Musikmesse: Klangwabe

http://www.klangwabe.de

Mystery synth from this post solved.

via swissdoc

Musikmesse: The Musikmesse via Sonic State

MESSE09: Doepfer Dark Energy

Be sure to see Sonic State's Musikmesse coverage for more.
A TON of stuff went up. The videos here are just a small excerpt.

MESSE09: Novation's New Remote SL MKII

See the write-up on this one.

MESSE09: EOWave's Persephone Mark II


MESSE09: Akai's MPD18

ROCK SCHOOL - Series 2 - Episode 3 (part 1 of 3)

YouTube via tomstimemachine. sent my way via khoral

"Taking over from where the first series left off, the second set of ROCKSCHOOL television programs focuses its attention on new technology and its implications for the musicians of the day.

Synthesisers, samplers, sequencers and drum machines are all covered, as are electronic drum systems, computer hardware and software (remember this is 1987 - so this is for retro-heads only) and synthesisers for guitar and bass. There are also tips on how to make the most of the human voice, and on songwriting and arrangement.

This series was shown on TV in the UK during 1987.

EPISODE THREE

EIGHTIES SYNTHPOP
CLIP OF THE YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA IN 1979, CLIP OF BRONSKI BEAT.

SO ! - HOW DO YOU MAKE UP THESE SINGLE NOTE MELODIES ?
MAJOR AND MINOR SCALES, TRIADS, CHORDS, CHORD INVERSIONS AND TWO-HANDED KEYBOARD PLAYING.

THE VOCALS
CLIP FROM JAMES BROWN, MIDGE URE ON VOCAL TECHNIQUE AND GRAHAM BONNETT ON LOOKING AFTER YOUR VOICE, CLIP FROM EURYTHMICS."

CLICK FOR MORE »

dorkbot chicago and wheresthepartyat - new DIY Kit

via brian c
"went to dorkbot chicago tonight... ..had a blast

after a hiatus dorkbot is re-forming and meeting the last thursday of every month

tonight's presenter was todd bailey presenting his variable bit sampler called wheresthepartyat

it will soon be a kit for sale like the x0xb0x

it is a midi controllable sampler sort of like a casio sk1 engine on steroids

todd demoed it and talked about the several generations the design went thru and the design decisions along the way

totally nerdy...totally fun

see better pics [and a ton of more info] at todd's site

more on dorkbot chicago at
http://www.enemysound.com/2009/03/dorkbot-chicago-returns.html

i'm gonna do a presentation some night on digital versus analog distortion with my new metasonix assblaster and agonizer compared to a an alesis bitrman and frostwave sonic alienator

and for more on dorkbot global see http://dorkbot.org/

that's a cool organization

peace
brian"
some more images via
Where's the Party At
8-bit Bendable Sampler

CLICK FOR MORE »

More Info on the Moogseum

A couple of new posts on the upcoming Moogseum are up on the Bob Moog Foundation blog.

Direct links and excerpt for the archives:
The Moogseum
Creating the “Mini-Moogseum”

"It will serve as a educational, historical and cultural resource to Western North Carolina and the worldwide electronic music community through the following exhibits and facilities:

* An interactive timeline of the life and work of Bob Moog and the many people with whom he collaborated
* An archival center where rare documents, including project notes, articles, photos and schematics from Bob Moog’s archives, can be viewed on an interactive LED screen
* Several interactive instrument-based exhibits that will allow people the ability to experience the science behind the sound of electfonic music. We envision bays of Theremins hooked up to Moogerfoogers and rows of synthesizers hooked up to oscilloscopes filling our interactive area. A modular synthesis wall is planned as well.
* A Young Inventors Lab where children will be inspired to explore electronic music and create their own prototype through our Youth Outreach programs, afterschool workshops and summer camps.
* A rotating exhibit space which highlights new innovations in musical instrument interface as well as shared exhibits from other museums.
* A 200 seat performance space that will host concerts, lectures, festivals and sound exhibits"

parts

flickr by Freel¥

full size

PAiA Fatman

Vermona Perfourmer

via cl516 where you'll find more images and audio.

Note cl515 is a new blog with original synth content. Be sure to check out the rest of the site for more.

Voyager on Voyager

via cl516 where you'll find more.

