Second Gen NeKo

Looks like the Second Gen NeKo made Gizmodo. Title link takes you there. I haven't seen a shot of it yet. Looks impressive.

Monome's MIDIBox SID

The C64 Sid. Love the bread-box wood and the yellow smiley. : )



"MIDIbox SID is a non-commercial & "DIY-only" project. Beside of the common SID functions (three oscillators, triangle/saw/pulse/noise and mixed waveforms, independent envelope generators for the amplitudes, sync & ringmodulation, 12db multistate low/band/highpass/notch filter)"

Monome's Synth Toaster

Yep. A synth toaster. : ). Via GetLoFi.

EMS Synthi AKS Solo

When I think of the Synthi AKS I typically think of sound effects and of course the Pink Floyd bassline loop. I haven't heard the Synthi used in a more traditional sense, playing leads or melodies. I usually hear that this is typically because the oscillators drift too much for this application. Title link takes you to a sample that is a bit closer. One thing is for sure, it is one fat sounding synth.

SCI Prophet 5 Shots

Title link takes you to a few great shots of the Prophet 5. Heath gave me the ok to post these. This one is actually for sale in the Boston area. You can email Heath at hfinnie at gmail.com if interested.



> Well I have a chance to buy a Prophet-10 in excellent condition so I
> must see the Prophet 5 to pay for it. It is in excellent shape. All of
> the keyboard bushings have been replaced so the keyboard feels like
> new. It also has a new battery and has been recentley serviced. Great
> cosmetic shape and all knobs are present and work great. Original
> factory sounds have been loaded into it too. This prophet 5 does not
> have midi, but it is an easy retrofit. Serial number is 3373. I'm
> asking for $1800 as thats about what I see them go for on Ebay and
> plus the cost of the parts, bushings, etc. A lot of work has gone into
> it. I would keep it if it wasn't for the fact I was getting a P-10.
>
> I would really want to avoid shipping this as it could get damaged in
> shipping. I'm in Boston.

Update from Heath:

"I lowered the price to $1500 in case anyone is interested. Again, I
really want to avoid shipping this because of all the UPS horror
stories...I'm in Somerville, MA.

By the way, if anyone wants both this and the polymoog/polypedal/stand
I have for sale I would sell both together for $2000, as that would
make things very easy doing one transaction."

New England Synthesizer Museum - Interview

Title link takes you to an interview of Dave Wilson, curator of the New England Synthesizer Museum. I was fortunate enough to visit the museum a couple of years ago. It was a jaw dropping experience seeing so many classics in one location. Dave was a great host. There is also some sample audio of Dave after the hop. And to be clear, I didn't do this interview. I just visited the museum a couple of years ago.

The first ARP 2500 (I took this shot when I was there)

Cwejman S1 Samples in via Alex Theakston

Right click and save the title link. That's one "elastic" and aggressive sounding synth. Thanks Alex!

Roland JX-3P MIDI Expansion Kit

Finally! In via Dennis on AH. updated link. A software editor is also coming. Very cool.



"The Roland JX-3P synthesizer is a nice analog synth produced in 1983. Today people still use this synth very often. The JX-3P was one of the first synthesizers with MIDI. The sounds can be edited only with a PG-200 programmer. One of the biggest disadvantages is that the MIDI functionality is very limited. It is impossible to edit the sounds via MIDI. The second disadvantage is that the PG-200 programmer and the MIDI-IN can not be used simultaneously."

"With this kit you can:

• use the MIDI Input and PG-200 simultaineously.


• control the JX-3P realtime with standard MIDI-Controller messages. (i.e. with a MIDI-Knob controller)


• all knobs and switches on the PG-200 send out standard MIDI-Control messages.


• record the PG-200 knob and switch movements in your favorite sequencer.


• use the PG-200 as MIDI-controller to control other MIDI devices.


• create, load and store new JX-3P patches with your computer, and share them with other people.


• select the MIDI channel on the JX-3P as 1, 2, 3 or OMNI.

"

Paia Modular

Some shots of a Paia Modular in my picture stash. Title link takes you to them.

Tim Kaiser - Performance Artist, Sonic Designer

John Duval sent this my way. Some amazing custom work. Title link takes you to Tim Kaiser's sonic page. Make sure to track back to his main sitefor his performance art and more.

The 400 with Flangulator


"The 400 with Flangulator was a commission from a very generous guy in Phoenix, who in-turn gave it to Nick Rhodes (currently behind a velvet rope in his London studio). I re-worked an old EH-400 Mini Synth brain into a new case, added real keys from a smashed Farfisa Compact and incorporated a hybrid flanger/ring modulator circuit. Also features a pseudo-ribbon controller for the stop frequency and a way cool "magic lamp."

