"After not being able to find any reliable documentation on the NRPN values that the Fizmo uses for patch editing (no, it's not the same as the MR/ZR series), I've started a series of experiments to determine how the NRPN numbers map to parameters, and find all of the "hidden" parameters that you can't edit from the panel. I've already had a bit of luck on that score."
See the full post including a tutorial on NRPNs on Sequence 15.
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Rack, Rewired, Reorganized
New years eve x0xb0x modular acid.
YouTube via neandrewthal
"Kicking off 2009 with one last jam using all the gear I built over the last year.
Aside from the droning bass, the modular is on full time drum duties. I really need some dedicated drum modules so I don't have to tie up the whole system like that."
Klee Sequencer driving CGS Analog Drums
YouTube via ScottStites
"Klee is driving a CGS dual analog drum simulator module. The additional voice is a sawtooth VCO through my Triple Wilson SVVCF."
Circuit bent Hing Hon v2
YouTube via frostedminipete
"For sale: [this auction]
Slightly different than my other one... but mostly similar.
5 modulation knobs
[Heavy bass, distortion, overdrive, hard modulation, frequency generation, etc...]
Three modulation body contacts
Pitch knob with full range up and down
Low pass filter switch
Rhythm skip switch
Squarewave "dissection" switch
1/4" output jack
Acts as a distortion/modulation box [through the mic input]"
The Triple Drum Trigger - V1.00 betac
YouTube via dolphinicus
"This is the 1st video of my new innovation / invention. Then module is capable of sending 1, 2 or 3 different triggers (Decay control voltages) out to different areas! Depending on how high in the incoming voltage is (in this video - how hard I hit the drum pad), the user is able to determine which outputs will be active! Each output has a Reference Level; Decay Time and Output Amount control."
EMS Synths and POP Music
YouTube via telesynth. Note there are some Not Safe for Work clips in this one.
"EMS synthesizers used by Hawkwind, Pink Floyd and Roxy Music. From the documentary 'What the Future Sounded Like'."
Prior posts featuring "What the Future Sounded Like" here.
EMS - music by ems / video by extraG
YouTube via extragdotcom. No, not that EMS.
"new york's electro "ems" by ems - satamile records SAT02
http://www.satamile.com - http://www.electromusic.com
video by gloria dostal machnowski
http://www.extraG.com
At a top roof in the Lower East Side is almost the year 2000, oscilloscopic waves drawn by the electro sound itself. Analog sound shot in New York City: TR606, Roland MC4 and home made CMS02 modular synthesizer.
Stephen Machnowski uses his home-built synths and drum machines for his ems project (electro music specialist)
ems at the itunes music store:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZ... [link 404s at the vid]
Gloria Machnowski's videos had been exhibited, among other venues, at the New York Not Still Art Festival, Detroit VideoFest, Fashionlab, The Zeitgeist Gallery, Brooklyn's Dumbo Art Under the Bridge Festival, ICI Buenos Aires, Videoformes in France, Mtv's amp and De Olho Nu Festival in the Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil."
Yamaha SHS-10 Keytar Black
via this auction"Yamaha SHS-10B... It's just like the more common SHS-10R, but it is black instead of red."
anonymous quote.
from "Electronic Music: Systems, techniques, and controls" by Allen Strangeflickr set by kernelslacker, sent my way via Dave.
"The availability of a particular patchcord is inversely proportional to its need."
Anonymous
Note the book and others are listed in the Synth Books section.
Synth Stories
A thread by Ralph of insidemyOSCar went up on the Analogue Heaven mailing list asking people to share their funny synth stories. Here are my two entries, followed by a funny one from customsynth.co.uk. If you have any feel free to send them in and I'll update this post. I'll also add this to the More Stuff section towards the bottom right of the site.
