Pacific Northwest Synth 2009 - Red Martian

YouTube via matrixsynth.

This is my video of Red Martian's performance. More details here.
http://redmartian.com
http://mattsonminimodular.com - MMM and Syntar
http://www.division-6.com - Midified Skulls
http://acidlab.de - Miami

Note this is the last of my videos from the PNW Synth Gathering this year.
click here to see all posts in the series.

Cowboy and the Vocoder and the MMM

A tribute to the dog Cowboy who passed away.

YouTube via redmartian. Note this is via redmartian and not AnalogVocoder1 (click for the reference).

"A song written for a dog who likes to listen to the sound the Roland SVC-350 vocoder. This song features the MMM as well as a Sequential Circuits Drum Traks and a Roland Jupiter-6.

Here are the lyrics:

Do you know Cowboy
and the SVC-350?
Do you know Cowboy
and the Roland Vocoder?

Hey there Cowboy
I see you there
Lazy gazing
Gazing lazy
Whos my sweet boy?
You know its you.
I like to vocode and you do too.

No Poly-800 to drive the SVC
So I use an MMM as my carrier wave
No Poly-800 but Cowboy doesn't mind.
We all know its the Roland SVC-350 vocoder time.

Audio version can be found here:
http://redmartian.com/napster/Red_Mar..."

And the first track from this post:


FIRST PRODUCTION MATTSON MINI MODULAR DEMO NUMBER FOUR from RED MARTIAN on Vimeo.

"Here is a fourth demo which features a LP and HP triangle wave arpeggiation nearly through out and a quick EG three oscillator bass. The drum kit is the same as in the other demos with no pitch changes or other processing, just dry sounds out of the VCA. There are two leads one is just two oscillators (saw) and the second has a square and a saw with the saw slight modulated by an LFO with high resonance on the filter.

The bass and arpeggiation were played and quantized in logic. The leads were recorded as played."

Modules from SYNTHWERKS

"The iP/iPT-1 iPhone / iPhone Touch Player Module is a module I just made for myself. It will be provided by request only. The user will have to provide the iPhone or iPhone Touch and a iPhone base station to complete the system. The iPhone/Touch is mounted to the panel via Velcro and is powered through the dock from the synthesizer +12v buss. The line level audio out from the iPhone is provided via jacks for both the left and Right channel.

The module is a standard 28HP width and requires +12 volts."



"The P/V Filter Plateau / Valley Filter Module combines a 24dB/Oct Low pass and High pass filter in one module switchable into series (Plateau) and parallel (Valley) modes. The distance between each filter is controlled via the Spread manual control and the scalable CV input (positive voltage moves the filters apart). A shared CV input (V/Oct and scale able) CV moves both filters up and down in tandem. Each filter has its own “center” frequency, resonance, and input level controls.

The module is a standard 14HP width and requires +12/-12 volts."


"The ATTN-1 Manual Attenuator Module passive attenuator module with two sections. The top section uses a dual pot to control two sources at the same time, one inverted from the other. The second section controls only one source. This is a passive module and requires no power.

The module is a standard 8HP width."



"The PGM-4X4 4X4 CV Programming Matrix Module has an array of four columns by four rows of manual control voltages set by a matrix of pots. One of the columns of knobs can be selected at a time to be outputted to the row jacks on the right side of the module. The columns can be selected via a external gate input (from a FSR series module for example) or from the column’s manual push button switch. A panel LED indicates the selected column.

The module is a standard 28HP width and requires +12/-12 volts."


"The FSR-1 and FSR-2 Force Sensing Resistor Modules use a force sensing element that produces a continuous, scalable voltage proportional to the level of force applied to the sensing element. This voltage is also used to produce a gate signal when it’s level passes a user defined threshold. A toggle function is also provided that alternates between high and low states with each normal gate. A panel LED indicates the gate activity.

The FSR-1 module is a standard 10HP width, the FSR-2 is 4HP and both require just +12/-12 volts."



