MATRIXSYNTH: Monday, March 31, 2008

Monday, March 31, 2008

1977 3M Ad

via this auction

Note this ad is for 3M tape, not the MOOG Modular.

The reference to Bach and the image is of course to Switched on Bach by Wendy Carlos.

Blacet Time Machine - BBD Analog Delay

via this auction
"What is it??
This is a voltage-controlled BBD analog delay module, typically found inside a larger modular synthesizer setup. However the unit can also be used on it's own - but in either case it requires a +/-15v power supply, which is not included in this auction. The module is designed for to handle 10v AC audio signals, and to use up to 10 volts of DC for CV (control voltage) control of it's various parameters.

At its heart, this module is built around a 4096-stage, 1980's analog BBD (bucket-brigade delay) chip. This means analog delay. This means dirty, evolving echos, and haunting flanges & choruses. The famous modulated delays found in dub music are child's play for this module. With analog delay units, the pitch of the repeats changes when the delay time changes, which gives them a very different sound and feel from their digital counterparts, and is the main reason why they remain so popular in the modern, digital age.

Oh, if you are wondering, YES it can easily do the 'infinite wall of feedback building and building into pure insanity' thing, just crank up the 'Regen' knob and cover your ears.

OK then, but what makes it so special?

The Blacet Time Machine is considered one of the most powerful and desirable analog delay units of all time. There were between 200-250 made, and they were discontinued in the fall of 2005. Blacet has stated that they will never return to production. The issue is in the availability of the rare analog BBD chip inside the unit - they have not been manufactured since the 1980's, and the supply has simply become too limited to make building more units feasable. It is truly the end of an era. Time Machines always sell very quickly when they show up on the used market, and the price seems to climb a little bit every few months.

What makes this unit special compared to most analog delay units is the provision of CV (control voltage) inputs for EVERY PARAMETER. This creates a monster which can be fully controlled by other modules and voltage sources (including audio!) within your setup. On top of this, the unit includes a built in modulation LFO (with rate and depth controls - and of course the option to override it - or mix it - with an external modulation signal) and - now this is the special part - Blacet's peerless compander system.

What's a compander system? Well, the main problem with analog delays is NOISE. A bit of noise and grit is desirable in these units, and adds to their character. But extraneous levels of noise - and in particular clock noise, are not desirable effects at all. It is the 'bleeding' of clock noise (the clock is required to manage the timing of the BBD device, which thus controls the delay time) into the output signal that can be heard to some extent in just about every other analog delay unit out there. Clock Noise is the one big downfall to analog delay designs. Blacet has solved this with their wonderful compander system. In a nutshell, the input signal is compressed, sent through the BBD circuitry, and then expanded again, while being gently filtered to remove whatever clock noise still creeps in after the compander system. This also works to solve the other problem with analog delays, which is interfacing the limited signal range of the BBD device with the (typically much larger) signal ranges that are being used in your studio.

As a final, super cool extra bonus (in case there weren't enough features already jammed into this little monster!), both the modulation setting and the delay output have 'cancel' (and 'reset') inputs, which are often overlooked by many Time Machine owners, but are in my opinion a wonderful feature allowing the creation of gated and 'sequenced style' delay patterns in your music.

So what?

The result of all this is a dead quiet, ultra-powerful analog delay unit that makes no compromise in terms of onboard features, manual control or voltage control and automation. It's no wonder they are so famous and desirable.

And it's no wonder why it is breaking my heart to sell it. Believe me, these are truly excellent units, there's nothing out there like them at all. Feature lists can be read and compared all day long, ultimately it is all about the sound - and this is one area where the Time Machine blows away all expectations. No searching for the 'right setting' - no! Within about 5 seconds of plugging something into this module - YOU'LL KNOW. You really will. You'll just know, m'kay?

