MATRIXSYNTH: Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Radiohead Broadcasts on New Years Eve

via DEAD AIR SPACE:

"Dear Reader

Hope you are having a peaceful christmas.

As you may now have heard we will be broadcasting a pre-recording of some songs and other bits on New Years Eve.. you will be able to view it online from here at midnight new years eve, uk time that is...

radiohead.tv

as well as other places that i am not sure about. this is a wee celebration of the release of the physical manifestation of 'in rainbows'.

yours hopefully
Thom"

Picutured: Johnny Greenwood and his Analog Systems French Connection and Modular. The French Connection is based on the Ondes Martenot.

Recuerdos de la Alhambra played on a French Connection

The above features the French Connection by Stretta (previously posted)

"After watching the Jean Laurendeau Ondes Martenot video on youtube, I was inspired to seek out an Analogue Systems French Connection controller. It so happens that I came across a used unit, so I jumped on it. I received it two days ago and I was eager (perhaps too eager) to contribute a demo of my new toy to youtube. Yes, my intonation is questionable. My apologies.

All the music was generated exclusively with a (primarily Doepfer) modular synthesizer, one monophonic line at a time. This exercise is somewhat of a test balloon for a long form modular project I'm currently sketching out.

Correction: the original piece is Recuerdos de la Alhambra by Francisco Tárrega"

Useless but Interesting Bit of Trivia

Note the placement of the names Dave Smith and RogerLinn in the top two renderings for the LinnDrum II Analog. The third shot is the LinnDrum II Digital (minus the analog engine from Dave Smith). The top image is the official from the DSI website. The bottom two are from this post.

Update: In case it wasn't clear, what is interesting about this is that the names Roger Linn and Dave Smith are swapped in the two images of the Analog version. Same version of the synth with the the names in different order. The top has Roger Linn's name first and the second has Dave Smith's name first. My guess is they decided to go with Roger Linn's name first as that is what is on the DSI site.

Metamorphoses

[Switched-on special] Various Artists - Metamorphoses. Electronic Interpretations of Classic and Modern Musical Works (Melodya, 1980)

"Take a regular switched-on xxxx record like Wendy Carlos' Switched-on Bach, play it on an EMS Synthi 100, and you'll get this lost diamond of Russian electronic music, and possibly one of the rarest "switched on" records ever made.

Since the Synthi 100 is perhaps the most versatile synthesizer ever build (at least that's what Karlheinz Stockhausen once said) and given the lack of recordings with it (I remember Stockhausen's Sirius, some early Rolf Gehlhaar stuff and Bruno Spoerri's Toy Planet) this record might also appeal to the vintage gear fetishists."

via Orpheus Music where you can find the download (Sharebee link at bottom)

Equinoxe 4 live jam

YouTube via Sydreyc. Sent my way via Mr. Array: "Per Kristian is the dude on the left playing the Synthex."
Video description:
"Me and a friend of mine is playing Jean Michel Jarre's Equinoxe 4, totally live and without rehersal :)
Instruments used are:
Access Virus TI
Roland D-50
Eminent 310 U
Elka Synthex
Mooog Etherwave Theremin
Roland TR-909"
perkristian

Cynthia Sawtooth Animator Board

Quarter-Inch Phone Jack Sawtooth Animator.

via Cynthia

Linndrum II Drum Machine on Dave Smith Instruments

Looks like the Linndrum II is up on the DSI website. Click the image for the full size shot.

"Many of you have been anxiously awaiting news of BoomChik, the collaboration between Dave and Roger Linn announced at Winter NAMM 2007. As information becomes available, we'll be posting it to this page. The most obvious development over the last year is that it is no longer called BoomChik: it is now the LinnDrum II. There will be two models: the all-digital LinnDrum II and the LinnDrum II Analog, which adds a 4-voice analog synth and 27 dual-function voicing knobs. The LinnDrum II will be available from Roger Linn Design and the LinnDrum II Analog will be available from Dave Smith Instruments.

The operating system emphasizes real-time performance with the ability to drop in and out of record on different beats, play multiple beats simultaneously, switch in and out of song mode, and much more, all without stopping play. Both MPC-style real time and XOX-style step recording are provided, and the 16 velocity- and pressure-sensitive pads—backlit for visual sequence animation—can be assigned to sounds, tunings, beats, pad mutes, or sequence steps. Dedicated buttons exist for touch sensitivity, sound restart, real-time erase and pressure-sensitive note repeat or rolls. 16 megabytes of internal flash memory exist for sound storage, but because sound data is read directly from flash, expanding sound memory is accomplished merely by plugging a compact flash card into the rear panel slot. Inputs and outputs include four audio outs, two sampling/audio processing/drum trigger inputs, phones, USB, MIDI in/out, two expression pedal/foot switch inputs, and four additional direct voice outputs for the Analog model.

Sample playback is enhanced with 8-level velocity switching, dynamic filters and resonators, distortion and lo-fi algorithms, two complex modulation matrices and the ability to use sequence events as modulation sources. The Analog model enables significantly richer voice timbres with its four Curtis chip-based analog voices, analog feedback resonator paths, and dedicated voicing knobs. Performance enhancements include two programmable sliders and dedicated on/off buttons for filter, resonator, amp sim/compressor, EQ, delay and reverb effects.

We hope to be shipping by mid-2008."

Thanks to MG and J for sending this in.