MATRIXSYNTH: Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Homebrew analog synthesizer

flickr by steevithak

click here for the full size shot.

Note the Maker's Mark bottles sitting on top.

Update: More info on the synth here. via Mikael in the comments of this post.

"This page is devoted to information and projects about one of the most sophisticated synthesizers ever made, the New England Digital Synclavier, and its offspring, such as the rare Synclavier I, and its sucessors, such as the big 9600."

You will find sections on history, documentation, audio and video. Pictured here is the Synclavier I which consisted of the monitor and three cabinets in the background.

via DVDBorn

Workspace and Environment: Lusine

Another workspace post on trash_audio.

"What is your favorite piece of hardware?
Arp Odyssey. It sounds awesome and I've owned one for over 10 years and never gotten tired of it. I have two Odysseys, a Mark III, and a Mark I. The Mark I was a hand me down from my uncle that was broken. I ordered a 2 pole filter replacement from an online tech guy and soldered it in and then I did the Kenton CV/Gate/Filter mod as well. It works, but it still doesn't work perfectly. I'm still researching into how to fix it. The Mark III is the one I've had for 10 years. I haven't done any modifications. It works and sounds great."

click here for the full post.

Mixer as tone source

YouTube via IranContras. via Peter on Leisure Cove.
"An experiment using the EQ bands on a Behringer UB1202 as four fixed-tone oscillators in a feedback loop, with a Bleep Labs Thingamagoop phototheremin and Tapco 4400 reverb as the input sources."

KLAUS SCHULZE - FM DELIGHT (EDIT)

YouTube via MUSICTOMUSIC. via Nusonica.
"This is a shortcut version from this great instrumental song. the original song is normally over 17 minutes and was released on the EN=TRANCE album from 1988 !!! official website"

Dynacord ADD One Drum sampler

YouTube via buchla300

"A small example of what the ADD-One can do. The buttons I am pressing are the manual trigger buttons, but it can be triggered by pads, gates or midi. Each sample (12 bit 50khz) can be filtered (same filters as the Sequential Circuits Studio 440 btw) and modulated in many ways and can be repeated and re-triggered in various ways (hence the rhythmic patterns that play just by hitting one trigger)
Quite possibly the best drum sampler ever."

Buchla 200 Videos

YouTube via buchla300. via Nusonica.
Vid1: Buchla 200 Modular Synth
"Buchla 200 analogue modular in action The touch keyboard is working as one 16 note sequencer while the smaller 5 x 4 sequencer makes the other sequence.."
Vid2: Buchla 200
"Some more buchla. The chords are set up by the 5 x 4 sequencer which is just triggered from the 4 touch plates on the left. The sequence is one oscillator sequenced from the main touchpad."

ARP 2500 Modular Synth

YouTube via buchla300. via Nusonica.
"I was checking the ARP 2500, so decided to video whilst noodling. Will make something better later... AMAZING synth. Funky, fat, flexible."

Alesis Micron Sound Design

YouTube via Gtechture. via Nusonica.
"This is aprogram I created. It uses frequency modulation to create unique textures and the timbre is affected by the use of the pitch wheel." Things get more interesting when he uses the pitch wheel.

CME launches ASX for UF and VX series keyboards

"The ASX is a DSP board which goes into the expansion slot of UF and VX series keyboards and provides a flexible synthesis engine, turning the CME MIDI controller keyboard into a stand-alone synthesizer.

he ASX does not rely on playback of sampled sounds but brings sufficient DSP power to run dedicated synth modelling plug-ins. Four plug-ins are included with the ASX, which can be dynamically loaded one at a time: the Minimax - a polyphonic replica of the analog synth legend, the LightWave - a wavetable based virtual analog synth with plenty of modulation possibilities, the B4000 organ - a precise model of the famous tonewheel organ and the Vocodizer - a complex vocoder which is controlled via a dedicated microphone input.

Next to the microphone input, the ASX provides stereo line out, stereo headphone out and a USB port to connect to the ASX Editor Software. The Editor provides graphic interfaces to each plug-in and allows access to all settings of the plug-in. Sounds can be managed, exchanged via an online server and uploaded to the ASX hardware.

