Synth DIY UK 2008 via Strellis

You can find videos and images of the event by Chris Strellis here.

I think this shot wins, hands down, as the best one of the event.

The videos include: "Paul Maddox running his excellent "Phoenix" polysynth skin on the Chameleon" "Scott Gravenhorst's Gateman poly played by Mark Smith" "Peter Swarbrick demonstrates Juergen Haible's Tau Pipe Phaser" "A P3 driving a modular" "George shows his all analogue sound generation synth including ADSRs and with BBD effects - one voice at the moment" Update via Chris: check out this image for a striking resemblance. I thought the shot looked familiar!

Voyager Travels Farther, Little Phatty Gets Phatter with OS Upgrades

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (July 2008) – Owners of the Moog Voyager and Little Phatty
synths can now significantly upgrade their capabilities via free downloads from the Moog Music website, moogmusic.com.

The new Voyager 3.4 Operating System features extensive local control options, new touch surface features and enhanced pot resolution. All the great sonic capability of the Little Phatty Stage Edition is enhanced with the addition of an arpeggiator in the Stage II. And for controlling LFO and Arpeggiator rate, the Stage II has a new Tap Tempo and MIDI sync capability. Topping it all is the addition of a new bank of presets.

“Our goal is to continue to deliver value to our core customer base and these new free software releases will make many of them feel as if they have a completely new synth,” said Chris Stack, Moog Marketing Manager.

There are two types of upgrades available for the Voyager and Little Phatty operating systems:

Voyager: A free software upgrade (for owners with version 3.0 or above) is available for download at http://moogmusic.com/voyager/ (under the “software” tab). A hardware upgrade is available for customers who have an older model of the Voyager (OS revision 2.5 or lower, built before August, 2005) increasing their current single bank of 128 presets to seven banks of 128 for a total of 896. This upgrade is available as a field upgrade for $265 or as a factory upgrade for $365. Customers who choose to upgrade will then be able to take advantage of all the latest software features in Version 3.4.

Little Phatty: Software upgrades for the Little Phatty Stage Edition are available for free download at http://moogmusic.com/littlephatty/ (under the “software” tab). If Stage Edition customers want to add the MIDI over USB capability of the Stage II, a hardware-based upgrade is available as a field upgrade for $100 or factory upgrade for $150.

How to program analog synthesizers

How to program analog synthesizers from Ethan Winer on Vimeo.
"This 20 minute tutorial shows how to program analog-style hardware and software synthesizers. Topics include oscillators, ADSR envelope generators, filters, LFOs, and much more. Waveforms are shown on an oscilloscope to better understand what's happening under the hood."

Sciame Uno (Swarm 1) by F. Meneghini & William Bottin

YouTube via sgruntie
"Francesco Meneghini and William Bottin: Sciame Uno (swarm one)

Fondazione Buziol / Replay Fast Forward
May 2008 - Venice, Italy

an installation with flying objects, a midi theremin and a circuit bent Italian Speak and Spell (Grillo Parlante)."

Profile: Adrian Utley - Portishead - PT3

See the write-up on Sonic State. See all three parts here.

Welcome to Synth DIY UK

Jen SX1000 primarily featured. See the write-up on Sonic State.

MIDIbox SID V2 Bassline Demo #5

YouTube via ucapps
"MP3 with better audo quality available at midibox.org

Bassline demo played on a MIDIbox SID V2 in a MB-6582 case made by Wilba.

0:03 first bassline starts to play
0:10 selecting different sequences, drums played from a sampler
0:17 "pumping" effect realized by sending the bassdrum to the sidechain of a compressor
0:25 checking the new O23 feature: bassline played unisono
0:33 changing the oscillator phase offset
0:47 detune
1:05 disabling the O23 functions
1:15 second bassline w/ external delay Fx starts to play
1:22 showing the V-meter function in bassline mode
1:47 activating oscillator synch, second oscillator played with constant pitch
2:23 activating ring modulator, played with different pitches
2:55 tweaking cutoff/VCA release/O23 pitch (distortions are SID internal)
5:38 second bassline with detuned oscillators "

Euro joins the party!

via Muff Wiggler.

Blacet Research MX2040 Mixer

via Kwote Music where you'll find more info and images.

PSPSeq 3.0 Released

"PSPSeq is a free homebrew application for composing music on the Sony PSP handheld game system. PSPSeq contains both realtime synthesis and sample playback capability, along with multiple FX modules of widely varying types for modifying instruments in countless ways. PSPSeq also has a powerful and unique step sequencer for triggering samples and arranging loops into full songs.

Key features of PSPSeq:

- up to 16 independent audio tracks per song
- a wide variety of synthesizers from traditional virtual analog and FM to Karplus-Strong
and unique digital oscillators with parameter controls rarely seen in commercial synths
- WAV file playback with looping, pitch shift, and configurable start/end points
- many FX algorithms from digital filters and waveshapers to bitmasks and decimation
- all synthesizer parameters can be set to unique values on a per-step basis
- step sequencer with configurable step length, swing, highly accurate BPM, and tap tempo
- probabilistic sequencing: the decision to retrigger to be based on a 0-100% probability
rather than a boolean yes/no operation
- song sequencing with 100 different loops per song, 1000 measures per song, and loop
repeat capability
- load and save of synthesizer presets between songs
- record loops and songs to WAV"
http://www.dspmusic.org/psp/