My stories:
Several years back I went to Maui. I set my wife up with expectations that we would hit every single pawn shop while there. We never got around to it until the last day when we were partially sunburnt and just plain beat. I convince my wife to trek around the island. Over two hours of hitting pawn shops with nothing but jewelry we give up. On the way back to the hotel I see one. I ask her if we can go in and she says hell no. I then see a Taco Bell right next to it and realize its about lunch time and we are pretty hungry. I say how about Taco Bell? :) I manage to get us a quick look in the pawn shop and sitting in the back I see a beige drum machine. I think, no, it can't be. I'm thinking it's probably just a TR-707, but when I get up to it, it's the 909. I pick it up and aside from being dusty it's in prestine condition. I see a few amps and ask if I can try it out. They go searching for a cable for about 15 minutes and can't find one. I'm thinking maybe it's busted, but I look for a price and see a little sticker on it. 220, no $. I think, no way... that can't be the price. I ask someone and it happens to be the owner of the shop. I shout accross the room "is 220 the price?!" The response? Oh, I can take $30 off of it! I whip out my credit card. Cash only. I have no cash. I ask him if there is an ATM near by. He says there's one accross the street, but he's closing shop as he has a movie to catch. He suggests the next day, but my plane leaves before they open. I ask him to give me five minutes. I run accross the street (think hwy/mini freeway), get the cash and run back. I get back and I see him locking up the doors. I get that sinking feeling in my stomach. He turns around and he has the 909! I pay for it and head back to the hotel. It's in pristine condition both cosmetically and functionally.
Another story, this one short. I went to a local guitar center and they had a Pro-One sitting there. I ask them if I can try it out and the guy says yes but it's broken - one note just hangs. Their tech looked at it and couldn't figure it out. I buy it for $125, take it home, open it up and bend a j-wire so it isn't in constant contact with the bar. Worked perfectly after that. :)
customsynth.co.uk
"the sh09 and sixtrak i found in a farmers barn , covered in hay and i mouse nest in the sixtrak was an interesting find , both were just rust buckets , but looked great chromed , and the sh black and orange , both are on my home page ,
jeff : )"
Update: see the comments for more. I also added a link to the More Stuff section twoards the bottom right of the site.
My stories:
Several years back I went to Maui. I set my wife up with expectations that we would hit every single pawn shop while there. We never got around to it until the last day when we were partially sunburnt and just plain beat. I convince my wife to trek around the island. Over two hours of hitting pawn shops with nothing but jewelry we give up. On the way back to the hotel I see one. I ask her if we can go in and she says hell no. I then see a Taco Bell right next to it and realize its about lunch time and we are pretty hungry. I say how about Taco Bell? :) I manage to get us a quick look in the pawn shop and sitting in the back I see a beige drum machine. I think, no, it can't be. I'm thinking it's probably just a TR-707, but when I get up to it, it's the 909. I pick it up and aside from being dusty it's in prestine condition. I see a few amps and ask if I can try it out. They go searching for a cable for about 15 minutes and can't find one. I'm thinking maybe it's busted, but I look for a price and see a little sticker on it. 220, no $. I think, no way... that can't be the price. I ask someone and it happens to be the owner of the shop. I shout accross the room "is 220 the price?!" The response? Oh, I can take $30 off of it! I whip out my credit card. Cash only. I have no cash. I ask him if there is an ATM near by. He says there's one accross the street, but he's closing shop as he has a movie to catch. He suggests the next day, but my plane leaves before they open. I ask him to give me five minutes. I run accross the street (think hwy/mini freeway), get the cash and run back. I get back and I see him locking up the doors. I get that sinking feeling in my stomach. He turns around and he has the 909! I pay for it and head back to the hotel. It's in pristine condition both cosmetically and functionally.
Another story, this one short. I went to a local guitar center and they had a Pro-One sitting there. I ask them if I can try it out and the guy says yes but it's broken - one note just hangs. Their tech looked at it and couldn't figure it out. I buy it for $125, take it home, open it up and bend a j-wire so it isn't in constant contact with the bar. Worked perfectly after that. :)
customsynth.co.uk"the sh09 and sixtrak i found in a farmers barn , covered in hay and i mouse nest in the sixtrak was an interesting find , both were just rust buckets , but looked great chromed , and the sh black and orange , both are on my home page ,
jeff : )"
Update: see the comments for more. I also added a link to the More Stuff section twoards the bottom right of the site.