"The TS-1 Thumbstick Module is a joystick module that uses a compact, spring loaded game controller style Thumbstick instead of the typically larger joystick assembly. This Thumbstick module has an integrated push button that activated when the button assembly is pressed. The module outputs two scalable control voltage proportional to the sticks position in X and Y locations and outputs a standard Gate (with LED indicator) when the Thumbstick controller is pushed.

The module is a standard 8HP width and requires +12/-12 volts."



"The FSR-1 and FSR-2 Force Sensing Resistor Modules use a force sensing element that produces a continuous, scalable voltage proportional to the level of force applied to the sensing element. This voltage is also used to produce a gate signal when it’s level passes a user defined threshold. A toggle function is also provided that alternates between high and low states with each normal gate. A panel LED indicates the gate activity.

The FSR-1 module is a standard 10HP width, the FSR-2 is 4HP and both require just +12/-12 volts."


"The MG/T-1 Manual Gate/Trigger Module use a arcade style push button to produce a manual gate and trigger when pressed. The mechanism is very light and reacts quickly allowing very quick gate production. The unit also produces a short duration trigger pulse output. A toggle function is also provided that alternates between high and low states with each normal gate. A panel LED indicates each outputs activity.

The module is a standard 8HP width and requires +12/-12 volts."


"The PC5V Patch Cord Checker and 5V Source Module is a +5 Volt power supply and patch cord checking module. The +5V supply is derived from the +12 Volt buss and is returned to the +5 buss lines to be used by other modules. The +5V supply is also brought out to front panel jacks so it can be used by other modules via patching. The patch cord checker lights LEDs when a cord is inserted and the cord functions correctly. There are LEDs for both the signal and shield connections.

The module is a standard 4HP width and requires +12 volts."


See the SYNTHWERKS label below for more. SYNTHWERKS on Facebook - this will be their main site for now.

pro-modular.com

pro-modular.com
"We specialize cutting and etching acrylic, specifically to create blind panels for you modular synthesizer system. We wanted to give people a way of making their modular even more "their own" then ever before. We use 3mm thick acrylic that will fit perfectly into your modular setup, whatever the size. We can cut and etch practically anything you can imagine. Panel templates are available for all current modular synth setups: Euro, MOTM, Wiard, Modcan and Frac. Panels come in many colors, opaque or translucent and even completely clear. You can pick from a stock design, or upload your own custom artwork.

We can also do other custom etching and cutting - DIY module panels for instance. And although we do not offer any metal cutting, we can etch your supplied aluminum faceplates, laptops or whatever you might need.

We will soon be offering more than just panels as well..."

Synclavier II Synth Original Full Color Brochure

via this auction

"This is a rare item, a New England Digital Synclavier II Digital Synthesizer full color brochure from 1980, the first year it was made. It is eight pages with many full color photos (including the famous one that shows something that never existed, the stand with the original keyboard on top and a single density floppy disk drive underneath).

It describes the operation of the entire system, with system specifications on the back cove"

Maplin 5600 analog vintage synthesizer (Phaser & Filters patch demo)

YouTube via scienceforce.

follow-up to this post.

"This is a Maplin 5600s demo about filters and his warm phasing & spring reverb effect.
In this matrix patch some vco's are open on mixer 2 in order to send modulations on Filter 1."

TRIADEX Muse, Light show and Amplifier module.... from outer space _-_-_

YouTube via scienceforce

"Extremly rare Triadex Muse, Triadex Amplifier and Triadex Light show. A complete collection of a trio set from '72 still with the original boxes, manuals, cards and...the old warranty papers ;-) ALL is perfect working and lighting.
The Triadex Muse is the first digital musical instrument and was produced in 1972. It was designed by Edward Fredkin and Marvin Minsky, the creator of the alien "MONOLITH" in 2001 SPACE ODYSSEY, friend & collaborator of Stanley Kubrick.

