IDOW & MATRIXSYNTH Modular Pic of the Week - Week 8 Contest Winner!

"Our eighth winner of the Modular Pic of the Week contest goes to Hansi Güçlüer for 'Serge1.'

 Hansi records electronic music under the name St Catharina. "St Catharina is Stockholm's best kept secret."

Here's some of Cathy's work: http://www.youtube.com/user/komputerbrown

We'd like to give a big thanks and congratulations to Hansi Güçlüer for the submission! This is the 8th week of a 30-week contest, and we are looking forward to many more modular photo submissions, so please keep 'em coming! For details on how to submit and what you can win, see this post.

For more info on the upcoming 'I Dream of Wires' documentary, be sure to see the trailer and IndieGoGo fund raising campaign here.

See the IDOW label for all posts pertaining to the film including the weekly contest winners."

Oberheim OB-Xa: An Amazing Story of Survival

flickr By kb_cheapmods
(click for more)

The story via kb_cheapmods:
"I did a buy-it-now of an OB-Xa on ebay around Thanksgiving. It had a nice picture and the price was quite low, though there were oddities: it had NO description and the seller had no reportable selling feedback. But I jumped and did it.

Subsequent emails to the seller after the B-I-N suggested that he was new to selling and not a synth aficionado. He told me everything lit up when turned on, when buttons were pressed that things did change, but he didn't have an amp so couldn't test the sound. His shipping indicated that it would go next-day USPS and the charge was very high. I told him to pack it well and go ahead and ship it. Note that he lived in Maryland and I'm in Los Angeles.

So, I waited and waited and waited. It took about 2 weeks for it to arrive and - hoo, boy - was I scared when I got home that night. It got shipped Parcel Post (that's why it took so long), but the packaging was almost non-existent: the outer box had holes and, as you can see in the pics, there was just about no bubble wrap or anything else. Traveling cross-country, the synth should have been destroyed.

The happy ending: there was no discernable damage to the synth! The cosmetics pretty much match his ebay picture, it did fire up and buttons did change panel settings. After a bit of investigation, I had to replace one tantalum cap on the lower control board to get it to work. Of course, the J-wires need some cleaning, it needs calibration, but all 8 voices are as thick and buzzy as you'd expect."

Be sure to see: How to pack a synth

Teenage Engineering OP-1 synthesizer

via this auction

Ambient Jam in Aarau 17.12.2011

YouTube Uploaded by moondustweb on Dec 18, 2011

"Ambinet Jam with synhtesizer"

pics here

The massive synth list (slightly edited): "ppg 2, ppg 2.2 moog voyager, minimoog, virus a and c, mpc 2500 doepfer ribbon controller, rs3 mam filter, animoog, roland sh09 or sh01 , sh-32 , polyelvolver, ex5r, MS20, nord wave, oberheim ob 12, Native Instruments Reason. Teenage Engineering OP-1, octatrack, sam12, Doepfer schaltwerk, matrix 12, nord modular, gx2 (the big one), roland juno 106 , moogfooger phaser..."

Experiment 10

YouTube Uploaded by Cranda11 on Dec 18, 2011

"Short improvisation. Yamaha CP80B, DSI TETR4, Korg Monotribe, Eventide Space and TimeFactor, Doepfer modular, Roland RE-201. Sequenced from Naught Panther Phaedra running on an iPad."

Phaedra - Naughty Panther
iPads on eBay

Interactive Guitar Pedal Art Installation — by David Byrne

"An interactive art piece consisting of a grid of 96 guitar effects pedals that are wired together, as well as a guitar and an amplifier. As people step on the different pedals they activate various effects, which multiply over one another, creating a dynamic sonic experience.

davidbyrne.com/art/guitar_pedals"

via Jordi

Crazy Box

YouTube Uploaded by ElbowPatches1 on Dec 17, 2011

"The crazy box has 10 inputs and 10 outputs, which in this video go out to 10 amplifiers. A photoresistor on each channel controls the signal levels. This is why the audio levels rises when the room lights are turned on. In other words, the more light, the louder the sound. Circuit bent devices are plugged into the 10 inputs. With the room lights off, you can use a flashlight to turn up the levels on individual channels. Videography be Andy Ben."

Programmable Drummer Boy

Programmable Drummer Boy by Ted James
"An inappropriately funky take on the traditional Christian classic that bores my ears every year."

via The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge

Realistic Moog Concertmate MG-1 - MIDI In, Filter In, Fast Response

via this auction
"This listing is for a unique Realistic Moog Concertmate MG-1 that has been modified and now has MIDI input and control, filter audio input, and improved retrigger speed and glide response. Here is a list of all modifications:

Sticky black foam removed
1/4" Audio jacks for input and output (see photos below)
External audio input to filter (see photos below)
Improved gate response
Multitrigger & continuous glide
Octave pitch drop
MIDI2CV - Design: Bojan Burkeljc
Notes - CV/Gate
Velocity - Filter Cutoff Frequency CV
MIDI CC#1 - Filter Cutoff Frequency CV
MIDI CC#2 - Oscillator 1 - Pulse Width (~25-50% Duty Cycle)
MIDI CC#3 - Oscillator 2 - Pulse Width (~10-35% Duty Cycle)
CV/Gate (From MIDI or Keyboard) Select switch"

CLICK FOR MORE »

SYNTON SYRINX ULTRA RARE ANALOG VINTAGE SYNTHESIZER

via this auction

"A final series of six Syrinxes was made after Synton went out of business. These were mounted in flight cases, and had no keyboard."