MATRIXSYNTH

Oberheim OB-Xa Wood Sides by Synthwood

Kawai SX240

click here for some great pics sent my way via marcel. Be sure to check these out full size.

via Cikira of Cikira.com and RedMoon Music:

"this was posted to Loopers Delight:
- - - - - - - - -

'Hello to all!

I just returned from the Ethermusic Festival, sponsered by Moog Music, in Asheville, NC.

Prior to my set on Thursday night, Jason Danillo from Moog Music expertly demo'd a new product from Moog Music that is simply called:
"The Moog Guitar".

I am not a guitarist myself however I was very impressed with what I learned and heard about this product. I run the risk of sounding like a "salesperson" however I want to share with you what I learned and heard regarding the Moog Guitar.

My first impression of this instrument is that it was an electric guitar with built in (software driven) fx in the body of the guitar. And I would add, super CLEAN fx. And the infinite sustain, for example, was INFINITE with no noise, glitches, etc. However, my guess about the theory of operation was mistaken.

The guitar utilizes built-in ebows -- I'm not sure how many are built into the guitar however there is a least one per string. As many readers here know, the ebow imparts energy to a string to set it into vibration and keep it vibrating forever. The engineers at Moog took things to another level -- for ebow technology can do the opposite: it can be used to remove energy from a string, too.

Each string is independently settable -- some can sustain, others can sound in the normal (unsustained manner), others can produce a staccatto pluck -- in fact, on [sic] of the sounds is a strum followed by a bow. This is all user-settable. Jason strummed a chord and as the chord died down a "bowed string chorus" came up -- as if an entire string section was doubling Jason's guitar part.

My first thought was: Ohhh... my looping friends would LOVE this.
And the tone was really clean. During Jason's demo, he mentioned that some people can't believe that this is all being done on the strings until he unplugs the guitar and folks listen to the strings themselves.

I look forward to hearing the "buzz" about this product among the looping community as well as the theremin community (which includes many guitarists and loopers).

While ebows have been around for awhile, this new product takes things to another level.

Best wishes to Moog Music. May the new Moog Guitar inspire many musicians and be another success story for Moog Music.

All the best to one and all.'"

M563 trigger sequencer modul

YouTube via moonmodular
"One M560 drives the pre-release series of the M563 trigger sequencer - 4 trigger bus to 6 voices."

2 guys, 1 girl and 4 spirits

via Big City Music

E & MM Spectrum Synthesizer

images via this auction

Roland TB-303 with Kenton Upgrade

images via this auction
"Kenton upgrade specification:
Kit to add CV / Gate / Filter / Acent / Slide sockets to the Roland TB-303

When used in conjunction with one of our MIDI to CV converters, such as the Kenton Pro-2000, these five additional sockets will enable the synth to be played from a MIDI keyboard or MIDI sequencer.

The inputs are on 3.5mm mono jack sockets which provide the following control:
CV - provides Volt per Octave control over the oscillator frequency
Gate - controls when notes play (0 volts = note off / >3 volts = note on)
Filter - controls the cutoff frequency of the low pass filter (from aux out of converter)
Accent - turns on or off the accent feature (0 volts = accent off / >3 volts = accent on)
Slide - turns on or off the slide feature (0 volts = slide off / >3 volts = slide on)

The kit contains all necessary components and diagrams for connecting the wires / components, and mounting the four 3.5mm mono jack sockets.

Used with a Kenton Pro-2000 this kit will give you the following control over the synth from a suitable MIDI keyboard or sequencer:

Notes - Around four and a half octaves range - (this is not limited by the kit or converter, but by the synth itself)
Pitchbend - range can be set in the converter
Modulation - from converter's inbuilt LFO. Speed and waveshape can be changed in real time.
Portamento (slide) - rate can be changed in real time.
Filter cutoff frequency - can be controlled using any continuous MIDI controller (cc) or other MIDI message such as Aftertouch or Velocity
Low / High / Recent note priority - can be set in the converter
Single / Multiple note trigger modes - can be set in the converter
Accent - turn the TB-303s inbuilt accent feature on or off using MIDI control
Slide - turn the TB-303's inbuilt slide feature on or off using MIDI control
See the specifications of the Kenton Pro-2000 for further features."