Details -

This started its life as one of the original units, a Revision 'A', and has subsequently been upgraded to Rev. B by John Blacet himself (see below). The unit was not originally factory built, but was built from kit by a good friend of mine who is a professional electrician, and a radio and amp geek. He is always soldering something, and his work is absolutely top-notch, as good as the Blacet factory. The unit is in EXCELLENT condition, has been kept lovingly under dustcovers in a smoke-free, cat-free, clean studio. The unit is FULLY FUNCTIONAL in every respect, and all pots are smooth and silent.

In the summer of 2007, the module was sent to John Blacet (my electrician friend has sadly moved away, and I have no soldering skills myself) to be upgraded to a Revision 'B' spec. John went over the entire module while it was in his hands, and made sure everything was solid - he commented to me that the quality of work was excellent, and that there was nothing at all to be concerned with. When the module was returned to me it had been upgraded to Rev. B and the one issue with the original design (raretimes crashing of the internal clock) has been successfully resolved.

This is a top-notch unit, and will bring many years of joy to its new owner."

Clifford Stoll: 18 minutes with an agile mind

Synth content comes in at 6:30 but do watch this from the beginning.
Great stuff. If you appreciate and respect Robert Moog, DO NOT miss this video.
Thanks goes to Ben for sending this one in.
TED Talks page with more info on the talk and Clifford Stoll.
Clifford Stoll website. Clifford Stoll on Wikipedia.
Video description:
"Clifford Stoll could talk about the atmosphere of Jupiter. Or hunting KGB hackers. Or Klein bottles, computers in classrooms, the future. But he's not going to. Which is fine, because it would be criminal to confine a man with interests as multifarious as Stoll's to give a talk on any one topic. Instead, he simply captivates his audience with a wildly energetic sprinkling of anecdotes, observations, asides -- and even a science experiment. After all, by his own definition, he's a scientist: 'Once I do something, I want to do something else.'"

A Serge Creature Demo

You can find the demo and details via Carbon111 on SYNTHWIRE.

You can find Carbon111's Serge page here.

The PPG Wall

click here for more shots on sequencer.de.

New MOOG Guitar Related?

Guy D2 grab a few frames off of the video playing on the MOOG Music website. Click here for more and of course check out the MOOG website for the video.

Jen Synthetone SX 1000

images via this auction

"Manufactured in Italy between 1977 – 1982. The SX-1000 is a monophonic synthesizer with 37 full size keys spanning 3 octaves. Also called the "Synthetone", the SX-1000 features a single DCO (digitally controlled oscillator), with a four octave range (32', 16', 8', 4') and There are two levels of Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release envelope generators and one envelope level control as well as portamento and glide. In addition there are also white/pink noise generators, a glide effect and a vibrato effect. It's known for fairly stable tuning, but comes with a –5/+5 tuning control."

Digital Waveguide phLUTe

"This project is an FPGA based MIDI monophonic synthesizer implementing a digital waveguide physical model of an open ended cylindrical bore excited by a jet of air. The design is based on Perry Cook's slide-flute model. This model changes pitch by changing the length of the waveguides (making sure that the bore delay line is always twice the length of the jet delay line). The state machine to perform the functions required currently uses 14 clocks (50 MHz) and one for init. The output sample rate of the synth is 100 KHz."

click here for more info including samples on the FPGA Synth Wiki.

AKS Synthi - Pink Floyd's

flickr by the inside ki~2
(click for more)

"The one heard on 'On the run' [literally]
'Interstellar' exhibition at La Villette, Paris, January 2004"

Anyone know more about the exhibition?

"The original "Dark Side Of The Moon" cover art proposal."

Ambient electronic music - Call him dr. Moog [STEREO]

YouTube via ArtBonVivant

"The track from album 'Contemporary Electronic Soundscapes / Volume II: Homage to Bob Moog'. Very good electronic music, composed by Brunette Models [August 2006]. More info on anadyomene records and Contemporary Electronic Soundscapes"

Equinoxe IV on Eminent Solina P275

YouTube via lesingemonotone
"My way of saying welcome to Jean-Michel Jarre before his concert in Stockholm the 4th of april. Really looking forward to the night of the consert! :) "

synthmusician.com

"Welcome to synthmusician.com if you're an electronic musician and need a place to showcase your wares, have a contact point with your fans and more this is the place for you. We are looking for musicians in the genre's of Ambient, Space, New Age, Techno and other forms of electronic music. We are not accepting artists in the hip hop or rap genre's since there are many sites that already promote these styles of music.

