MATRIXSYNTH

The Modular Piano - Instruments

YouTube via zioaxiom — April 07, 2010 — "If sampling is like a photography, sound synthesis is like a painting. The Modular Piano is an oil portrait of a never existed piano; an illusion of reality, aware of the illusion.

The Modular Piano has an intimate sound, detached from the brightness of modern pianos, which makes it ideal for certain situations when the precision and detail of a grand piano are not the best deal. Techniques from the past and modern technology were used to reinvent the most complex of the stringed instruments, but with a conceptual difference. Due to its synthetic nature, you will not find a huge and multilayered instrument but a live one, made of thousand flavours, with its very own dynamics.

This library comes with three main instruments, two bonus instruments and two multis. The first one is The Modular Piano. As stated before, this is a very special piano as it was synthesized from scratch, note by note, and then imported into Kontakt to get more polyphony and use all the great features of this sampler. The Timbre Dynamics and String Tuning scripts will provide you with more ways to shape the tone of this instrument. Next youll find Ragama, a variation of our piano. An old, noisy, mechanical clavichord-like instrument, with an Asian taste. Try to play it slowly and as piano as you can. The third is Galvanic Corrosion, an epic distorted bowed-like piano. This is great for movie scoring, heavy layering and droning. As bonus, you will find two more instruments, a couple of great sounding pads, and two multis as example of combination possibilities of our sounds.

The Modular Piano is available as Native Instruments Kontakt 3.5 / 4 library. You can purchase the download for €29 ($39) on www.progsounds.com"

The Modular Piano - Multis

PolyRhythms for the iPad

New iPad app via Xapnet Productions

"PolyRhythms
Two groups of buttons control a set of fast and slow rhythms. Fast rhythms are on the left side and slow rhythms are on the right side. Each row of buttons represents an independent loop, and each individual button is a beat. Beats can be touched in real time to turn them on and off.

* APP FEATURES: Designed and Built for the iPad.
* High quality drum samples create a rich audio experience.
* Audio controls include Play/Pause, Restart, and Tempo.
* Sessions can be saved or reloaded in real time during playback.
* Tempo can also be varied smoothly in real time.
* Progress indicator lets you know where you are in the master loop."

It's currently available on iTunes for free. Anyone know how to grab the link in iTunes? My normal source does not link to iPad apps yet.

via Palm Sounds

"IMPORTANT UPDATE:
If you are running PolyRhythms version 1.0, please download the 1.0.1 update for improved performance and better documentation.

USING POLYRHYTHMS:
The two groups of buttons control the fast and slow rhythms. Fast rhythms are on the left side and slow rhythms are on the right side.

THE MASTER LOOP:
The leftmost beat in every row all play simultaneously at the beginning of the master loop, and will never all coincide again until the next beginning of the 840-beat pattern! Each time around around takes between 2-6 minutes depending on the tempo. The progress indicator (bottom) lets you know where you are in the master loop.

LEFT (FAST) SIDE:
The top left button plays every single beat. Each successive row of buttons on the left represents a looping rhythm of a different length, and each button represents a beat in that loop. Beats can be touched on and off during playback to adjust the pattern as it cycles against other rhythms.

RIGHT (SLOW) SIDE:
Each row of buttons on the right represents a different equal subdivision of the master loop, and each individual button is a unique location in the loop. These beats play only one time per cycle of the master loop - they mark your place in the cycle.

FEATURES:
- High quality drum samples create a rich audio experience.
- Audio controls (top right) include Play/Pause, Restart, and Tempo.
- Tempo can also be varied smoothly in real time.
- Progress indicator (bottom) lets you know where you are in the master loop.
- Sessions (top left) can be saved and loaded back in during playback.

COMING SOON:
- Flexible mapping of sounds.
- New sounds will be available through in-app purchase.
- Share sessions between devices."

Replay: Symposium on Sound Sampling

via Primus Luta

"This friday Syracuse University will be taking the subject of sound sampling head on for Replay: Symposium on Sound Sampling (http://sampling.syr.edu).

From the website:
"A distinguished panel—including a world renowned copyright expert; musicians who use sampling in their compositions; an academic expert; and a record label representative—will participate in a series of structured conversations about the law, business, technology, theory, and culture of sampling recorded sound. The event will also feature a live demo of sampling from the Belfer Audio Archive. The program will also be professionally filmed and simulcast on the Web."

The morning sessions will focus on the business and legal side of sampling with panelists including Google's Copyright Counsel and the founder of Illegal Art. Then afternoon will turn toward the creative side of things, with a sampling presentation by AvantUrb's Primus Luta and then in a discussion between him and Hank Shocklee from the Bomb Squad on creative innovation with sampling.

In a recent interview
(http://blog.gnarlee.net/primus-luta-is-comin-clean-exclusive-intervie),
Primus Luta explained:

"The folk from Syracuse contacted me based on my work in creating a notation system for sampling and its implications for a legal argument. They are really trying to use the symposium as a stepping stone for addressing these issues head on. It's been a buzz topic for a couple of years now, and so there are documentaries and panels at music conferences on the subject. With all of these things though few if any solutions have been offered. That's what really makes this symposium special, its not just hey lets talk about it, it's hey lets find a solution for it."

