"Serviced about six years ago by Tone Tweakers, all functions work perfectly (see pictures for Voice Test results).
In great shape - LCD display plastic has slight superficial dullness/hairline marks consistent with age. Case and graphic panel overlay in terrific condition, with original stickers on back. A few very light scuffs and one tiny dent to wooden endcaps (see pictures). Includes original box (in rough shape) and power cable."
"This Polyphonic ensemble from Yamaha is in excellent condition, though it does show some tiny signs of age. It is fully working, have been cleaned and refurbished. All the knobs have been cleaned and lubricated. Thekeyboard has been rebuilt, every keys are working correctly without double triggering. The unit has been calibrated following the factory specifications."
"Only 9 of these were made. It is signed by Jered the creator & owner of Future Retro, and also numbered by him. It is number 3, fittingly enough. The case is UV reactive, if you're in to that sort of thing.
Unique to this very limited edition and not featured in other Revolution models, Future Retro included one modification that provided a logical *accent* gate output on the ring connector of the gate output jack - so both 'gate' and 'accent' are outputted from the gate output jack, when using a cable splitter. Meaning when you are sequencing analogue gear you output the full range of sequence parameters associated with a 303 sequence - cv, gate, accent. as opposed to simply outputting cv & gate as it is on all the other models of FR Revolution."
Published on Dec 5, 2019 sonicstate
Re-Published on Dec 6, 2019 sonicstate
"Another feature packed system from Pittsburgh Modular, the Voltage Research Laboratory is a combination of the Lifeforms Voltage Lab - a West Coast type of synth combining complex oscillator, secondary oscillator, function generators (2), Dynamics Controllers (2) and an analogue delay.
The Lifeforms Touch Controller - 10 touch pads with 2x CV out plus Gate and Y axis controller and sequencer and the case, a wood panel split case with PSU and utilities."
"I got an early Christmas present two days ago. I thought I would show you some of the patterns I’ve created so far, and give a quick 'first impression' review of the Teenage Engineering OP-Z.
I’m coming from the Novation Circuit, which I’ve loved, but I was starting to feel the limitations of the two synth tracks and canned presets. I chose the OP-Z so I could expand the number of synth tracks, allow full control of the synth engines without a computer, and use its awesome, esoteric sequencing capabilities.
I’ll start off with some of the things I like. First, the synth engines sound wonderful. They are very usable and musical sounds. I’ve found myself spending less time trying to find the right sound and more time writing music, because the sounds just work in almost every context. I feel like I could use the same set of sounds across diverse genres equally well. I’m able to focus more on melody and composition, rather than sound design, which helps me be a lot more productive.
The step sequencing and punch in effects are fantastic. I haven’t used it enough yet to be comfortable using the punch in effects live, but the step components are great at adding elements of variation and surprise. You can make it so you’ll never hear the same 16-step pattern twice, but the parameters have enough constraint that it never feels chaotic (unless you want it to).
It’s super portable, and the built in battery is convenient. I’ve only had to recharge it once in the two days of use. I don’t think it’s too small to use comfortably, and it’s actually quite nice to just use it on your lap. I can fit the whole thing in my pocket easily. The buttons feel good to play.
The interface is surprisingly intuitive. It took about 2 hours to feel comfortable with the interface, and now I feel like I can perform most of the tasks without consulting the manual. I only have to reference the step component parameters every once in a while. I have an Android phone and didn’t realize until the second day that TE had just released a beta app. Honestly, I didn’t find it too useful. I prefer using it without a connected screen.
The sampling capabilities are great, especially now that you can sample directly through the microphone or USB audio. I’ve been going through my music collection on my phone and building sample packs from them right into the OP-Z. You can use samples as one shots or sources for a synth track, so the sonic capabilities are now pretty much endless.
Here are some of the things I don’t like. First, the reverb is terrible. I don’t know what TE were thinking. There’s only one reverb algorithm, and it’s very digital and harsh sounding. There’s almost no tweaking of the sound. The maximum decay time is much too short. It’s almost useless at adding large space, so I’ve found it really only works as a stereoizer. It works in some cases, but I don’t find myself using it very often.
I’m slightly concerned about build quality. I bought mine used off Reverb, and when I received it, I was disappointed to find that the encoders were popping right out. I scoured the forums and found a little Teflon thread tape around the encoders should fix the problem. It worked wonders and I haven’t had problems with that since. The back panel is a little loose. The buttons do double trigger every once in a while, which makes me worried for their longevity.
The synth engines, while great sounding, are a little limited. There’s not much tweaking of the sounds, so everything ends up sounding pretty similar. This is less of a con than I thought, because the sounds are very usable and work across many genres. I’ve always held that composition much more important than sound design, anyway.
I wish an analog of the mixer interface on the app was available on the device. You have to go to the fourth page of parameters on each track to change its volume. That’s not very practical in a live setting.
There’s no excuse for how little memory is on board. 32 Mb is just unacceptable in 2019. As great as the sampling capabilities are, there’s only room for 4 different six-second samples per synth track, so you have to pick your favorites unless you want to constantly shuffle samples back and forth from your computer.
Despite its limitations, I’m in love with this thing. It’s my desert island instrument for sure. I am super productive while using it, I can take it anywhere and make music anywhere, and it’s just plain fun to use. Mine was supposed to get wrapped and put under the Christmas tree, but I don’t think I can let that happen."
"The Full Bucket Vocoder FBVC is a software plug-in for Microsoft Windows (VST) and Apple macOS (VST/AU) simulating the classic KORG VC-10 Vocoder from 1978. It is written in native C++ code for high performance and low CPU consumption. The main features are:
20 band full stereo vocoder
64 voice polyphonic built-in Tone Generator section
Accent Bending and Vibrato effects
Optional WAV file playback
Fully tweakable Analysis/Synthesis section
Tweakable Ensemble effect
Double precision audio processing
All parameters can be controlled by MIDI controllers
Plug-in supports Windows and macOS (32 bit and 64 bit)"