ARP 4027-1 VCO Clone
MM8027 Module - ARP 4027-1 VCO"Overview This is a clone of the ARP 4027-1 VCO that was used in the ARP 2600 as well as the basis for the VCO's in every other ARP synthesizer from 1972. This replication has been carried out with care and detailed research, including borrowing a recently serviced ARP 2600 to test out the capabilities of the VCO design, to ensure I could achieve or even improve upon the original ARP design."
More info on The Emulator Archive
Top image is the original ARP 4027-1 VCO
Bottom two are the clone
circuit bent effects casio va-10
YouTube via spunkytoofers
"another from the casio va-10. just wanted to demo the added looper in the feedback path."
Me playing Depeche Mode "Fools"
YouTube via DX5.
Previous vids here.
"Fools. Backtape, sounds search and assign, and rehearsing in an hour or so. No samples or sounds coming from the original song.
Above: Roland JX-8P
Mid: Yamaha DX7 mk1
Below: E-mu Emax"
Kaossilator Jam 2
YouTube via blackmuzzle
"A quick jam with the Kork Kaossilator and KP3. I'm slowly getting the hang of switching scales on the fly. What a fantastic little box..."
Minimoog Voyager Old School. In a Wardrobe
YouTube via hafstrat
"Hafstrat is now hafmoog. Nothing sounds like a moog."
Yakitori Song - KORG microKORG XL with GarageBand
YouTube via jetdaisuke
"I composed this song with KORG synthesizer "microKORG XL". I used only a few Presets.
And recorded with Apple GarageBand
Title logo and lyrics animations are made with a Nintendo DSi software "Ugoku Memo-cho (うごくメモ帳)"
Yakitori is Japanese style grilled chicken.
[Yakitori song] lyrics(English translation)
My favorite yakitori is negima.
My favorite yakitori is seseri.
My favorite yakitori is sasami.
My favorite yakitori is bonbochi.
liver
burn enough
So liver
rare
salt or sauce
sauce or salt
【やきとりのうた】歌詞
焼き鳥のネギ間を食って
焼き鳥のせせりを食って
焼き鳥のささみを食って
焼き鳥のぼんぼち食って
レバー よく焼き
そう、レバー 生焼き
しお、たれ
タレ、塩"
OSCar Monosynth Audio Demo
YouTube via JMPSynth
"Not many OSCar synth demos about so here's an audio demo of the one I had a while ago, apologies for lack of video footage on this one. Includes use of the built-in arpeggiator."
BEAM READY HOMAGE TO REED GHAZALA
YouTube via SonofCastille
"Well, special thanks to Reed Ghazala, who sent me some really killer cold war era military surplus lamps. The big one says BEAM READY, and the smaller one has the atomic symbol, hence the name. Enjoy"
Akai MPK49 Controller Overview
YouTube via gearwire
"The Akai MPK49 controller keyboard makes things easy -- as some would say, a little too easy. It's a keyboard controller with 49 keys that won't break when you touch them like other types of keyboard keys, 12 pads and enough options to where you could probably record something that sounds passable as music while you're off in the Caymans in the middle of some kind of money coma.
Bill Holland demonstrates.
See more on Gearwire.com."
Patching using the Patch Cable Generator
via Synthesizer Art where you will find more models of "electronic musical instruments in 3D""Here you see the results of feeding the X, Y and Z co-ordinates of some of the jack sockets into my Patch Cable Generator"
MIDIBox SID
via the forum, up for auction here."Synthesizer based on the famous SID chip from the C64
* Finished MIDIbox SID constructed - based on the DIY project UCAPPS
* Easy to use, all functions are controlled by the large display (2x40) immediately reachable
* Addition, all parameters Midicontroller or editor software controllable* 8580 Sid chip from the C-64
* 3 Oscillators, filters LP, BP, HP
* 6 LFOs, Wavetable sequencer / Arp
* Sync Midiclock
* Audio-IN ... u.v.m.
* 128 presets
* High-quality 19 "Rackgehäuse
* Midi In / Out
* Internal power supply"
Happy New Year!!!