We hope to make this site the premier electronic music social networking site on the web, so join now and become a part of our community.

We currently support 25 users on our license but as the system grows we will add more, also we will be adding to the list of available features and tools. One future goal is to allow you to sell your products from the site much like iTunes. We are also currently looking into special deals with CD manufacturers and print artist who can help you build a complete package.

The site is still under development so if you find any errors please email me and let me know what you've found

Thanks for visiting www.synthmusician.com

MC"

via kwote on the forum. You can find kwote's synthmusician page here.

Vangelis BBC radio interview (2008)

YouTube via babylonianman. via Nusonica.
"A rare Vangelis interview to the BBC Radio 4 program "Front Row" (January 2008).

Vangelis talks to Mark Lawson about the scoring of Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner. An improvisation and a variation on the Chariots of Fire theme are heard during the 10' interview."

Average White Band's Linn Drum LM-2

images via this auction

"Original LinnDrum (originally owned by Alan Gorrie from the Average White Band). This is an immaculate LinnDrum with the original box, manual, padding, power cord, etc. Also includes two E-Prom sound cartridges. It was never gigged and lived a quiet, comfortable smoke-free life in Alan's home-studio here in CT.

The LinnDrum was the second machine from Linn Electronics. It's basically an upgraded version of the original LM-1 with added crash and ride cymbals to the kit. The LinnDrum uses samples of acoustic drum sounds. At the time, they sounded great and much more realistic and they were a fresh alternative to the analog drum sounds of the '80's drum machines. The LinnDrum also had a handy upgrade option, a well designed layout and interface, and live drum trigger inputs.

The LinnDrum had beefed up the sampled sounds from 28 to a 35kHz sample rate. It features 15 sounds including bass, snare, rimshot, hihat, crash, ride, three toms, cabasa, tambourine, high and low congas, cowbell, and clap. Up to 12 sounds are available simultaneously. Individual controls are available to tune, pan, and mix each drum sound via dedicated knobs and sliders. An Accent is available for the kick, snare and hats. The handy upgrade options involve inserting new chips containing new sets of sampled drum sounds created by many session drummers of the time.

The sequencer had some innovative features (for the time) such as swing, quantizing and memory storage! Two-bar patterns can be recorded in real or step time, with or without quantizing. There are 56 user patterns for storing your drum patterns. There are also 42 preset drum patterns. Patterns can be arranged into Songs for which there are 49 memory locations. Old songs and patterns can be off-loaded to cassette tape for storage. Designed for the studio, there are 15 individual outputs for each sound around the back as well as external sync and trigger but no MIDI (unless modified by a 3rd party). The LinnDrum's features made it the most professional drum machine of its time. It was widely used throughout the 1980s and there are about 5,000 of them which have been used by professionals (such as Sting, Prince, Jean-Michel Jarre, Sheila E., Todd Rundgren, Jimmy Edgar, Jan Hammer, Peter Gabriel), hobbyists, and educators alike!

Polyphony - 12 sampled sounds
Samples - 35kHz Sample rate: bass, snare, rimshot, hihat, 3 toms, crash, ride, cabasa, tambourine, high and low congas, cowbell, claps.
Patterns - 42 preset, 56 user patterns
Songs - 49
Functions - Quantizing (96 ppqn), real-time programming and digital metronome
Control - Tape, Sync, and Clock
Date Produced - 1982 - 1985"

New MOOG Product Coming Tomorrow

Press Release
"ASHEVILLE, N.C. (April 1, 2008) – It has become a rite of spring. Just like April showers bringing
May flowers, the conclusion of March brings April 1, and April 1 brings a new product from Moog
Music.

This year is no different, as Moog today is introducing a new instrument that promises to delight
all musicians – from the hardcore, lifelong Moog enthusiast to the young, beginning student. The
only difference from years past is that this year, Moog’s new product is being unveiled online via a
video news bulletin.

