Impulse Response

YouTube via pixelform. Not a synth, but some DIY correlations.
"Suspended in a 4 story stairwell, a vine of incandescent bulbs pulses and ripples with light in response to changes in ambient sounds. Loud, low rumbling from the street traffic outside causes light to shoot up through the thick rope of lights, growing brighter as the rumbling grows louder. When all is silent, the vine is dark and cold, illuminating only briefly at short but noticeable sounds: a closing door, the settling of the building, a car horn. The activities of people using the stairwell cause the lights to come alive, inviting a vocal interaction and play.

16 incandescent lights were spaces at half a meter, their power chords braided and bound together to form a gradually tapering cord of wire and lights. The rope of lights was then suspended from the 4th floor down to the top of the 1st. At the top, a nest of cables, wires, and control boxes formed an electronic spinal chord. The brain of the electronics consisted of custom digital electronics made sound reactive by a tiny microphone. As sound triggered the electronics, the lamps were turned on and off in such a way as to create the illusion of light rapidly ascending the rope, creating a brilliant column of flowing and pulsing energy.

The circuit at the heart of the installation consists of an electret condenser microphone, amplifier, comparator, two dual 4-stage shift registers, and 16 solid-state relays. The electret condenser microphone picks up ambient sounds, which are amplified and passed on to the comparator. The comparator compares two voltage levels and outputs a positive or negative voltage depending on the relationship between the voltages at its inputs. A fixed reference voltage is applied to its negative input while the signal from the amplifier is applied to the positive pin. What follows it that for every time the sound level produces a voltage above the reference, the comparator outputs a positive signal. This positive signal is then passed to the CD4027 CMOS shift registers. Linked together, the shift registers provide 16 outputs along which a signal present at the input may be clocked through. The effect is the same as a ticker tape, except that you are viewing one row of lights instead of the usual 8-10 rows that are needed to reproduce text. The signals that are passed from output to output along the shift registers are used to turn on the lamps via solid-state relays."

Roger O'Donnell - Moog lesson Apple Store

YouTube via sidelinemag via Phil. http://www.rogerodonnell.com/info.html
"http://www.side-line.com Here's a video Roger O'Donnell made a while ago to demostrate how he writes which is kind of what he shows at the Apple store." on iTunes
Also see these posts.

BLIPVERT #11 : Destroyx Interview #3 of 3

YouTube via krankhaus. I missed this one. Gear comes in at 6:00.
"Destroyx answers questions from members of Angelspit's Forum. Questions include: Where is the name "Angelspit" from?; Musical background?; What inspires you?; Do you enjoy your career?; What motivates you?; What is tour life like?; Gig experiences; Favourite Synth Gear?
More BLIPVERTS from Angelspit:
www.angelspit.net/blipvert"

Plan B Model 12 filter module

via this auction

"This is a great filter that responds nicely to control voltage and gate inputs because of the vactrols used in the design. Basically, the decay is nonlinear and more like what an acoustic instrument does than other filters that don't have vactrols. This allows for more "realistic" sounds such as classic Buchla-esque woody percussion sounds.

The sound is smooth, but can be overdriven and you can see on the input how I labelled '7' on it to tell me when the pot setting starts registering distortion. This is the first version of the Model 12, so I had to mod it and add a switch to get the "overdrive" function that later batches came with stock. The mod consisted of wiring a resistor across one of the vactrols (see photo of the interior) with a switch on the front panel."

also see the seller's other items

Waldorf Microwave XT Tracks by SCD

via Boele Gerkes of SCD on the Waldorf List:

"It is more than ten years ago that I read an article in SOS magazine about the Waldorf XT. The story basically said: "if you're looking for a nice piano sample, this is not it" :-) That sold me. In the summer of 1999, after several years playing romplers I bought another synthesizer and it was the XT. Together with a Jomox Xbase and Emu Emulator 4k. It was the start of some fruitfull years in terms of composing and recording... :-)

The start of this song, plus all other sound except drums and mellotron is XT. The XT is a very capable synth, both in wavetable sounds, as well for doing basses and pads.
http://www.synthmusic.info/mp3s/181%20King%20Of%20Salem%20%28Sayer%201%29.mp3

And this one: only XT and Jomox :-)
http://www.synthmusic.info/mp3s/180%20Microwaves%201999.mp3"

The Clavia SYNTHA

via roland kuit in this electro-music.com thread on NAMM speculations.

