MATRIXSYNTH

Done Deal (tiny desk performance with Volca Beats, Meeblip, OP-1, Ableton Push)

Published on Mar 19, 2018 Le Solitaire

"Original song performed with tiny instruments on a giant desk.

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Thanks to Riz & Carly for their help with this video!"

New Future Retro Transient Plus Eurorack Module

"New features include the ability to load up to 16MB of user samples, store up to 256 Instruments on the microSD card, each sample voice now has adjustable pitch, the filter frequency can be modulated by either of the modulation oscillators, a new sequential mod source for the sample waveform selection, plus updated display menu, screen saver, and a few other goodies."

Note there is an upgrade path for owners of the original Transient.

Additional details on the Transient Plus via Future Retro:

"The Transient Plus is a sample-based percussion module for the Eurorack format. The Transient Plus can recreate individual drum voices or sound like an entire drum machine or loop is playing, morphing from rhythm to rhythm, or at times sound more like a synthesizer when retriggering samples at audio rates, and creating other special effects. It's easy to use, introduces new ways to quickly sculpt your beats with endless possibilities, and... it sounds great!

Up to 256 User Instruments can be stored and loaded from the microSD card, and the Transient Plus will come loaded with the Original factory Instruments to get you going right out of the box, and to help you learn how to achieve certain results. Instruments can now be named, as well as backed up to a computer.

Up to 600 individual User samples (16 MB max total) can be loaded into the Transient Plus using the microSD card. Over 400 audio sample come preinstalled with the Original factory sound set. These samples focus on classic drum machines and modern analog percussive sounds. There are two voices to play these samples, and sample selection for each voice can be modulated with things like knobs, CV's, or random values. While internal processing of these sounds is all 16 bit resolution, a 12 bit DAC is used to add more vintage character. Additional factory sound sets can also be purchased and installed in your Transient Plus, or users are free to create their own custom sound sets.

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Starter - Lunapark/Minijupe

Published on Feb 11, 2008 de1998

Pure, vintage, gold, synth spotting in via @bengoldacre: "MS20, VC10 and more, in their natural habitat"
There are two sets in the video. See what else you can spot, and do not miss the transition.

"Taken from Starter's CDR/DVDR 'Start', the original Songs can be found there oron their 1981 LP 'Starter'"

Found them on BandCamp (they are also on Spotify and iTunes):

"STARTER was a minimal electronic/synthpop group from Switzerland, formed in 1980 by vocalist and fashion designer Francis Foss, Claudine Chirac (from fellow Swiss Wave group Grauzone) and Jet Harbour. Originally the band also included Stephan Eicher who co-wrote two songs but departed before the band recorded their debut album. STARTER began in the city of Bern when Francis, Claudine and Jet decided to create their own brand of New Wave music inspired by Gary Numan and Kraftwerk.They released their debut, self-titled album STARTER in the summer of 1981, making this summer the 30th anniversary of this long out-of-print and extremely hard to find LP!

Using early analog Roland and Korg synthesizers, STARTER’S music seamlessly merges wistful electronics from Germany’s Neue Deutsche Welle movement and powerful vocal stylings from French Chanson. Alongside their Swiss Wave contemporaries like Grauzone, Yello, Liliputt/Kleenex, STARTER created a new brand of hallucinatory ‘Techno-Pop’ made up of chopped rhythms, energetic and almost epileptic vocals that are immediately catchy and hypnotic, perfect for the dance-floor. In 1985 STARTER reformed as a duo with Francis Foss on vocals again and Gary Grey on synth/rhythm programming. Their first single “Victim” took cues from Italo Disco and Bobby Orlando’s Hi-NRG dance sounds and is the bonus track on Side B of this LP. The song “Part of You” was chosen as the lead track on the Gomma compilation CD Teutonik Disaster 2 in 2003 recruiting new fans worldwide and ushering Francis Foss to release a homemade CD-R/DVD compilation of the entire STARTER discography in 2004.

All songs have been remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley in 2011. Each LP includes a lyrics sheet with unreleased photos and a STARTER badge/button.

Includes unlimited streaming of Starter via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more."

Update: Some solo tracks from Claudine Chirac added below. She played sax as well as synths.

Claudine Chirac - Nautilus (1981) Published on May 5, 2011 sineadoconnickjr

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ARP SEQUENCER vintage machine used by many famous musicians

Published on Mar 19, 2018 Vykaar Tones

"Vintage ARP Sequencer quick unpolished demo after repairs to sliders and general oxidation on switches and sockets. Usually it is the sliders that give problems but I did fix one for Macca about two years ago ( I love that he was working with Flood on trippy loopy stuff- I will remove this true but obvious name drop soon after it has had the usual negative effects ) that had a faulty logic chip and bad electrolytic caps. These sliders are a real pain to remove so if you are buying one check them carefully"

Dave Smith Instruments In The Spotlight With the Prophet-6 and Computer Magic

You can find the full interview on DSI's website here.

"Computer Magic is the spacy, sci-fi-influenced synth pop project of singer/songwriter/producer Danielle 'Danz' Johnson. A native of New York, she began collecting vinyl at age 14 and started her own music blog a year later. By the time she was 18, she was DJ’ing in New York City while studying at Hunter College. Three years later, Johnson moved to Florida and began making her own music and began posting her atmospheric electropop songs online in 2010, adopting the Computer Magic moniker as an homage to This Is Spinal Tap.

After releasing a few free EPs, she re-recorded some of her songs for the White Iris label, which issued the Electronic Fences EP in 2011. The following year, the Orion EP arrived on Kitsuné, which led to the release of a Japanese compilation via Tugboat Records.

Computer Magic became so popular in Japan that Johnson made several albums just for her fans there, including 2013’s Phonetics and 2015’s Mindstate. During this time, she also issued the EPs A Million Years/Another Science and Extra Stuff.

In 2015, Johnson launched her Channel 9 Records label, which released her official debut album, Davos, a set of songs she recorded with producer Claudius Mittendorfer. After two more EPs (2016’s Obscure But Visible and the following year’s Cody & Danz, a collaboration with Cody Crump), Johnson released Computer Magic’s more personal second album, DANZ, in 2018."

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You can find previous posts featuring DSI's Spotlight series here.

Mutable Instruments Plaits Macro-Oscillator Sounds

Published on Mar 19, 2018 Perfect Circuit Audio

"The Mutable Instruments Plaits is the new Macro-Oscillator that features 16 sound producing algorithms that each have two simultaneous outputs. The Plaits takes all of the good parts of the Braids and looses some of the bad parts while adding a few new things and upgrading the sound quality. The Plaits is an oscillator, but also has a built in lowpass gate, so it can be used as a full synthesizer voice.

Plaits available here: https://www.perfectcircuitaudio.com/m..."

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Supporters of MATRIXSYNTH get %10 off at Perfect Circuit Audio!

Korg Mono/Poly

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

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Oberheim OB-8 w/ MIDI

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

"The OB-8 is a very warm and rich sounding eight voice polyphonic synthesizer with that classic Oberheim sound. Because it was released just before MIDI debuted, the OB-8 had no MIDI implementation originally, but some models were retrofitted with 9-channel MIDI implementation. The OB-8 did use Oberheim's very own digital buss system making the OB-8 the center-piece of your OB-studio, allowing it to connect to the polyphonic sequencer, drum machine and other OB-synths..."

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