MATRIXSYNTH: Wednesday, January 2, 2008


Wednesday, January 02, 2008

The Stribe

"The Stribe is an 8-channel multi-touch controller for music or video software.

1024 individually-addressable LEDs provide animated visual feedback."

More info here. via tobsenteque.

videos below

Stribe 0.1 (xenome) proto, sorta


stribe 0.1 - prototype works
YouTubes via soundwidgets (click for more)

Johan Timman - Look Out For The Killer - Promotion Tour 1980


YouTube via JohanTimman. Sent my way via Boele of SCD.
"Look Out For The Killer, South Square Mall, Rotterdam, Netherlands (1980). Promotion Tour For V&D www.timmany.com"

Update: Sound of the Prophet-5 Rev 2 and Rev 3

click here for an update to the Rev 2 post. Clusterchord added some samples of the Rev 3 as well as a comparison of the two. Comments disabled in this post, to keep them on that post.

Laughing Fools Empire


YouTube via SynthKraft. www.synthkraft.de
"This is a little video I made for the very first release of a new track from my upcoming album. Synths used: Korg Electribe ESX, Korg Trident, Yamaha CS-15, Clavia NordModular"

Leo D e William P tocam Radioactivity


YouTube via uilames. Sent my way via W. Roland JP-8080 vocoder.

Dave Smith MEK

images via this auction

Beem - The Future

flickr by beemmusic.

Click here
for the full set.

I'll be playing with my Legos tonight.

Top shot: "Inspired by Arp Odyssey and Linn 9000 drum machine."

Bottom: "Inspired by Roland SH1000, Revox B77, and Linn 9000 drum machine."

Korg PS-900

flickr by JoelKiel82

There are some great shots of synths in this set. Be sure to click through.

full size

Cube Quest

This is a slightly odd one. In the comments of the previous Ultravox post I mentioned a game I vaguely remember from the time that had sounds similar to the explosion sounds in the very beginning of Ultravox's Vienna. That game was called Cube Quest. I remember being awed by it at the time because one, it was 3D, two, it had some of the most beautiful visual effects for the time, and three, the audio was strange and far more impressive than any arcade game I played before it - both the audio system of the cabinet and the sound effects and music. Very synth oriented vs. just trying to emulate given sounds in the game.

I ran a quick search for Cube Quest and found this site. The game came out in 1984. On the site there are some interesting samples and video. It was a laser disc based game, so I assumed the audio was previously recorded, which could be the case for some of it, but I also found schematics listed here. In the first set of schematics, you can clearly see pages on the "Sound Synthesizer." I'm curious if anyone knows what kind of synth engine this had as well as any info on recordings that could have been done on the laser disc. In the second set of schematics you can see a parts list for "Mother Sounds."

BTW, if you click through to the site, each thumbnail will bring up a larger shot if you click on it. It was a really trippy game. It kind of had the vibe of Tron meets Logan's Run. Really bizarre and diverse as you can see in some of these screens. I specifically remember getting to the plants section to the left. Gameplay was a bit like Tempest on steroids, where you had to shoot geometrical objects coming out of the vortex. As I said above the sound effects were very impressive at the time. I remember the explosions sounding like the intro drums of Ultravox's Vienna.



Update: videos, via kroffe in the comments. Embedding is disabled for these so here are the links:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=4p081CnHDHo
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ikFNUA6Be4U
http://youtube.com/watch?v=1EwERR1bgWs

Found this also:
http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=292663199&channel=288075
Starcade episode #98 - check last segment at 20.40 ;)

Update via Kathy in the comments:
"I own the original laser disc that was used to make the image. I worried that it might go bad, so wanted it captured.

Parts of it can be played on a regular Laser Disc player,like the attract videos you see on YouTube, but to make the game work, the tunnel images (all made by Able Graphics, an old pioneer in the graphics field for TV commercials) are interleaved images of stepping through the tunnel, every other frame (or so) was played forward, and then the interleaved images were played in reverse (and recorded in reverse) and a "loop" could me played that made the tunnel seem to go on forever. If you watch that on a regular Laser Disc player, it is a jumble of forward and backward images that do not make sense, and is over in less than a few second. The program steps through the interleaved images on the disc in the right order (forward and back) to make an endless loop of that tunnel.

There was audio on the LD as well, but only game sounds from the hardware played during the game while in a tunnel. The audio you see in YouTube videos are from the "splash" videos (attract mode) that played when the game was idle.

Sorry for being anonymous, but the LD was a copyrighted item! :-)"

Encore Frequency Shifter


YouTube via stretta.
"For an ebay auction. A demonstration of the Encore Frequency Shifter processing a drum loop."
Per the previous post, stretta has more modules up for auction here.

Nord Modular Overview


YouTube via stretta.
"Created for an ebay auction. A summary of some of the features of the Nord Modular G2"
Stretta also has a ton of modules up for auction here.

Workspace and Environment: the deep element

click here for the full post on trash_audio.

"Favorite Hardware
It'd have to be my portable Doepfer cases. Well not the case itself, but what's inside. I'm a huge fan of Doepfer, Cwejman, Plan B and Livewire modules. These things have been around the world with me and kept me on constantly inspired. They have really changed the way I approach the processes of making music and sound design. I do love my Sherman Filterbank II and Juno 106 though. I really love all my gear. Its better than children. Yeah, I said it..."

