Spectral Audio Neptune 2

YouTube via Dogboy73.

via this auction

"Short video demo of Spectral Audio's Neptune 2 analog monophonic synthesizer.
http://www.spectralaudio.ch/
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/..."

"from the manufacturer...

With the Neptune Mk2, the original Neptune has been even more improved and carries internal and general improvements. It has been changed:

Much better quality smooth potentiometer New graphics Soft touch knobs High efficiency 5mm leds 2.2mm travel push switches for optimal optical feedback Keyfollow switch has been added Freerun switch to have Osz3 free of the keyboard as the ProTone had Better Noise generator which is still a true noise generator with a spectrum now up to 100kHz Volume potentiometer has been added Power on Switch Several possibilities for additional manual changes

Also original Neptune already had: Pure DC Design means no capacitors in the signal flow Pure analog technique Low noise design High quality cascade filter True noise generator (NOT digital noise) MIDI Signal regeneration means the incoming MIDI signal is internal completely new generated to MIDI Thru, not only amplified The Neptune Mk2 still carry these advantages/features.

Complete Performance Features list:

Voltage Controlled Oscillator 1 and 2: Precise temperature stable Sawtooth and Rectangular Waves 4 Octave Range Switch for Osc2 Ring Modulation Sync for Osc 2 External Signal Input for Osc 2 White Noise Generator

Spectrum from 0 Hz (DC) to 100kHz True analog random noise, no digital shift register noise Slide

Slide Time from 0 sec to 10 sec Switch able by MIDI Controller 65 (Portamento) Voltage Controlled Oscillator 3 / LFO: Osc 3 can be switched between LFO (slow) and Oscillator Modus (fast) 5 Shapes Sawtooth, Triangular, Rectangular, Random and Noise. Osc 2 can also be a Modulation Source; through this also external Signals can be a Modulation Source. Freerun Button keeps Osc 3 free of the CV LFO MIDI Clock Sync 4 Modulation targets: Osc 1 and 2, Cutoff and Mixer Blue led Voltage Controlled Filter: 24 dB precision cascade Filter with Highpass and Lowpass Modes Self resonant Keyfollow switch 0% - 50% - 100% The two Filter and VCA Envelopes: Complete and very fast ADSR Envelopes with Attack, Decay and Release times in the Range of 5 millisec to 20 sec For the Filter with Positive or Negative Modulation Gate led

Effects: Distortion and Fuzzer Effect Switch Effect level potentiometer from no effect to max VCA and Volume: Volume potentiometer Low noise and low distortion VCA

Power: Power on switch Power on led

MIDI: 5 Octave Range precise MIDI to CV Converter MIDI controlled Cutoff (#2), Modulation (#1) and Portamento (#65) Receive Sustain (#64) and Pitch bend instruction Velocity Sensitive Filter dynamic operation Re-trigger function Filter TB303 Velocity mode Highest or last note priority CV and Gate In/Output (switch able)

General: Pure Analogue Technology 2 Unit Rack Mount Enclosure Anodized colored 3mm Front Panel

Additional manual change possibilities (described in the Service manual) : Having PW(M) on Square Wave on Osc1,2 or 3 Osc3 Sync with Osc1 or Osc2 Even faster Envelopes (yes some people wants that) Increase tune range for Osc1..Osc3 Additional signal inputs and outputs (i.e. to work with your modular system or to have a very good Distorter and Fuzzer for guitar i.e.) General in/outputs of Oscillators, Envelopes, Filter, power supply, ...

Comments About the Sounds:
its pre analog with a VERY strong filter, 3 oscilators, fuzz and distortion effects. there is no stepping heard in any knob movements either. its sounds like maybe an sh-101/ mc-202 with a little tb-303 mixed in.. its very early 80's monosynth sounding.. not weak like mid-80's polys were. very heavy sounding, with good quality. it's exelent for analog leads and bass's, but dont expect any real pianos or organs or whatever."

Electrobel promo 2

flickr by ZARk.be
(click for one more)

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spot the synths

Moog Kitten

flickr by Space☀Trucker

full size

PatchArena

http://patcharena.com/
"Welcome to PatchArena!
The world's largest collection of user contributed patches for synthesizers and effects is now back online and can be found here: PatchArena - Downloads.

How it works:
You must be registered to access PatchArena - Downloads. Users can also rate, vote, and place comments on all files. Further discussions can be made on the PatchArena - Forums.

Register:
To get started register here: PatchArena - Register. Once you are registered you can upload your patches, skins, and sounds, and start sharing them with your friends."

via CDM (Free Patches for Cakewalk’s Rapture Synth, Plus iPhone BeatMaker, FL Studio, More)

IR-909 for the iPhone

Kits include:
TR-909
TR-808
TR-606
TR-707
Kärv by roventskij
Techhouse by roventskij
$4.99 at the App Store - search for IR-909.
I picked it up for fun and it's actually pretty good.
No if only the iPhone supported wireless MIDI...

You can get IR-909 here:

Dallas/Fort Worth Synth DIY Meet and Greet

http://www.myspace.com/dfwsynthdiy

"We are a group of DIY'ers interested in Synth building, Circuit bending and making all kinds of glorious noise. Texas Instruments was founded HERE...so was Laptop Deathmatch and Treewave!. Lets build on that. We like blinky lights and big buttons.

On Saturday August 9th at the Bar of Soap, we are planning to have our first Meet Up. 2 to 5pm."

Dr Zeus, Light Sabers, 12KW Tesla Coils

YouTube via megavoltmeister. via Analog Suicide.
"Dr Zeus aka Terry Blake energizes his brilliant new light sabers with two 12 kilowatt Tesla coils that produce music through the sparks."

Roxy Music Do the Strand

YouTube via thomasdaniel.

sent my way via Ben of the excellent Bad Science

Synth content: What the heck is Brian Eno playing?! I'm guessing it's an EMS synth, but what?
"Roxy Music 'Do' the Strand on The Old Grey Whistle Test"

5 Legendary Keyboards

According to mental_floss where you will samples along with why they chose them. No Yamaha DX-7?

via Mr. Array

The five are:
1. Mellotron
2. Hammond B3
3. Moog Minimoog
4. Synclavier
5. Fender Rhodes

New YouTube Audio Compression Stymies Uploaders

Update: image via Sonic State

Our friend Jexus, aka WC Olo Garb wrote in to let us know that YouTube has changed their encoding resulting in much lower quality audio. You can read about it on the Wired blog as well as this thread. Alternatives? Vimeo and Sonicstate TV, although the one thing YouTube does have is the community and exposure. You can see how many plays your videos get and you can see where they are coming from. I find it interesting to see how many hits a post here has generated for the video. I've had a number of people recognize the site because of this. Hopefully YouTube will correct the problem and others will build in the public tracking functionality of YouTube. What can you do? Not sure. Just be aware of it and chose your hosting accordingly. You can also chime in on the YouTube thread. If enough people speak out maybe they'll fix the problem. If you run a blog let your readers know.

The problem via Wired in a nutshell:
"Some YouTube users are mounting a growing revolt against the site's new audio scheme, which has degraded the sound quality of clips on the site by running them through an audio processor that wreaks havoc with songs' dynamic range (the variation between loud and soft), diminishing their sound quality.
This is not "compression" as in bit rate or file format, but in the audio engineer sense of the word: the smushing together of various volumes into a smaller dynamic range. This sort of compression doesn't affect slickly-produced, radio-ready music quite as much, since it's already so compressed, but it hurts any music that has been properly produced, and does more damage to nuanced recordings with lots of dynamic range."