The full day will be broadcast on the web. To watch and participate you will need to register online (http://sampling.syr.edu/register.php). If you cannot watch the live broadcast, all of the day's events will be documented and posted on the Syracuse site shortly after the event."

Gas 0095 Studio - name that synthesizer, win a CD

YouTube via microscopics — April 06, 2010 — Gas studios around 1999. Name that gear, win the Gas 0095 CD.
http://microscopics.co.uk

The video is quite blurry, so its a good way to test your synthesizer geeking skills.
Name the gear in the comments or on our blog http://www.microscopics.co.uk/blog/ and we'll send three copies of Gas 0095 on CD + MP3 + Flac24 to the three geeks who guess/ identify the most gear correctly.

This is most of the gear used to record the Gas 0095 album, with a few additions and subtractions.

Each copy of Gas 0095 on CD or flac bought from us comes with a FREE Minimoog model
http://microscopics.co.uk"

AELITA 3-VCO RARE VINTAGE SOVIET ANALOG SYNTHESIZER

via this auction

video by jexus here
"AELITA is a 3-oscillator monophonic synthesizer with 44 keys, produced by the Murom radio plant in USSR in eighties. The device is housed in a strong aluminum body. Sound control is performed with handy faders and buttons. The synth has really impressive analog sound - it is convenient for modeling of fat analog basses, classic rock leads, hard razor waves, various space FX`s, noises, ambient textures and much more... It is able to form both hard and soft timbres. By activating the UNISON function, the number of simultaneously sounding voices may be 5 or 6. Because you can detune the three independent oscillators, it is possible to create "one finger chord hits".

The Aelita synthesizer consists of 5 basic synthesis sections, which are the following: TUNING, REGISTERS/TIMBRE (osc wave switch), UNISON/VOICE LEVEL, TIMBRES CONTROL (filter), VOLUME CONTROL (amplifier). A wide range of modulation functions are available, including RING MODULATION. The synthesizer provides a three oscillator voice, with the addition of unison function, which adds extra timbres to basic sound. Respectively, there are separate controls for all oscillators in all sections.

The TUNING section provides the "global tuning" and separate DETUNE 1/2/3 knob for each oscillator. Below the section, three parameter buttons are situated: RELEASE, UNISON/VOICE and STRINGS. By pressing RELEASE, the "preset released" mode is activated independently of the RELEASE slider in the AMPLIFIER section. Next the UNISON/VOICE ON/OFF button - having entered the mode UNISON ON you will get aggressive layered strings sound (see demo sample1). By pressing the STRINGS button, you actually activate the modulation function, which imitates stringed instruments vibrato; but in conjunction with the UNISON ON mode, it provides "strings" sound with a complex modulated timbre.

The REGISTERS/TIMBRES section contains the timbres range (octave registers) 2`, 4`, 8`, 16`, 32` buttons and the WAVEFORM SELECT buttons (square, triangle and saw). The MODULATION/LFO FREQ slider, also called VIBRATO/TREMOLO, is situated below; four LFO WAVEFORMS selection buttons are situated at the lowest.

Between the REGISTERS and VOLUME CONTROL sections, the MODULATION switch buttons for all oscillators (called VIBRATO 1/2/3) and the button MOD1*3 activating frequency modulation of the first voice with the third one; actually, this is the RING MODULATION mode. Combined activation of the buttons MOD1*3and UNISON/STRINGS makes it possible to get a uncommon compound timbre of sound. The section UNISON/VOICE LEVEL contains three sliders 1/2/3/ and three buttons for controlling the volume level and for switching the oscillators ON and OFF. One of the sliders is designed to control the UNISON level in the range 16í. With the button UNISON/VOICE at ON, the sliders 1/2/3 perform the function of controlling the UNISON level of the registers in the ranges 2í, 4í, 8í. Below the section, the MODULATION DEPTH (vibrato) slider is located.

The TIMBRES CONTROL section has two buttons in the left part: KEY TRACKING ON/OFF and LFO (tremolo on/off). Near the buttons, 6 filter control sliders are situated, those are the following: FILTER CUTOFF (called RANGE), RESONANCE (SHARPNESS), MOD DEPTH, ATTACK, SUSTAIN/RELEASE, DECAY (called LEVEL). Below the section is the TREMOLO DEPTH. The VOLUME CONTROL (AMPLIFIER) section provides the following functions: ATTACK, SUSTAIN / RELEASE, DECAY (called LEVEL), MAIN VOLUME LEVEL and controlled with the respective sliders. At the rear panel, a 5 din OUT is situated for connection of the volume control pedal or an external mixer/amplifier."

CLICK FOR MORE »

Squidfanny - Circuit Bent OMNICHORD OM-27 Demo 3 (Just the touch points)

YouTube via squidfanny — April 07, 2010 — "Demo Vid for Ebay Auction...

Just the touch points and some of the mods.

Combine the preset drum patterns to create complex Arps. Use the Glitch mods to evolve the sound and touch away...."

Omnichords on Ebay. Follow-up to this post where you'll find parts 1 and 2. Comments enabled there to keep them in one post.