The modules were in 5x7" aluminum boxes that plug (din) or cable together with connectors on all four sides for most of them. Lots of mixer slide units, so it was sold as an EM studio item, mixer console for film and theatre, and multimedia installations. The unit sat flat on a table, the more modules the bigger the table in the brocure, but stage racks were available, never seen., also XLR rack adapters. The sequencer was $1375CDN or 5.455 Swedish Crowns in Oct. 1977. There were pedal controllers, dissolvers and printer units planned. Datatron AB was copyright 1975 according to the fine print. Sweden's answer to the Synthi and the Wavemaker. Known recordings: ? "

Synthesizerforum on Flickr

Moogulator of sequencer.de set up a Flickr set for users on his forum to post images. Pretty cool idea. Feel free to join and submit your own photos. I'll subscribe to it and keep an eye out for good shots.

Pictured: Fredrik and his friends via Zebra Pares.

Norcal NoiseFest via Brian Comnes

Some shots and notes from this year's Norcal NoiseFest via Brian Comnes. Title link takes you to a couple more shots. "OK here is a beat up SH-09 , kinda sad actually .. I guess .those noise boys are tough on their gear. I will say that the acts that had the best "quality" sound had a strong analog presence in their mix , Stimbox (pic also attached) was using a lot of Metasonix gear and a Frostwave Resonator (your favorite)[indeed]. The harmonic variations and sound artifacts he was able to coax out of the din were exceptionally better than the rest of the crowd relying pretty much on gobs of 9VDC guitar pedals. The other act that got a strong rise from the crowd was using an old HP tube-based oscillator for sound sweeps that were "sweet" in a noise fest kind of way. Best visuals goes to the guy in the Mexican Lucha Libre wrestler mask with a piezo contact pickup glued on a number 10 can that he then pushed into a carborundum grinder - hearing that through a large PA with a pair of cranked Mackie 1801 subs in a small room is an earful for sure. Noise fest will definitely push your boundaries for what really is synthesis and sound, I enjoyed it overall in part because it also puts the stuff I do into a clearer context. Hey the show is now 10 years old so it has some legs. Also because they are a city-funded arts event, they are exempt from noise ordinances, I'm sure the neighbors next to the event loved that." Click images for a bigger shot. Check out IDX1274's Lucha Libre mask.