The Custom 500.

Check out the old-school rotary phone on the side!

"The Custom 500 is about as complicated as I want to do. Features a looping delay, dual stage distortion, vocoder, oscillator and roto-phone-vibe. This was a commission for Stephan in California (thanks for the tour!). "

The HL-1958


"The HL-1958 Synth is a 20 key synth with envelope filter, 1 second looping delay (that also does flange, double, echo, etc.) and a dual-voice brain. Contols for sustain and pitch warp. And of course a classic analog meter to go with the classic analog sound. Now out in Los Angeles..."

2001: A Space Odyssey - Buchla

Interesting. I received an email stating that Subotnik's work was for the LP only, not the original soundtrack. I definitely need to watch it again and listen for anything remotely synth. Then I'll be wondering is this a Buchla or something else... If anyone knows, feel free to comment.

I was watching the Pathways to Music Part 2 video from GetLoFi. Robert Moog is covered, followed by Don Buchla. There is a piece on 2001: A Space Odyssey and Morton Subotnik's use of the Buchla Synthesizer for the movie. Sounds like it's time for me to listen to the movie again. : )

"Mediocre" Synth Samples

There's a great post running on VSE where people are posting samples of "mediocre" synths. The discussion was started by Architecture who called out how great Sealed's samples of often dismissed synthesizers sound. I agree. It's interesting how one, things move in trends and two, what sounds good really is subjective. When digital synths came out, people started pawning off their old analogs for cheap. People on budgets picked them up and started making incredible music. Now analog is back in fashion and you can get the old digital synths of yesteryear for cheap. And... You can actually get some amazing soft synths for FREE. Title link takes you to the VSE post which currently includes samples of the following (make sure to check out the link for more samples as they come in - I won't be updating the list below. Also there is more info on each after the hop):

Yamaha S03 - submitted by portland.
------------------------------
Casio VL1 - submitted by kultan (btw, I previously had Yamaha VL1. I swear I saw it. I think I'm just slowing going insane. : ) ).
http://site.voila.fr/electrokult/nuclear_city.mp3
http://site.voila.fr/electrokult/stainless_steel.mp3
http://site.voila.fr/electrokult/starship_control.mp3
------------------------------
Crumar Bit1 - submitted by VCO
------------------------------
Yamaha DX7 - submitted by pSYCREATOr
------------------------------
Roland JD990 (rack JD800) - submitted by clusterchord:
BladeOfGlass
JD990-Patches
------------------------------
Casio PT10 - submitted by nylon
------------------------------
Yamaha DX21 - submitted by Mr. DNA
------------------------------
And this "little" thing submitted by Zamise. Nice shot. : )

Cwejman S1 - New Flickr Shots

Alex Theakston sent these my way. Title link takes you to more. Nice shots. Thanks Alex!

KISS - DSI Evolver Centric Track

Amazing DSI Evolver track via David Vandenborn on AH. Title link takes you to an mp3, click here for aac.

----------------

For the gear heads out there, here's what I used:

Sound sources:
DSI Evolver - Bass line and Kraftwerkish sequenced stuff
MPC3000 loaded with TR808 sounds and assorted Evolver samples +
sequencing
Emulator III used for the percussive bass sound (guess where that
sample came from...)
MOTM - only used in the last bit - Sequenced filter modulating noise
in a rhythmic fashion.

FX processing:
Sherman Filterbank
MoogerFooger MF-103
Roland RSP-550

I don't believe in Multi Tracks. So everything is played live and
sequenced from the MPC3000 while being recorded straight into Sound
Designer.

Ricochet Gathering - Spain

Title link takes you to wome shots of the 2005 Ricochet Gathering in Spain. Looks like it was amazing.

Plexus Instruments - rrooyyccee

Nice exploration of sound.



an effort to make an ambient piece with analogue synths.
bandpass flotsam is system 100.
drowned piano is jupiter 8.
frippish cello is system100 + modcan moog 904a lpf clone

Roland MC202 and 606 Sample

Via Jugel on Vintage Synth Explorer.

Nord Lead 3 Demos

Via burns46824 on Vintage Synth Explorer.

Still Nature with a Synthesizer - New Flickr Shot

Great shot of the Kawai K4.

Yamaha CS10 - New Flickr Shot

Roland JD800 - New Flickr Shot

Pathways to Creating Music

Looks like GetLoFi has a video up. Haven't had a chance to check it out yet, but the screen shots look interesting. Title link takes you there.

Sealed's New Korg DW8000 Page

Via Seled's Deep Synthesis Journal. Awesome, he keeps pumping these out. Samples and more.

