MATRIXSYNTH

Oberheim OB-Xa Demo

YouTube via noyzmakr. remember, search on noyzmakr on the top left of the site for more.
"A real short example of the mighty OB-Xa with a bit of verb."

Beatbox Live for iPhone

YouTube via hit9ent
"Make awesome beats with the iPhone with Beatbox Live. The app comes with 6 wicked drum kits and 12 melodies to jam too."
You can get Beatbox here:

"The CME U-Key Mobiletone keyboard, which is already available in White and Blue, it has ultra-slim, full-action semi-weighted keys with a built-in, 64-polyphony high-quality sound module, and an internal high-fidelity speaker driven by a digital amplifier. The CME U-Key comes with more than 20 user-defined controllers, including a joystick, trigger pads, an encoder for data entry, and pedals. All controllers are fully-programmable and each function can be easily set up and saved for later loading by pressing certain keys. USB powered and compatible with both Windows XP/Vista and Mac OSX, it's a great solution for composing on laptops." You can find more info on CME.

VST TAL-Vocoder

"TAL-Vocoder is a vintage vocoder emulation with 11 bands that emulates the sound of vocoders from the early 80’s. It includes analog modeled components in combination with digital algorithms such as the SFFT (Short-Time Fast Fourier Transform).
This vocoder does not make a direct convolution of the carrier and modulation signal as other digital vocoders maybe do. It includes an envelope follower for every of the eleven bands. This vocoder is optimized for voice processing and includes some algorithms for consonants to make the voice more intelligible.
The carrier signal is a VCO (Voltage Controlled Oscillator) with a Pulse, Saw, Noise and SubOsc. But it’s also possible to use the left stereo input as carrier. This way every sound source can be used as carrier signal. This plug-in supports every sample rate."

You can listen to a sample and download it for free on the TAL site. You might remember TAL from these prior posts on their Juno-60 and SH-101 emulations.

MIDI Optigan & Reaktigan Emulation Software Demo

YouTube via peahix. via optigan.com. video description:
"This is a demo of a project that's actually been kicking around for a few years, but is currently on the back-burner. But I figured it at least deserves a demo video. This is an Optigan (actually the first one I ever owned) that's been converted to a MIDI controller (aka the Midigan) for the purpose of controlling Optigan emulation software developed in Reaktor (aka the Reaktigan). Braden Diotte did the Optigan midi mod for me (using guts from an M-audio midi controller keyboard) and Patrick Keller wrote the Reaktor Optigan emulation.

Essentially, for live shows, I needed something more reliable and flexible than a real Optigan, but didn't want to give up the unique interface, so that's why this exists. The software is still a work in progress. You can load any sounds you want into it, as demonstrated in the video. Sorry for the audio quality- I tried to sync up a direct recording of the audio with the audio from the video camera, but it didn't really work out, so I just stuck with the audio from the video camera. I could have just re-shot the whole video but I was lazy so there ya go.

At some point we plan to make this software available (probably converted to a stand-alone app) as well as basic instructions for making a midi controller out of an Optigan (hopefully a dead one!). Stay tuned..."

New Fairlight?

via Failed Muso who spotted this note from Peter Vogel on the Fairlight Yahoo Group:

"here have been discussions from time to time about replicating the CMI using a software emulation. These efforts will have limited success because the "Fairlight sound" relies on the peculiarities of the hardware used in the original design.

In the days when I was the designing CMI hardware, my greatest challenge was to minimise the distortions and artifacts that were inherent aspects of the hardware available at that time. In effect, we struggled to make the Fairlight sound less "Fairlight". So the intimate details of what makes a Fairlight sound like a Fairlight are indelibly etched in my brain.

When Fairlight brought out the Crystal Core Engine last year, my imagination ran wild. Here was a tiny board with enormous capabilities that could be configured to faithfully reproduce the CMI hardware in its FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). Every bit of the 1980's CMI hardware, the essence of its sound, could be reconstructed faithfully in digital hardware form.

To fully appreciate the astounding potential of the CC-1, download the brochure here:

CC-1 Brochure

I also recently discovered that ALL the IP relating to the original Fairlight CMI including all of the hardware and filter designs, sample libraries etc are still retained by Fairlight.au in Sydney.

So I have been wondering if it would be worthwhile to develop a faithful reproduction of the CMI on the "Virtual Hardware" of the CC-1?

This would perform identically to the original CMI series II or III, but run on a PC fitted with the Crystal Core card. The MIDI input would come directly into the CC-1 so there would be no problem of latency introduced by the PC.

At this stage I'd like to "feel out" the market to assess the level of interest in this project and whether the significant investment in R&D will be worthwhile.

The Fairlight Series IV (CC-1, I/O box and software) might be sold for approximately $US5,000.00.

So my question is, what do you think of this idea? How would a Fairlight CMI at this sort of price be received by the market? Who would the buyers be and how would I tap into them?

What do you think?

Peter Vogel"

You'll find some more notes on Failed Muso.

The Dears and The Secret Machines on Amateur Chemist

via Amateur Chemist where you will find more shots and notes on the show.

Top shot:
Keyboardist for the opening band, The Bathroom Murders

Bottom shot:
Two keyboardists for The Dears

Plan B Model 31 Buffered Mult Released

"We are pleased to announce that the first delivery in a 25 piece "hot or not???' initial order of Model 31 Buffered Mults will be at Noisebug by day's end. The 22nd released product in the Plan B line, the M31 is the first utilizing our new (NON-Cliff) jacks and offers significant patching option and functional improvements over other Multiple in the Euro Rack format.

For more info including price and current draw, go here"

Buchla ring mod riff

Buchla ring mod riff from Joe Pascarell on Vimeo.
"a variation of the filter mod patch. all audio from the 200e but going through the 111 ring modulator. the 123 is choosing pitches of the 261 principle and mod. oscs."