The video news bulletin, or VNB for short, is available for download or viewing on Moog’s Web
site, www.moogmusic.com.

About Moog Music
Moog Music and its customers carry on the legacy of Bob Moog, the inventor of the synthesizer. Moog designs and manufactures electronic musical instruments, including Little Phatty® and Minimoog® Voyager® synthesizers, Moogerfooger® effects modules and Etherwave® theremins. Founded by Bob Moog, Moog Music designs and manufactures its products in Asheville, N.C.

Additional information is available at www.moogmusic.com"

Anyware Instruments InSEQt Sequencer 2

follow-up to this post.

"The new Anyware Instruments Sequencer controls itselve(Seq A modulate Seq B and Seq B modulate Seq A).Noises and Sounds are from the Anyware Instuments Semtex XL Modular and the TMSS/Theis Modular. More experimentel then the other Video. have fun"

DELFY Creations through Mini Kaoss Pad

YouTube via robodelfy
"This video shows a few of my creations being put through a Korg Mini Kaoss Pad. Go to www.myspace.com/delfycreations for more info on my stuff! Send me a message, delfycreations at hotmail.co.uk if you would like to get on the mailing list."

Marjan's Synthesizer Schematics

Click here for the following:

01. EML-101 Multimode VCF Familiar SEM style State Variable Filter LP/BP/HP
with discrete components instead OTAs.

02. SERGE Triple Waveshaper Module Triple WS and one part of Serge Waveform Multiplier
use this scheme, just one opamp from LM3900,
it takes saw VCO input and rectify it to triangle/sine
output, but can also be timbre modulator for any signal.

03. BUCHLA #194 Fixed Bandpass Filter Not very exotic module, but it might come handy.
Splits input signal into four bands 200/200-900/
900-4000/4000 Hz, using just few transistors.

04. KORG Polysix Ensemble LFO Dual fixed three phase LFO used for modulating triple
BBD delay lines in Ensemble effects. Uses single CD4069
and has CV control of Intensity (amplitude).

05. MINIMOOG VCA Simple discrete VCA with 9 transistors. Crucial part of the
Mini's sound, together with it's VCOs, VCF and fast EGs.

06. BUCHLA #291 Dual Bandpass VCF VCBPF with Vactrols and lots of control/process power.
VC center freq (30Hz-15kHz) with offset, VC bandwidth
(1 semitone-4 octaves) with offset, resonance, FM,
input level, could be trimmed for selfosc.
Low noise and high dynamic range.

07. SERGE Sequential Pulse Source 10-step gate/trigger sequencer with CD4017. (updated)

08. OBERHEIM Matrix-6 White Noise Simple but nice sounding noise generator from polysynth.

09. R0LAND D-Beam IR Light Controller with CV (thanks to D.F.) (partial schem)

10. KORG MS-20 LFO Superb LFO with waveshape and range controls.
UpSaw/Triangle/DownSaw and Pulse waveforms. (updated)

11. SERGE Lin/Log VCA Standard CA3080 based design. (updated)

12. ROLAND SH-09 Noise and S/H My favourite! Simple transistor white/pink noise generator
and S/H with two FETs. Add it to your boring LFO section!

13. EMS VCS3 Type Ring Modulator Neat RM based on famous VCS Synthi. Very low parts count,
but distinctive sound. Looks like discrete MC1496 chip!

14. MOOG Source VC LFO Modification of standard tri/square LFO, with additional VCA.
VC and manual controls of speed and level parameters.

15. SERGE Ring Modulator OTA design, based on VCA, reliable stuff. (updated)

16. EML 101 Schematics Scans of (in)famous EML 101 schematics. Expo convertors, Oscillators
1,2 & 3 and VCF are here. Interesting "lo-end" approach.
Contact me if you have the rest of the schematics for this beast.

17. ROLAND/KORG Transistor VCA Based on Roland JX-3P and Korg MS10/20/Polysix VCAs.
Transistor and opamp, simple, noisy, strange, but works after all!