Octave Cat's Carmine Bonanno Interview

Wow, Octave/ The Cat has an interview up with Carmine Bonanno. Title link takes you there.

Minimoog Acid

Minimoog emulating some acidic sounds via Colin Chung via AH.

"using the filter inout for feedback is your best friend here...

I've got a clip here - just hand played
now if had sequenced it properly with a 303 style
it could pass, but Phatter, punchier and snappier off course ; )"

Kong Erhu

Via Sonic State. Title link takes you there including some samples. Trip.



"Kong Audio have added a third instrument to their unique Chinese Collection. The ChineeErhu is the virtual version of the ancient two string bowed instrument dating back to the 7th Cnetury AD (Tang Dynasty) and is still widely used in China. It'sone of the most representative classical Chinese instruments nowadays. It's also very popular in the whole Asia. "

Hamster Midi Sequencer

Yep... Via Make.

Synful - Move over VL1 - Reconstructive Phrase Modelling

The Yamaha VL1 is considered to be the best when it comes to the recreation of traditional instruments. It uses physical modelling which allows a level of expressiveness not easily achieved with sampled based instruments.

Eric Linderman, who worked with Roger Linn, has developed a technology that takes expressiveness to a new level. This technology is called Reconstructive Phrase Modelling or RPM.
---------
Synful RPM Technology
Synful Orchestra is not a sampler or a sampler library. Synful Orchestra is not a physical modeling synthesizer. It is an entirely new concept in music synthesis. At the heart of Synful Orchestra is Synful’s Reconstructive Phrase Modeling (RPM) technology. This is the result of many years of research, several patents, and a lifetime of experimentation, design, and frustration with older synthesis technologies.
---------

You can read more about RPM here.

I have never heard anything this natural coming from a synth before, software or hardware. The Yamaha VL1 is a beautiful, expressive instrument, but the Synful sounds like the next level. You will have to hear it to beleive it. The title link takes you to the Synful sight where you can find more including some unbelievable samples.

Here's a demo from Vogelscheiss via SynthSights: http://www.vogelscheiss.com/sound/062805_gulch.mp3

Clickable Cwejman S1 Page

Haven't seen this page before. It's on the Cwejman site. You can click on each model to see what it does. Pretty cool.

Sealed's New Yamaha DX21 Page

Sealed is at it again. Title link takes you there. Tons of info and some really nice samples. Enjoy. I never knew the DX21 had an analog chorus. BTW, if you haven't been to Sealed's Deep Synthesis Page, you owe yourself a visit. Tons of great samples.

Korg KPR-77 Analog Drum Machine

Title link takes you to shots saved for posterity. Click here for some samples off of Hyperreal.



From the auction:
"Real analogue drum sounds! All the way back in 1982 Korg released one of the first fully programmable analogue drum machines, the KPR-77. Later that year, Roland answered back with the TR-606 Drumatix (sister of the TB-303 Bass Line.)"

Surge VST

Via Harmony Central. Title link takes you there.



"SURGE is a new software synthesizer from vember|audio based on a modern subtractive architecture fed by multiple oscillator algorithms which together provide a wide range of sounds."

Excel Spreadsheet Synth

Via Music Thing and Boing Boing.

AH Bay Area Synth Gathering - New Flickr Shots

Title link takes you there. Enjoy.

Nice white Arp Oddyssey with mods

Mixing and Matching

Cynthia of Cyndustries posted these on AH. Some great shots of modulars engaging in audio intercourse. : )

http://www.cyndustries.com/gallery.cfm?PageNum_Gallery=10
http://www.cyndustries.com/gallery.cfm?PageNum_Gallery=5
http://www.cyndustries.com/gallery.cfm?PageNum_Gallery=2
http://www.cyndustries.com/gallery.cfm?PageNum_Gallery=11

Cwejman S1 Mk2 Samples via Vogelscheiss

Via AH. Some interesting and exotic samples. Trippy...

These are by no means fancy demos but as the Cwejman S1 Mk2 seems to be by
and large mysterious in the analog world I thought it might be fun to post a
little something:

http://vogelscheiss.com/sound/101505_cwejman_demo_famished_dog.mp3
Cwejman with Stylus RMX. Delay is PSP Audioware 608 Multidelay.

http://vogelscheiss.com/sound/100505_cwejman_demo_pseudo-pumptiness.mp3
All Cwejman. Delay same as above.

I'll try to do more demos later on. It really is a warm and great-sounding
synth.

--Chuck

Shiny Minimoog on the *bay

Click hear for the auction. Title link takes you to the shots saved for posterity. Check out that shiny faceplate.