Listed at 369 USD, the ASX is shipping within November 2007."

[CME]

Synthesizer by *zorgitron

"I just got done building this bastard. The wooden case took 4 months to build. The metal front panel took 7 months to design. I went through about 20 - 30 different configurations and styles until I found one that would be useful in the long run as I add more things to it. The panel design was made with adobe illustrator, and printed out on seperate sheets. The sheets were photographed and gigantic negatives were produced. The negatives were used to burn the image into a silk screen. The emulsion was carefully washed out and I squeegeed the white ink onto the actual panel. This took 3 weeks. The electronics were a kit from PAiA, called the "Fatman" synthesizer. Building it took 3 months. I did it slowly so that I'd do it right. And that's about it. Now I will begin to add modifications. This synthesizer sounds wonderful.

2 Oscillators
12 db filter with ASR envelope
Voltage Controlled Amplifier with ADSR Envelope
MIDI control
18 knobs so far.
3 Blink lights"

click here for more info. Via Devient Synth.

de la Mancha basic 64

"basic64 is inspired by the 8 bit sounds of the classic Commodore 64. It's not a straight emulation, but is based around the SID chip with some extras for that 8-bit retro game sound, lofi gritty noises or just plain oddness

features
- 16, 8 or 6 bit sound quality
- 3 oscs, each with their own ADSR envelope
- oscillators can be sync'd and ring modulated by each other
- pitch envelope modulation
- pitch wobble option, for subtle instability
- 2 tempo-sync LFO's to modulate pitch, cut-off and pulse width
- LFO's have attack/release curves
- tempo-sync arpegiator
- flexible routing to state variable filter (LP, HP & BP)
- envelopes can be reset or continuous at retrigger
- monophonic or polyphonic option
- midi learn / midi CC support
- 128 presets by sinkmusic & WhiskeyPriest"
click here for more info and the download.
via CDM

firestARTer Prophet64 MIDI interface is ready

"The PROPHET64-CARTRIDGE EDITION MIDI-INTERFACE is a Midi-Box add on for your Commodore64 which makes it possible to control the PROPHET64-CARTRIDGE (Sequencer, Mono-Synthesizer, Bassline and Drummer) via MIDI."

More info on the firestARTer website and C64Music!

MOOG Prototype Vocoder

I asked Hajo what the big cabinet was in the previous post. Turns out it is a prototype MOOG Vocoder. Hajo was generous enough to send me some more images which you can see here. Check out the notes on the inside of the unit apparently from Bob Moog.

Notes on the Kawai K5000s by Arthur Green

Arthur sent me some notes on the Kawai K5000s. I actually have one and thought it was a good perspective on the K5000s, so I asked Arthur if I could put it up. Note the Kawai K5000s is a hybrid synth featuring both additive synthesis (where you add or remove harmonics to create sounds), and standard PCM based sample synthesis. Arthur mentions the Korg Wavestation which uses vector synthesis first introduced with the Sequential Circuits Prophet VS by Dave Smith. Dave actually went on to work on the Yamaha TG33 and SY22 vector synths and then the Korg Wavestations. Vector synthesis allows you to morph between the samples in memory for any given patch (usually consisting of four samples) with a vector joystick. With the Wavestation you can have wavesequences that allow you to morph between the source samples over time for evolving textures. The comparison Arthur refers to with the K5000 is in reference to sound and textures. You an assign envelopes to the individual harmonics that make up a given sound on the K5000s for some incredible evolving textures. That said...

"A lot of people like to compare the K5000 to other synthesizers, noteably Korg's Wavestation. Apples and oranges, if you ask me. While both excel at those sounds that seem to move and slither onwards forever, they really aren't much alike in either function or personality. And I'll be the first to tell you that the K5000 suffers from some crippling design deficiencies, not the least of which are poor envelope contouring, loss of fidelity on the lower registers and excessive aliasing on the upper registers (something you may not notice immediately unless you play your K5000 from a six or seven octave keyboard), partial frequencies are fixed in a harmonic series, issues with cheap construction (particularly with the R and W models), weird patch memory management, no microtuning support, limited polyphony (and appropriately, a crude voice-stealing algorithm), a nearly useless Multi mode (these last two issues are why I bought three of them!), and an occasionally quirky MIDI implementation.

