MATRIXSYNTH

Malekko Heavy Industry B:ASSMASTER

Remember the Maestro Bassmaster clone referred to in this post? Well, the pedal is ready. Title takes you to Malekko Heavy Industry where you will find more info on the BarkerASSMASTER. Nice name. Heavy Industry is a venture of Ministry's Paul Barker and Josh Holly. The B:ASSMASTER is Heavy Industry's first pedal. You can find an mp3 of a TB-303 and TR-606 running through the B:ASSMASTER here. update via paul in the comments: the demo is by Jason King.

via Josh.

Backlit Lounge SF

Via Mark:
"Back Lit Lounge SF is a semi-monthly live electronic music event. It is conceptualized as a place where local electronic artists can share their unique artistic musical/visual vision with other like minded artists.� Anyone can choose one of five 45 minutes performance timeslots listed in the blog section at www.myspace.com/backlitloungesf or by sending an email to backlitloungesf[at]gmail.com. Video's from past events can be found on the backlit lounge myspace page. This weeks Backlit Lounge SF is set to be featured in San Francisco Magazine's April edition!! Apparently they heard about the party and liked the concept so their photographers will be on hand to snap some pictures for the Mag!"

Update: A couple of images of the event here.

Gas - Microscopic

Remember GAS 0095? Title link takes you to a video of the track Microscopic on Synthwire. It's pretty amazing, trust me. Just go check it out.

the squarewave parade

Title link takes you to "the squarewave parade" where you will find a number of gadgets including this Atari Punk Console, "contari unsol," the mingmod ringmod, the downgrade sample rate reducer and more.

Swimming Upstream - Yamaha RM1x Track

Title link takes you to rid's MySpace page where you will find an RM1x track titled Swimming Upstream.

Miniature Modular Studio

Remember Daniel McPharlin and his mini modulars via these flickr shots? Paul Sop, aka Doktor Future commissioned this mini modular studio from him. Title link takes you to more images.

Update: I added a miniature label to the site. You'll find Daniel McPharlin's miniatures as well as others.

http://www.danmcpharlin.com

Maestro Woodwind Synthesizer

No title link, just the shot and details pulled via this auction.

Details:
"Very Rare Maestro Woodwind Synth for Woodwinds & Guitar.The unit also comes with an original Maestro carrying case with John Klemmer's name on it. It was used on several recording sessions in the 70s and will come with a letter from Mr Klemmer. It was designed in the early days of effect pedals / devices as a primitive synthesizer for woodwind instruments but can be used with guitars with no problem at all."

Casio PG 380 Synth Guitar

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

Details:
"The PG-380 electronics include a built-in, monotimbral, playback-only synthesizer using VZ technology, with 64 preset sounds in internal ROM (See the above website for a listing of all the sounds). However, a door on the back of the guitar allows insertion of a RAM card for playback of sounds created on a VZ-1, VZ-8M, or VZ-10M.

The internal synth does offer one useful feature: It operates in legato mode. That is, while in chromatic mode, if you pick a fretted string and then slide your finger up the fretboard, you won't get a new attack from the synth at each fret, as you will with an external MIDIed synth."

You can find more info here.

Solaris 314

No title link, just the shots and details pulled via this auction.

Details:
"This is a rare russian analog polyphonic synth. It uses organ style drawbars to create the basic tone, and has a analog filtering as well. Inside it has 12 voice boards that correspond to each key in an octave, and then uses a divide down system to get to the other octaves. Because of this the sound of the oscillators are really thick and meaty. There is only one filter and envelope in it which means when you hit another note it will retrigger the envelope like many other synths with full polyphony, The filter itself is really extreme and sounds fantastic, as well the envelope is really punchy, so you get great synth stabs, sweeps and percussive organy sounds. The synth is not that big but it is full of electronics and neatly organized wiring, it looks like someone spent many labourous hours at a soldering iron to build it. It is also quite light because the casing is aluminum.

The basic panel layout is as follows from left to right: pitch bend, envelope amount, cutoff, resonance, attack, sustain, release, harmonics 1-5, lfo speed, lfo pitch amount, lfo filter amount, amp release, filter blend, and tune.

For better playability, replaced a couple of the sliders with knobs because i found the sliders didn't give fine enough control, especially with the resonance control, where alot of great sounds are just around where it begins to oscillate. Also the pitch controller which will sweep up and down by an octave, this one still takes some practice though. A volume knob has also been added at the top.

I would describe the overall sound of the synth as 70's funky. Its smooth and buttery, not harsh. It would work well for italo disco, or early style hip hop, or 70s fusion jazz. If you use the envelope section carefully you can get great moogy leads out of it (without portamento), in the high resisters it can sound like a string machine, or even a theremin if you crank the resonance. It has tons of character.

The unit is powered by 220v volts but i have an adapter i will include. the output is a standard 1/4"