Marvin Minsky has made many contributions to AI, cognitive psychology, mathematics, computational linguistics, robotics, and optics. In recent years he has worked chiefly on imparting to machines the human capacity for commonsense reasoning. His conception of human intellectual structure and function is presented in The Society of Mind (1987), which is also the title of the course he teaches at MIT.

The Triadex Muse it's an algorithmic music generator: it uses digital logic circuits to produce a sequence of notes based on the settings of various parameters. It has four small sliders that control Volume, Tempo, Pitch, and Fine Pitch. It is not known how many were made, but they are considered extremely rare.

For years, the Muse was a featured exhibit at the Museum of Science, Boston. The signage explained the device's algorithmic (and deterministic) approach to the creation of its seemingly-random music. Far from being random, its preset "song" played continuously -- and was even given a name, "Museum Musings," by the staff."

Update via Minsky in the comments:
"Thanks! Really nice article and explanations.

No, I didn't invent the Kubrick-Clarke monolith. I only made some suggestions about the appearance of some of the movie's intelligent hardware. (Early versions of the computer modules were rather fancy -- but we simplified them.)

- Marvin Minsky"

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A few more videos from others:

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Modular Fright Night 2009

YouTube via chromeeumm
"I flipped on the cam whilst recording some spooky sounds to scare the little kiddos on halloween night. Mwa ha haaaaa!

Here's some info on the patch before I forget it:
The main sound features two oscillators that are gettin all tangled and twisted up in some gnarley audio rate frequency modulation- Osc2 sine goes to a VCA CV in, Osc1 saw to said VCA's signal in, and VCA's out to Osc2 FM in. These two gnash each other apart and then, clicking and howling, funnel into an STG Sea Devil diode ladder filter, thru a series of three Cynthia Buchla 292 low pass gate clones, and into a Synthesizers.com Q107 filter. Bandpass out of that filter runs to the final VCA, and the high pass out goes to STG wave folder. A pan/fade module balances the two for instant adhoc control of horror and mayhem.

The obligatory "creepy wind" eminates from a single oscillator FM'd by white noise, fed into a Q150 transistor ladder filter and a COTK C1630 Bode. A pressure sensitive CV ribbon controller modulates the oscillator frequency and filter cutoff.

The whole barrage of sound is orchestrated by a Q119 sequencer running in 3x8 mode with first bank controlling pitch of the oscillators, and 2nd and 3rd banks generating gates for an STG gate delay and three EGs used to modulate the various filters and amps and such in totally eeevil ways, fer sure omigod.

Thanks for stopping by and listening to my ghostly (ghastly?) noises!"

A lot of Synthesizers works together...Minimoog, Synthesizers.com&friend

YouTube via Synthiefrau. Synton Syrinx on top of the Minimoog.
"Hello lovely Synthfolks, yesterday it was raining the hole day and I must work, today the weather is fine, I doesn`t work and I stay at home and play Synthesizer . Musik, electronic musik is the best music of the world. Listen of the two LFO`s from the little Doepfer Dark Energie...It`s a realy lovely Synth...."

::vtol:: vt-6 "sampler demo"

YouTube via Vtolus
"more info -

http://samoletuvvp.narod.ru..."

::vtol:: vt-6 module "sound demo"

"more info -

http://samoletuvvp.narod.ru..."

Mos-Lab 904-A vs. Synthesizers.com Q150 - a filter comparison

YouTube via birbabirbabirba
"This is a comparison of the Mos-Lab 904-A Moog filter clone (fully identical to the original filter used in the Moog modulars) and the Synthesizers.com Q150 Transistor Ladder Filter (a modern version of the classic 24db Moog filter). For this test, both filters were feeded with the same saw wave of a Q106 Synthesizers.com oscillator and modulated by the same LFO sine wave. Altough i tried to apply the same manual settings on the frequency and resonance controls to both filters, the different structure and control parameters of the 904-A and the Q150 did not allow an exact 1:1 comparison and the intention is only to demonstrate in a general way the specific "sonic identities" of both filters. The Mos-Lab 904-A is on the left, the Q150 on the right channel."