But, I'm still amazed at how expressive these synthesizers are, especially when paired with a decent controller keyboard. (I've always played my Rs from a Kurzweil Midiboard.) The fact that nearly every important parameter can be tied to velocity, keyscale, or a controller destination is remarkable. And while the sound may not stand up to the quality offered by more refined hardware and today's software synthesizers, it definitely has its own distinctive edge, which I've generally found very appealing; maybe mostly because they might sound like the kind of person I probably am. (They are my voice, musically speaking, are they not?)

Far from the sedate new-agey sounds (which are often fairly predictable and difficult to control) or techno jibes (which are usually pale imitations of other synthesizers) that most demo MP3s on the net like to showcase, this synthesizer is very good at shrill leads (with nice portamento "squips"), harsh pads (thanks in no small part due to the *amazing* amounts of self-oscillation and distortion capable with the resonance filter), and prickly harmonic arpeggiator/ sequencing effects with some of the nicest onboard delays you could ask for. It's certainly a synth you can ruin your ears over. (I know, as I've done a fair bit of damage myself!) No, it's certainly not a jack of all trades, but it's no one-trick pony either. The caveat is that you have to certainly program your own sounds, or mess about with the factory presets so that they (quickly) become your own presets. But, you'll be well-rewarded!

So, knowing what they're good at, I think these are fine musical instruments. And I suspect I'll be using these for another eight years.

For your amusement, here is a video of one of my live improvisations performed this past June at a local Open Mic. You're hearing two of my three K5000Rs, reverb disabled with no outboard processing:

With the kindest of regards,
\\ Arthur"

You can can find more tracks featuring the K5000s "with the exception of 'Certainty', which has an EII rendering bass and drums" on Arthur's MySpace site.

Update: If you have a K5000s or K5000r you can try some of Arthur's patches here.

"I made them about seven years ago, so they're not exactly a model of good (or even okay) programming. But, they are some of the few sounds I still use today. I'll usually tweak attack/release times, mute sources, adjust pitch envelopes (awesome feature!), or ramp up the one or two USER knobs set for the patch, but overall, they are used as you hear them. (Although velocity response is probably optimized for my Midiboard and not the K5000S!)

SnowFall, especially around C1 (with User knob #1 set to max) and ReignY are my personal favorites.

StarWick is for an arpeggiator. To simulate what I was doing on the Midiboard, set tempo to about 95 with notes at 16, user knob 1 to max, run the arp at about 100% gate with a down pattern on mode 2 (one octave span from latched notes). Play one note at the bottom of the keyboard together with two towards the top to get a cyclical motion (the second note "tap" should align to the next note put on top of it). I typically use the three Rs stacked and tuned an octave apart from one another to get a deep, throaty rhythm."

Swiss Synth Meeting Pics via Hajo

Luterbach, Switzerland from the 13th Oct 07

click here for the full set via Hajo.

Update: That large cabinet is a prototype MOOG vocoder. More shots coming up in a new post.

Thomas Henry Mega Percussive Synthesizer Update

mp3
Here's a list of controls - I'm not sure if these are all the correct labels yet, but they at least describe the function. I post this now, for all of those that like to design and envision panels:

Inputs:
Trigger Input
Shell CV
Shell/Clank Return
Impact Return
Snares Return

Outputs:
Synth Out
Line Out
Shell Send
Impact Send
Snares Send

Potentiometers:
Trigger Input Sensitivity
Shell CV Range
Shell Sweep
Shell Pitch
VCO Pitch (for Ring modulator)
VCO Depth (for Ring modulator)
Ring Modulator Balance
Shell/Clank EG Decay
Impact EG Decay
Impact Sweep
Impact Pitch
Noise Filter EG Decay
Noise Filter EG Sweep
Noise Filter Center Frequency
Noise Filter Resonance
Shell/Clank Mix
Impact Mix
Snares Mix
Line Volume

Switches:
Filter LP/BP Select

Indicators:
Trigger Status LED

More info and discussion on electro-music.com. via Tom Bugs of Bugbrand.