MATRIXSYNTH

iTouchMusic Pad for iPod Touch & iPhone with Ableton Live

YouTube via Torley iPhone remote control of Ableton Live.

"I love it when a tool doesn't just look kewl, it's easy to get started with — and within minutes, you're being creative and productive! I was on the market for a XY pad MIDI controller, and looked at contenders like the Korg nanoPAD, whose sibling, the nanoKONTROL, has been a valuable addition to my home studio. But then I recalled options exist for the iPod Touch, which I have, and they seemed like such a novel way to add usefulness to an already-fun gadget that does so many multimedia things well.

Several searches later, I was on the iTunes App Store looking at iTouchMidi Pad by Silicon Studios, and reading the few-but-strong reviews, I bought it. It was mere moments afterward that I was firing up drum loops in Ableton Live, having a lot of fun mapping iTM Pad to various settings and mangling sounds. The logical conclusion, since clear demos of things like this can be hard to come by, was to make a video review:

The iTM Pad works with other DAW hosts and even tho I'm familiar with it now, there's a whole lot to explore. Amazing how such a simple toy can bring so much joy. It's worth noting since there are multiple buttons to control different sets of MIDI controllers, you can switch between them to add even more convenience. I often heart controlling in two dimensions over linear sliders or knobs because the possible combinations are multiplied manyfold! (Were it not for restrictive patents and such silliness, I wish there were more commercial 3D controllers; Roland's D-Beam is fun but I don't wanna buy a whole synth around it.)

I give high notes to iTM Pad and look forward to trying out the other apps in their line as my urges arise — of particular interest is iTM Tilt, which makes use of the accelerometer. If you're looking for iPhone/iPod Touch MIDI controllers, give these a go — you can try the iTM MidiLab demo showcase for free.

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== OFFICIAL INFO ==
iTM Pad is one of the first additions to the iTM suite

A midi trackpad that you use to control all different parameters,
filters, effects, ..."

Walter Christian Rothe : The belgian music

on 36 15 MOOG

Anyone ID the modular? It doesn't quite look like a Moog. Formant?

Analogue Solutions Vostok Modular Suitcase Synth Ver. 2

via this auction

Quasimidi Sirius

via this auction

It's listed as a Virtual Analog, but I seem to recall it being PCM based without any modeling. Maybe the filters were modeled? If you know feel free to comment. The Polymorph was a combination of PCM and VA.

Note the Carrier-In and Analyze-In in the fourth to last shot.

KORG DS-10 Demo 12

YouTube via karenevil
"I just made a Violin like tone and trying to play with it. Digital reverb is used to be adding a concert hall like effect.

This tune is "Kinjirareta Asobi" by ALI-PRO for the opening theme of TV Anime Rozen-Maiden.
I'm not a kind of a man such as "Anime Otaku" or something but I think this tune is very fantastic and I like it."

KORG DS10 on Ebay

KORG DS-10 Demo 11

"Fanfare for the Common Man, EL&P on the DS-10."
more vids here

SX150 stylus mod

YouTube via karenevil
"If you use graphite pencil as a stylus for SX150, you get better playability and long lasting carbon electrode.

For more detail, visit
http://karenevil.blogspot.com/2009/01..."
Gakken SX-150 on Ebay

Gakken SX-150 Analog Synthesizer Demo

YouTube via karenevil
"The controller is not good for serious play but this "Toy" is generating good sound."
You can still find a few of these on Ebay here.

Demonstration of the Gakken SX-150 Synthesizer Part 1

YouTube via lavieenjaune
"Last week we received two Gakken SX-150 Synths from the Make store:-) Looking around Youtube we realized that there were not that many videos that demonstrated full potential of this little synth so we decided to pick a few of our favorite settings and playing methods and post them here. If you do buy one of these don't even bother with the build in speaker plug it straight into an amp with a little reverb and you are in business."

Demonstration of the Gakken SX-150 Synthesizer Part 2

Tesla Coils at SEAMUS - "Let's Go" by The Cars

YouTube via marksmartus
Synth trivia: the lead sync sound is the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5. It was a default patch programmed by none other than John Bowen. You can here him talk about it in this post - video 6 at 2:08.

video description
"This was performed as an encore at the SEAMUS (Society for Electro Acoustic Music in the United States) conference at Sweetwater Sound in Fort Wayne, Indiana on April 18th, 2009. The Tesla coils were built by Steve Ward, Jeff Larson, and Terry Blake. Steve Ward and I worked out a control system to allow the coils to produce a variey of sounds, and I arranged the song for the coils. The video was posted by jenaber27, then I added some of the original Cars song to the audio and removed the embarrassing false start. :)"