Roland TR-909 Sysex Data / Patch Tool

via Paul on the AH list:

"Little bit of research on this and i came across this nice dump tool by audiorealism

http://www.audiorealism.se/adm/sysex909.zip

its a command line tool, but pretty simple, before running it make sure the 909 is stopped and in track mode, start the tool, tell it the midi in/outs and if its successful you'll end up with a file named sysex909.syx (8368 bytes)

to load the dump back, use something like midi-ox, set the delay after F7 to 300ms (worked best for me) first manually send the command F0 41 50 F7, this tells the 909 to expect a dump file, then jsut send your dump back.

Of course its a bit of a pita, but the 909 sysex is quite an early implementation, you could ease the process by adding the F0 41 50 F7 manually to the sysex file. The important thing here is setting the delay after F7 else the 909 wont catch all the data."

audio palette (iPhone/iPodtouch APP)

YouTube via perfumepod
"remix looped tracks and art. samples provided Brian Eno,Kent Jolly,Octafuzz.
http://www.audiopalette.net/"
on iTunes:

audio palette

YouTube via kjolly70
"Audio palette is an innovative instrument that allows you to remix looped tracks in a new way.

In audio palette each sound is represented on the screen as a circle. The closer your touch is to the center of the circle, the louder the sound. Your performance is automatically recorded and looped back with perfect timing accuracy allowing you to create a new loop built from your remix. You can record up to four of these looped recordings and switch instantly between them to create yet another layer of performance. The software also allows you to edit the positions and sizes of the circles on screen, so you can develop your own style of play.

This initial release has four palettes and includes custom samples provided by legendary rock music producer and ambient music pioneer Brian Eno.

Enjoy!

To see a video of audio palette in action, please go to www.audiopalette.net

Features:
- 4 audio palette sample sets
- Automatic looping with high accuracy timing for perfect loops
- 4 touch performance record buffers
- Edit mode with ability to move and size palette circles

Requirements:
Compatible with iPhone and iPod touch
Requires iPhone 2.2.1 or later

For questions or feature requests send e-mail to info@audiopalette.net
For support please send e-mail to support@audiopalette.net"

TI-99 4/A Speech Synthesizer Text to Speech

YouTube via Dogpupkus
"Using the TI-99 4/A and its speech synthesizer... and an ancient portable B&W TV. A Terminal Emulator II cartridge and the Speech Synthesizer are required to do text to speech."

bz fun

YouTube via rezzn8r

Neural Agonizer - brief test thing

YouTube via sduck409

"Greetings from shaky camera world! Video is from my flip video camera thingy, audio is recorded into SoundBooth, no added effects of any kind. Just a quick demo of some of the things my very new Neural Agonizer can do. Oh - the Neural Agonizer is an enhanced spring reverb for analog modular synthesizers - it uses 2 reverb tanks, and was designed by Scott Juskiw of Tellun Industries. I haven't spent a lot of time calibrating the thing yet, so the settings are not optimal - it's all a bit too dark sounding to me, and the stress and trauma knobs don't have enough effect yet. I'll add some annotations of what's going on, but if you're watching this on an iphone or something similar you may not see those."

LividStep: step sequencer made in Max For Live

LividStep: step sequencer made in Max For Live from Livid Instruments on Vimeo.

"This details the major functions of Livid's Max For Live device, LividStep, including playback, how to: add and change sequences, control timing, navigate Live, and control instruments, all from the Livid controller.
The device works in Ableton Live with Livid ohm64 and block MIDI controllers. The device creates an eight step sequencer on one row of the 64 button grid. Fill eight live tracks with eight devices to fill the grid. Each sequence has independent time control for a huge variety of rhythmic possibility.
And, if you make it to the end, yes, the irritation at those who don't use a Livid controller is real and palpable :)"

Livid Step Sequencer part 2 from Livid Instruments on Vimeo.

"Despite the awful "music", this short video does demonstrate something worthwhile. First, I show the simple adjustment needed to make LividStep, a max for live device, work with the Livid block controller. Next, I demonstrate the loop recording and playback feature that adds free-form loops to any given step sequence. Don't just stand there, step out!
Available here:
lividinstruments.com/support_downloads.php"

Novation Launchpad Waveform Editor (3 bit by 3 bit)

YouTube via littlescale
"This evening I made a Launchpad-based 3-bit by 3-bit waveform editor. In a way, this is related to my ever-present desire to touch sound (eg. the Toriton water-based instrument etc).
http://little-scale.blogspot.com/"

Ohm64 and ArKaos Grandvj

Ohm64 and ArKaos Grandvj from Livid Instruments on Vimeo.

"I made a brief video showing the ohm64 working with Arkaos. It is really easy to setup and use. Arkaos in running in demo mode here."

block controller with Arkaos Grand VJ from Livid Instruments on Vimeo.

"Arkaos annouced today that their new version of grandvj would work with our controllers, so I gave it a try. It was really easy to get working, here is a quick demo I did of it after only a few minutes of running the demo. Note that the block and the Ohm64 will work in the same way."

VINTAGE ROLAND TR-808 ANALOG SYNTH DRUM MACHINE

via this auction
"The TR-808 is a classic drum machine that used analog synthesis to create its sounds. The sounds have a very thin and pure quality and aren't grungy like it's successor the TR-909. In fact, the 808 has become the signature beatbox used in most R&B and hip-hop as well as a lot of dance and techno music. Booming bass kicks, crispy snares and that annoying cowbell sound made famous during the 80's are all part of the 808 and its famous sound.

Its 16 drum sounds include the famous boomy low kick, snappy snares, low/mid/hi toms, low/mid/hi congas, rimshot, claves, hand clap, maracas, cowbell, cymbal, open hihat, closed hihat and accent. All of the sounds can be edited and/or tuned and have individual outputs. Unfortunately it is not MIDI equipped but it does use Roland's DIN Sync."

ELEKTRONIKA EM-25 RARE SOVIET USSR ANALOG SYNTHESIZER

via this auction
"Electronica EM - 25 is a synthesizer-strings that has 3 timbre sections: stringed - contrabasses, violoncellos, violins, organ-registers ("16'","8'","4'","2'"), wind-trombones, trumpets.

Stringed and organ sections:
polyphonic attack and release of sound with duration control
switching decay mode

Wind instruments section:
generator of curved with controls: ATTACK, DECAY, SUSTAIN.
modulator with controls: RATE, DELAY, VIBRATO
controlled filter with controls: ENVELOPE, MODULATOR, CUTOFF, ACCENT
filter run mode -mono or polyphonic

There is also a possibility to split the keyboard to 2 section (with setting up different timbres of sounding)

Specifications:
— Number of octaves in a keyboard, 4 1/12
— In audible range, 9 1/12
— Number of programmed timbres, 12
—Power consumption max, 30V*A
— Dimensions, 890x355x102 mm (35'x14'x4')
— Weight without soft case, 15 kg (approx. 33 Pounds)
— Also contains 1.126 gramms GOLD materials, 6.143 SILVER materials"