Happy New Year everyone!I hope it was a great one! This year was a great one for the site.
I said this last year and I will say it again. This site is NOT about me. It's about EVERYTHING SYNTH. It is about what's out there. It's about all of us, it's about what others with similar interests are doing - videos, music, pictures, events, the new and the old, EVERYTHING SYNTH!
I want to THANK ALL OF YOU FOR A WONDERFUL 2008 and I WISH YOU ALL A FANTASTIC 2009!!!
Once a year I like to share a little bit about what the site is about, its history and its readership.
Some stats for the fun of it. World Domination? 12 countries short! If you remember last year, we had 181 countries visiting the site. This year (top map), we are up to 194 countries. Since the inception of the site in 2005 we are at 201 countries (left map)!!! If you click on the map, anything in green means someone out there visited the site from that country. Those in white haven't. The darker the green the larger the number of visits. According to the map, only the following 9 countries out there have not visited the site: Western Sahara, Chad, Central African Republic, DR Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Turkmenistan, and North Korea. Crazy! Someone from every other country out there visited the site. It boggles the mind when you think about it. [Side note: I think I found a bug in Google Analytics: Take a look at the top map followed by the left. The top is this year, the left is all time. If you look closely you will see Tajikistan and Kyrgyztan flip colors. For the all time map both should be green if you think about it.Numbers:
Total Visits:
2008: 2,010,102
2007: 1,383,340
2006: 513,060
2005: 207,750 (via AdSense)
Total: 4,114,252
Total Page Views:
2008: 3,865,863
2007: 2,519,689
2006: 912,490
2005: 207,750 (via AdSense)
Total: 7,505,792
For reference, Site Meter has:
4,289,986 Total Visits All Time
7,960,740 Total Page Views All Time
The total Page Views for Dec was 433,030, the total visits 197,214.
The average Page Views a day for Dec was 13,969, average visits a day 6362.
Pretty amazing when you think about it.
As for number of posts:
I put up 10,090 posts in 2008
21,962 posts all time
That's an average of 27.64 posts a day for 2008 and nearly double 2005, 2006 and 2007 combined.
What this simply means is that there is more out there.
Some history:
I created the original matrixsynth.com in October of 1997 as a portal for me to track "everything synth." The site consisted of two frames. A simple link list on the left and a viewing frame on the right. If you go to the site you will see what it pretty much looked like since its inception. The problem was that the links on the left were only to the root of the sites. I found that a ton of the interesting information out there was deep within sites, and sometimes the info was not even in an actual website, but on various sound, image and video shares, forums, email lists, and so on. I had a backlog of emails saved and bookmarks in my web browser. In July of 2005, I decided to start the blog to track everything.
What am I trying to do anyway? When people ask I usually just say its a blog that I track stuff with. It is that in essence, and over time, I hope it will become something more, something much more.
What is the bigger picture?
I want the site to be a place people can come back to in time. 50 -100 years from now, I want people to be able to come to the site and look back in time. I want anyone that is curious about the world of synths to be able to see a glimpse of it here. A log in time of what was out there every single day. I know I won't capture everything. There are other blogs and other websites for that. What I do hope to capture is just glimpse of it all. I hope it will be a fun trip back in time for future generations. This is actually why I chose Blogger as my platform. When I first started the blog, I started it on my site matrixsynth.com. I hosted it, but the site eventually went down due to increased traffic exceeding my allocated bandwidth. The event made me remember losing some great synth sites out there like drummachine.com (anyone remember that one?). I ended up choosing Blogger as it is owned by Google and you can host the site on their servers instead of your own. Hopefully this will translate into the site running long after I am gone.
Hopefully this wasn't too long. I just figured I owe some background on the site at least once a year. :)
Again, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! HAVE A GREAT 2009 and THANK YOU!!!
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MATRIXSYNTH - EVERYTHING SYNTH
© Matrixsynth - All posts are presented here for informative, historical and educative purposes as applicable within fair use.
MATRIXSYNTH is supported by affiliate links that use cookies to track clickthroughs and sales. See the privacy policy for details.
MATRIXSYNTH - EVERYTHING SYNTH