Google Translation:
"And now the Clou: This mini acts has a shining front plate (looks like plexiglass on shining metal - > chrome? See photos). After information of the previous owner it concerns a special model. The inscription is identical to black the according to standard control panel. Beyond that the Pitchbend wheel possesses a suspension, it jumps back thus automatically into the zero-position."

Oberheim Haven

Ran into the Oberheim site with some nice OBX-Xa filter sweeps, pictures, links and more. Very Van Halen. : ) Enjoy.

Zicweb - Patch Resource Site

Just ran into a huge synthesizer patch site. Title link takes you there. Enjoy. : )

Synthesizers Make Hot or Not?

I was reading the comments on this Music Thing post and I ran accross a link to Hot or Not. Of course I had to see what could possibly make that site and be related to synths. Well... I have no idea if this is real or not, but I thought it was pretty damn funny and worth sharing. Title link takes you to the site. The following is the bio:

"I am an Aussie chick who loves a beer and a laugh. I dont like guys who constantly talk about their feelings and their synthesisers. If you are looking for shallow synthesiser free conversation click yes!!!"

Nice...

Nice Yamaha CS50 Shots

The Yamaha CS50, along with the CS60, is a slimmed down one OSC version of the Yamaha CS80. Taken from this auction in Australia. Title link takes you to shot saved for posterity.

OSCar on the *bay

Three shots saved for posterity.

The Many Faces of the Waldorf Wave

The Waldorf Waves, without a doubt were most beautiful synths to me. There are gorgeous synths out there and then there are the Waves. Click here for Till Kopper's Unofficial Waldorf Wave site. One of the coolest things about the Wave, aside from its massive Wavetable synthesizer power with analog filters, was that for an extra fee you could order a custom color for it. The physical design of the synth came from Axel Hartmann of the Hartmann Neuron synth. His design is pure art.

Some jems to make sure to check out:

http://www.unofficial.waldorf-wave.de/big_sahara_wave.jpg
http://www.unofficial.waldorf-wave.de/waveabout.html

The Classic Blue Wave


The Sahara Yellow Wave


The Shadow Wave


And my favorite, The Crimson Red Wave

Lemurbots - Guitarbot

In via SynthSights. Midi controllable slide guitar instrument. Wow. Title link takes you to a .mov that has to be seen to be believed. Click here for the main page. Simply amazing stuff.

The Oberheim OB12

Update: A funny via the comments (White Synths are Better!): http://musicthing.blogspot.com/2004/12/are-white-synthesizers-cooler-than.html

Yeah, I wish they kept the OB12 white, but then... People would go off on it not only because it had the Oberheim moniker but also because they tried to rip off the original OB white. Still... I think they should have done it.

BTW, there have been a few updates on the main thread since I posted this (click on the title link to get there).

Update: Two Sound on Sound articles on the OB12. One before and one after an OS update.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep00/articles/oberheim.htm
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Apr02/articles/oberheimob12.asp

Great post up on Vintage Synth Explorer regarding the Oberheim OB12. Title link takes you to it. I shared why I think it failed in this post - the Oberheim branding. There is no way it could live up to it.

A shot of the rare white OB12 prototype


The following in an interesting nugget from the post that I was unnaware of from CTB:

"I might have told the story about the curator of the synth museum in Florida (Audio Playground, http://www.keyboardmuseum.org/play.html). He was actually involved in the development of the OB-12. The Viscount guys asked him about features, and he gave them a bit laundry list. Months/year later, they plopped a proto in front of him and asked what he thought. The features he told me about sounded really great, and I wondered at the time why the synth wasn't more popular. Viscount actually gave him the prototype - it is the only white one ever made (kinda like the color of x-voice synths), and it is on display at the museum. I have a picture of it. He sometimes posts over on AH - Joe Rivers is his name.

Mr Rich makes me curious to hear one now."

The Moog Strikes Back - New Flickr Shot

Trip. Never saw this one before. Anyone know what synth that is with the mike?

SuperMoe Modular Sequencer Project

An interesting thread came up on AH regarding why modular analog sequencers are not modular in the sense of being able to build as man steps as you like by simply adding modular steps. James Husted posted a link to Dave Bradley's SuperMoe Modular Sequencer Project on hotrodmotm.com.



BTW, I thought the follwoing reason to build this was quite funny. : )

"I spent many months designing an "all in one 10 units wide do everything" step sequencer. It had voltage control or clock selection of the sequencer stage, 16 trigger switches, and could be switched from 8x4 to 16x2 modes. It pushed the very edge of complexity in terms of being practical to attempt to build it using discrete logic. The panel was huge and crammed full of controls. Then I made another survey of all the sequencers I could find both past and present, found 2 more features I wanted to add, and the whole thing came crashing down under its own weight.