BTW, if you are a manufacturer, synth shop, developer, or other and have something to announce for NAMM, feel free to send it in at any time. Traffic usually spikes during NAMM. Feel free to send things in ahead of time as well. I do not leak what manufacturers send in.

Monome, Microkorg and SkyMonome API

YouTube via pjskyman.
"A short demo of my upcoming API "SkyMonome" written in Java language. Here, the program drives the Monome with a 6-step sequencer, and then play on microkorg via Midi."

Monome with accelerometer, Microkorg and SkyMonome API

audio starts at :50
"Another short demo of my upcoming API "SkyMonome" written in Java language. Here, the program drives the Monome with a n-step multisequencer, and then play on microkorg via Midi. Note that only four voices have been used, since the Microkorg has himself only four voices of polyphony. At the end, the accelerometer drives the pitch bend."

Monome, Arturia Origin and SkyMonome API

YouTube via pjskyman
"A very good live demo of my upcoming API "SkyMonome" written in Java language. Here, the program drives the Monome with a n-step multisequencer, and then play on Origin via Midi. Listen to the vintage sound of the CS-80 perfectly simulated by the Origin !

"SkyMonome" coming soon on http://www.skymonome.org"

Unusual DIY Synths by Kaufmann

flo kaufmann shows his "satrap activ" portable analog synthesizer made out of a vacuum cleaner

YouTube via elmzki

"The "satrap activ" is a old vacuum cleaner from the 70ies, converted into an analog synthesizer.
It contains 2 cmos based VCO's , a Moog ladder filter, a 555 based ADSR, a cmos based 8 step sequencer, a PIC based vc to midi interface and a PIC based auto trigger unit.
There are 4 tunable knobs on top, mostly to play bass-lines, and 2 conductable wires, which act as voltage dividers to generate variable tones. the wires do not vibrate. so it is not a cord instrument. satrap activ can also control other synthesizers either by midi or cv/gate interface.
check out some other projects on:
http://www.floka.com/bricol.html"

flo kaufmann presents his "FLooper" a multi-channel 8bit sound looper without a microcontroller


"The "FLooper" is a 8bit , multi-channel sound looper.
Here you can see the very early 4 channel prototype.
The sound is sampled by 8bit ADC with samplerates up to 200k and stored into a SRAM.
Because of the 8bit design you get very punchy sound. very similar to an old analog tape loop. some background noise as well.
In contrast to most other loopers you have totally independant channels and you can change the speed, volume, mute or reset to start point for every channel.
As long as you dont do anything sound is repeatet forever similar to a tape loop. if you press the record button of a certain channel it starts recording sound at that positiion.
On 2 channels there are steiner-parker voltage controlled filters in series.
I redesigned the FLooper and made some PCB's and the whole project will be open-source very soon.
check www.floka.com"

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NINE INCH NAILS NOTHING STUDIOS 2002 YAMAHA CS1X SYNTH

via this auction
" YAMAHA CS1X SYNTH KEYBOARD (ALSO MIDI CONTROLLER FOR YOUR DAW OR ANYTHING)
THIS BELONGED TO NINE INCH NAILS/TRENT REZNOR/NOTHING STUDIOS IN NEW ORLEANS, BOUGHT FROM THEM IN THE NOTHING STUDIOS SALE IN 2002
COMES WITH ALL PAPERWORK, HISTORY, COA AND ORIGINAL SALES BILL FROM NOTHING STUDIOS!

I HAVE NOT TOUCHED THE USER PATCHES, AND I WILL SAY, THAT IS A REALLY COOL THING, BECAUSE SOME OF THE PATCHES IN THERE SOUND PRETTY FAMILIAR FOR THE TIME/ERA, AND A FEW OF THE PATCH NAMES ARE WORTH A LAUGH, WITH A NOD TO MR. REZNOR."