Kamoni - Reconstructed Uno (Retrofitted Human Jungle DnB)


YouTube via kamoni.
"Kamoni plays some fresh new breaks.
Equipment:
• Ableton Live 7 Suite with the new drum racks
• Roland SPD-20
• 3 foot pedals
• Coffee"

Rhodes Polaris EPROM Code

"David writes, "pol_fw9.zip [28K] contains the 4 binary files for the four EPROMs for a Polaris. The firmware in the files is Rev 9. Each image gets programmed into its own 2764 EPROM and the put in the Polaris in the socket corresponding to the file name (e.g., Z10 into the socket labelled Z10, etc.).

"The current firmware version can be determined by pressing LF-D-2 and watching to see which of the numbered buttons flash. A common version of firmware in the field is '5' (i.e., the '5' button will flash)."

See also Chroma EPROM Code"

Click here
for more info including the download on the excellent Rhodes Chroma Site.

SupiJupi



Roland MKS-80 via noiseprofessor.

Synthfrau played Mini-moog


YouTube via Synthiefrau. The elusive leopard skin mini.

TB-303 Space Trip 001


YouTube via RRKS69.
"A mellow Acid Track to start out the year. I should send it to the Discovery Channel. Not to worry Acid Reflux #007 is on the way. PEACE & CHEERS, RRKS"

BOSS SYB-3 BASS SYNTHESIZER DEMO


YouTube via kulten
"this is a small demo : BOSS BASS SYNTHESIZER, an analog modeling (DSP) synth packed in a compact pedal, made by BOSS (from ROLAND synths maker), here trigged by great little BOSS DR-110 drum machine : you can hear PWM and SAW waveforms, and WAVE SHAPE filters."

KORG Poly-61M Pitch Bend Assembly

via this auction

Roland Jupiter-4 Compuphonic

images via this auction

"'The synth's oscillators are switchable between sawtooth, square and square with PWM waveforms. and include a sub-oscillator and noise generator. All 4 oscillators can be stacked together for a fat, monophonic sound. In the filter section, the Jupiter-4 offers a hi-pass VCF, as well as a resonant low-pass filter. There are two ADSR envelope generators - one for the VCF (invertable) and the other is for VCA. The LFO features sine, square and ramp up/down waveforms, with sample/hold. It can be routed to the VCO, VCF, VCA or PWM. The Chorus button doubles the fatness of the synth sounds...'

The Roland Jupiter 4 was an analog synthesizer manufactured between 1978 and 1981. It was notable as the company's first self-contained polyphonic synthesizer, and for containing digital control of analog circuits (termed "Compuphonic" by Roland), allowing for such features as programmable memories and voice assignment modes.

Priced at around US$2,000, it was cheaper than polyphonic machine from its competitors (such as the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 and the Oberheim OB-X) however it did not sell well in comparison. (These poor fortunes were reversed on the release of its successor model in 1981, the popular Jupiter-8.)

The Jupiter 4's basic architecture was 4 identical voice cards, each with a VCO (with sub-oscillator), resonant low pass VCF (which could self-oscillate), and VCA. Modulation included an ADSR envelope and LFO. The LFO, routable to oscillator pitch, pulse width, filter cutoff and amplifier, was notable for being able to reach audio frequencies, allowing for crude FM and AM synthesis.

The Jupiter 4's two most distinctive features were provided by virtue of its "compuphonic" digital control of the four voice cards:
* An arpeggiator, with a choice of up, down, up/down, or random mode.
* Four voice assignment modes, which, as well as simple 1VCO-per-voice polyphony, included the ability to effect 4-VCO unison when one key was pressed, 2-VCOs per voice when two keys were pressed, and 1-VCO per voice when three or four keys were pressed.

The final signal path also included a simple high pass filter and a stereo chorus effect. The Jupiter 4 had 10 preset sounds and also featured 8 memory locations for user-created patches.

The Jupiter 4 Compuphonic (known to most of us as just the Jupiter 4) is a four-voice polyphonic synthesizer with an arpeggiator and a 49-note (C-C) keyboard. It has 8 user-programmable memory locations and 10 preset patches with names like "Piano" and "The Force". The buttons for patch changes are in the front of the keyboard, underneath the keys. Each voice consists of a single VCO with sawtooth, square, or square with Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) and a suboscillator that can be switched on or off. There is also a noise generator that can be switched on and off. Like the suboscillator, it has no level control.

The Jupiter 4 can be put into mono mode which stacks all 4 oscillators on each note, creating a very thick, although monophonic, synth. The filter section consists of a high pass filter and a low pass resonant filter. The Jupiter 4 has two ADSR envelopes, one for the filter which can be inverted, and another for the VCA. It also has one LFO, switchable between sine, square, ramp up and ramp down waveforms. The LFO can be routed to the VCO, the VCF, the VCA, or PWM. Although some say that the LFO rate on the Jupiter 4 is the slowest of any production keyboard, it also can modulate up into the audio frequencies (around 100 hz), making it very flexible. Only the filter can be modulated by a sample and hold function of the LFO labeled as "VCF mod" in the filter section.

The Jupiter 4 has a built-in chorus, a single on/off switch labeled "ensemble". Its arpeggiator is a fixed range running the length of the keyboard. However, there is a click input to sync the arpeggiator to an outside source. The click input can also be used to trigger filter modulation. This input and a cv input for the VCF were the only interface available with the Jupiter 4. It has no keyboard cv/gate input. It is possible to overdrive the Jupiter 4's VCA. When you do this a little light comes on to let you know."
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