"Revamped version of the Dark Star MK1 - MK1 vs XP2 differences: XP2 features 1/4" instead of RCA outputs, 1/4" stereo headphone output, chorus, and special SINEWAVE mode (for OSC2).
British company Red Sound System's first synth, the DarkStar is a table-top 8-voice polyphonic synthesizer suitable for anybody who wants affordable analog sounds for use in most any style of electronic music. Analog sounds are created by DSP-based analog modeling which means you'll get reliable and clean analog-type synth sounds in an economical and professional instrument. The DarkStar features 2 oscillators per voice, 5-part multitimbral set-up, joystick mixing for oscillators, ring modulation, filter resonance and pink/white/blue noise generators.
"The Bandmaster Powerhouse is a drum machine unlike any other: it uses 8-Track tape recordings of drum and percussion loops to play back 'Funky Beat', 'Modern Waltz' and 'Disco' patterns. Made by GR International in Perth, Scotland in the 1970s, only few survive and the tapes are even rarer. The warble and flutter, especially when pitched down, is horrible from a technical perspective, but it adds layers of texture that are a dream come true for the rare groove enthusiast."
"No talking demo of ASM Hydrasynth. All sounds custom-made by Jexus. Patches / presets from this soundset work in KB, Desktop, Explorer and Deluxe models. You will receive all the sounds from all my 3 Youtube videos plus extra (256 in total). My patches come under the name "WCOG" in a soundpack / soundbank saved in Hydrasynth Manager format. I did not use any external FX in the demo; all the delays, reverbs, flangers, noises, crackles and other effects are part of the Hydrasynth engine / mod matrix. However, I used some EQ-ing on selected patches."
"Write custom patterns to make your 201 play notes however you want! Set arpeggiation/transposition and rhythm in a standard text editor and edit your pattern as you like. This tutorial will show you how to get started with text patterns and will show you what's possible in this realm. Please see the following manual section for more information: https://www.critterandguitari.com/man...
astoundingly expressive and endlessly inspiring to play, the osmose is a truly remarkable instrument that immediately allows for immersive engagement with sound and music. thanks for listening.
"Full Disclosure: I occasionally take on freelance work at Dubreq (they make Stylophones) on an hourly rate producing video content. This video wasn't paid for directly but as a result of my work with Dubreq it is marked as Paid Promotion
Right time for a weird jam! I've been ridiculously busy recently with my day job and music related work so can barely justify taking time off to make this (this is product endorsement which is about as close as I can get to time off at the moment 😅), but I risk my channel turning into wall to wall Sonicware news (more of that to come) so I'm trying to find time for a bit of silliness like this!
Dubreq sent me the Stylophone Beat a few weeks back and I've been having some fun with it. For such an inexpensive machine it has surprisingly features. It can play 4 different kits, 4 different bass sound, 4x 32 step patterns, has some realtime playback effects like a filter sweep and pattern length (think stutter mode), patterns can be copied, elements muted etc, the stock sounds are well chosen, really quite good. There are limitations of course, the volume of each sound is fixed, there's no sync capability (although technically the LED flashes at 1ppq so it could be hacked) and the memory is wiped when it's powered down so make sure you record you work. One saving grace in that regard is that it goes into standby quite quickly so this Beat was left on all night with my rhythm programmed in so was still there the next day for me to continue work on. One small caveat is that the drum sequencer supports 16th note resolution but it seems the bass sequencer doesn't, you'll get 8th note recordings. It does support glide though as you may be able to tell from what I've made here. So all in all a fun little machine!
I also bought a Cre8audio East Beast recently and haven't had the chance to use it, so here it is used in the laziest way imaginable with the Stylophone Gen X-1 as a delay effect. It's a very capable little semi modular but I'm not using those features here. I also bought a Kawai K1 which used to belong to former Sonicware staff member Evan Sirchuk, so here's that too playing one of it's presets. That's a really bright sounding bit of kit and I wasn't sure what to use it for at first but it fits in nicely here. I don't even think I've used that Korg NanoKEY2 for anything yet either and I've had that for years!
Anyway, I don't know how I ended making such an odd sounding jam 😁"
"It's been a long time since I jammed with my MicroFreak, and it's been like hanging out with an old friend, where you find you're immediately on the same wavelength. In this jam, I explore the wonderful Cloud Grains oscillator that is new with MicroFreak firmware version 5.0. I'm treating the MicroFreak and the Zoom MS-70CDR effect pedal as one integrated instrument, and the patches on each of the boxes are designed as if it is one singe patch.
The custom sample loaded into the Cloud grains oscillator morphs between different timbres with metallic overtones and distortion which are tamed by the lowpass filter in the MicroFreak.
Key/Arp mode is set to Random, which is a new feature in Firmware 5, where each new note played generates a random value that can be used for modulation. In this patch, this random value is set to modulate the Sample Grain Start Position through the Wave parameter. The result is that each note played has a different timbre, and that the timbre is constantly changing. This same random value also modulates Cutoff slightly, to further vary the timbre. And it modulates the Amp Envelope Decay/Release Time, for varying note lengths, and finally the Cyclic Envelope Fall Time, which varies the shape of the looping envelope.
The Cyclic Envelope is looping and set to modulate Filter Cutoff. This introduces a rapid rhythmic / wobbling effect. The LFO is set up to modulate the Cyclic Envelope Rise Time, in effect varying the attack portion of this wobbling effect between sharp and soft.
Some parameters that can be interesting to play with on the MicroFreak as the arpeggiator plays are Filter Cutoff and Resonance, Cyclic Envelope Amount, and Glide.
The effect patch on the Zoom MS-70CDR is Bass Ensemble into LO-FI Delay into Stereo Delay into HD Reverb into Exciter. The LO-FI Delay Mix is all the way down at the beginning of the jam, and introduced after about 4 and a half minutes.
The video contains further patch and jam notes as text overlays.
More great patches for the classic, late 1990s Yamaha EX5/EX7/EX5R series of synth workstations. 00:00 MIOSOTA 00:35 JARRESQUE 01:05 ANDES AIR 01:37 MOOGULAR 02:17 RAIN SUN