Kawai SX-210

via this auction

"General Description :
The Kawai SX-210 (also manufactured under the brand name of Teisco) is probably one of the most underrated analog synths ever. Being a true analog machine and holding a set of features which many other single oscillator synths are missing, it is still a mystery why such a great instrument like the SX-210 has never been through the popularity of other equivalent synths like the Juno 60/106 and Polysix for example. Still it is quite rare as not many have been made.

The Kawai/Teisco SX-210 is basically an 8 voice single DCO synth based on the SSM2044 filter chips. It is generally very stable (as you might expect from it, being a DCO synth). The overall sound is very warm, yet not as fat as either the Junos or the poly Korgs.

On the other hand, it does feature an envelope for its filters, which you won't find on "basic" synths like the Juno 60/106. And it sounds like nothing else actually. I was able to nail that VCS3 "Welcome to the Machine" leads quite easily !

The SX-210 is also one of the first to feature an alpha dial, but not like most alpha dial based synths, you won't find any cumbersome menus to hate to deal with ;)

Instead, there is a switch for every function, and a small indicator to present the value for the switch selected. This is a great approach to implement, as you are still able to check into every parameter of a particular preset and read its current value !

The SX-210 is also 8 voice polyphonic, and can be used at 8 single voice, 4 dual voice and 1 eight voice configurations, which means you can stack all 8 oscillators into a one fat lead sound or a mega power chord lead ! Can you do that with your Juno ?! ;)

The LFO can oscillate the DCO section, VCF and VCA, all at the same time ! (use a Polysix and you'll have to decide which of the section you'd like to modulateן¿½ no simultaneous LFO action !) It is quite versatile and features a Reverse mode and 3 different waveforms plus a Trigger, as well as an LFO Delay and a Bender. Quite impressive for a single DCO synth, huh ?!

The single DCO section can do PW, PWM, SAW and Sub, and noise as well (non for the Polysixן¿½) The SX-210 also has a built in stereo Ensemble effect which is very rich sounding and will "widen up" just about any pad or a string preset very nicely, but I must admit it is not as warm as our well known Polysix Ensemble effect, and generally, far from being versatile as the Chorus/Phaser/Ensample Polysix section. The instrument could do wonders has it had the Polysix effect board ;)

Using the VCF modulation section (KCV / LFO / EG) it is possible to create some really interesting sounds. My SX-210 had two bad 4066 chips at the same place on two different voices, making the EG section going bad, only a few months separating between each incident. So this is where you should first look at when you're starting to experience strange EG behavior !"

Note: see this post for a rare one with extra buttons under the keys.

Kawai K5000s

via this auction

"The K5000 was Kawai's top of the line music workstation digital synthesizer when it was released back in 1996. It's a bold and elegantly designed synth with a large LCD display, realtime controls and incredible sounds! The look and functionality is rivals the competition from the time...the Korg Trinity and Kurzweil K2500.
Programming sounds with the K5000 can be a breeze (once you learn how) although it has over 1,000 parameters per patch! That's plenty to play with. It combines additive synthesis and PCM sampled waveforms for you to layer and combine to design a whole range of sounds. Plenty of LFO modulation, filters and envelope controls allow you to shape and morph your sounds further. On-board multi-effects add the final touch of life to your sounds.
Once you've created some sounds, there's the on-board sequencer (K5000W only) for creating songs or loading Standard Midi File sequences (via disk-drive). It has a 40,000 note capacity and 40 tracks. Real-time record and step-edit modes are available and the sequencer is pretty straight forward.
The K5000S (this auction item) adds 12 dedicated knobs for hands-on control of filter, LFO and envelope parameters. There are 4 user-definable knobs and 2 assignable switches. The K5000S also has a 40-pattern arpeggiator on-board with 8 user-definable patterns too!

Features
# Polyphony - 32 voices
# Oscillators - Digital Additive Synthesis plus PCM samples; Harmonics: 64 per source; Waveforms: 689 (123 synth, 341 GM, 225 drums)
# Effects - 4 effects algorithms with 32 different effects
# Filter - 128-band formant filter, 24dB/oct low-pass and high-pass
# LFO - 2 (one for formant filter, one can be freely routed to other destinations)
# VCA - 1 ASDR per part, with key scale and velocity
# Sequencer/Arpeg - Sequencer: 40 tracks, 40,000 note capacity
# Arpeggiator: 40 patterns, 8 user
# Keyboard - 61 Keys with velocity and aftertouch
# Memory - 200 patches, 64 performances"