So I went back to the drawing board, and repackaged everything in a more modular fashion."

Make sure to check out the title link for much more. On a somber note, track back to the root for a shot of Dave and the late Larry Hendry. He will live on.

CES ED-LAB

Update: Excellent point via the comments. Thanks Dave.

"Aren't these for more of what they can do, then for what they sound like. Basiclly, it gives a number of logic modulues to your banaplug modular.

After playing with my Nord Modular for a while, you get to really understand the power and flexibility of logic modules.


So the power is in what it does or doesn't do to your sound, rather then in it's sound creation abilty.

Though never played with one, so there could be some good sound making abilties.. i do see the diodes and tube...



Dave "

----------------

Currently on the *bay. Title link takes you to shots saved for posterity. This looks like one of those educational kits. Read below for details. I always wonder what one of these would sound like. My guess is nothing too impressive otherwise they'd be more popular, but who knows... If you do, please feel free to comment.



Notes from the auction also saved for posterity:

ANALOG MODEL 652.A ELECTRONICS SYSTEM LAB

6 DC power supplies regulated with fixed and variable outputs with both positive and negative fully protected supplies; 2 phase AC power source; waveform generator with sync, fvco, variable sine, square and triangle outputs from 1 Hz to 100Khz; meter for AC or DC voltage and DC current shunts; high impedance AC input to prevent over-loading; switches, resistors, capacitors, inductors, diodes, zener diodes, varactor diodes, transistors, lamps, op amps, radio coil, transformer, digital and linear IC socket, vacuum tube socket, PC, printed circuit, or breadboard slot; FET's, MOSFET's, UJT, SCR, Triac, Diac, and built-in speaker.


DIGITAL MODEL 703.A DIGITAL SYSTEMS LAB


A/D converter, D/A converter, follower/hold, scmitt trigger, comparator op-amp, one-shot, variable speed digital clock, counter and register, IC socket, PC, printed circuit, or breadboard slot; multiplexer, demultiplexer, encoder/decoder, 8 electronic switches, 10 flip-flops, 4 AND gates, 3 NAND gates, 3 OR gates, 4 Exclusive/OR gates, 3 NOR gates, 6 Inverter/NOT gates, keypad, and built-in speaker.



CONSTRUCTION AND CONDITION

The Ed-Labs are well constructed 1/8" aluminum panels each housed in 23.5" W x 14.5" H x 10" D formica cabinets. These were purchased from a Vocational School surplus sale and were described as operational to the auctioneer. There were no banana cables or manuals included. Both power-up but are untested by me (no cables). These instruments are very clean cosmetically. Each has a foil serial number sticker on the front panel and the 702 has its serial lightly scratched in small numbers under the keypad. There is a ding to the lower left corner of the 651 (see picture). The 651 is also missing a knob on a button switch at the bottom labeled "M" and a knob in the radio circuit. This knob mounts on a shaft that is sitting flush to its front panel casing. The 651 was missing one of its rubber feet, so I replaced those with a similiar white set of four. The original set of three will be included with the auction. Both units appear to be otherwise complete.



APPLICATIONS

The Ed-Labs can be employed as expanders for a modular synthesizer system; for circuit design, modification, experimentation; or as effective tools for those pursuing a general electronics education.

Fruity Loops Sytrus 2 Synth

Update: RM in this case looks like it's Ring Modulation. Wiglaf called it in the comments section. I went back to the site and found the following bit on it. It is interesting that it's called out as a separate synthesis type.

"Ring Modulation - Sytrus operators can interact not only via FM (frequency modulation) and a simple mix, but also via RM (ring modulation). Ring Modulation is a process where the spectra of two input signals are multiplied together to produce another spectrum, often having characteristics qualitatively different than the input signals. "

Via Create Digital Music. I love Fruity Loops. This one looks really interesting. Title link takes you to the Sytrus link destination off of the Fruity Loops main site. There is a link there to the main Sytrus site. The reason why I'm linking to this interim site is because there is an in depth info section with tons of information on the synth. Make sure to check it out. There are some pretty powerful performance features I haven't seen before. BTW, if anyone knows what RM Synthesis is, please comment. I must have overlooked it on the site.



"Sytrus is a powerful and versatile synthesizer featuring 6 customizable operators for FM and RM synthesis, plucked strings synthesis, 3 SVF (filter) & distortion modules, effects module with chorus effects and 3 delay lines & unique programmable unison mode."

Umm... What's RM synthesis?

Moog - New Flickr Shots