MATRIXSYNTH: Sunday, May 24, 2009

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Play him off, keyboard cat.

YouTube via muffwiggler.

"That'll do, keyboard cat, that'll do."

follow-up to this post:
Play him off, keyboard cat

YouTube via BrotatoChip.

"Keyboard cat haunts his dreams"

Update:

Dueling Keyboards

YouTube via BrotatoChip

"Keyboard Cat vs Keyboard Dog...to the DEATH!" Update via catsynth: I quite like this classic 8-bit keyboard cat :)

Yamaha SHS-10 MIDI Keytar FM Synth

via this auction

Note the demos below are of a circuit bent SHS-10 from the same seller. The SHS-10 up for auction is not yet circuit bent. The demos are meant to showcase what you can do if you were to circuit bend the SHS-10.

Cat-sio

flickr by synx508

full size

Yamaha CSY-1 ( SY-1 ) Analog Synth / Organ GX1 Filter

via this auction

"In 1974 Yamaha released their first ever synth, the SY-1 which was also available in the rare form of the CSY-1 which we have here, a funky 2 manual organ with the SY-1 built-in and playable from either the upper keyboard or the 13 note bass pedals.

The sound is amazing, organic, unique and very expressive too thanks to Yamaha's excellent pressure sensitive keyboard (aftertouch) which can be assigned to various parameters. The presets are pants as you'd expect but get tweaking and it really comes to life. It's something a bit different. The sound is in my opinion very similar to the mighty Yamaha GX-1's monosynth section and I have been told that they even share the same filter circuitry, if not more. (The GX-1 was made in 1975). If you can't find a GX-1 for sale or just don't have £100,000 or so to pay for one but simply must have that bubbly warm early Yamaha sound then here's your solution.

From the CSY-1 operation manual, "Do not be alarmed if sound rattling (sympathetic vibration) occurs. All materials have critical resonance frequencies at which they vibrate. Since the CSY-1 produces continuous tones, it is only normal that some will cause windows, shelves etc. to rattle."

The CSY-1 has it's own amplification/speakers built in and even has a real built in Leslie type 2 speed rotary speaker, the synth sounds great through this and the spring reverb is very sweet too.

Have a listen to Royksopp, see if you can spot it, it's one of their favourite synths. You can get an idea of the sounds on Youtube. Search for Yamaha SY1 / SY2, there are a few demos, also search for a Youtube video called Synth Barocco, the soundtrack is exclusively CSY-1. You can also download the whole CSY-1 manual if you go to the Yamaha online manual library."

CLICK FOR MORE »

GUITAR SYNTH JOHN MCLAUGHLIN'S 360 CONTROLLER

via this auction

auction details: "I picked this up through a famous guitar maker friend (ken parker of the parker fly ) who made the scalloped neck for john's guitar.
John used this with a hex pickup to control a mini-moog per string!
I confirmed that this is the one with bob easton of 360 systems back in the late 70's.
This is a important piece of rock memorabilia from one of the guitar greats.

This apparently costs $10,000 when he purchased it without the mini-moogs. here is an interview where he mentions it. go to this link this is how i found this price"

Vocal Filter 17

flickr by fonitronik
(click for more)

Jim Patchell Vocal Filter by fonitronik

full size

www.fonitronik.de

MoogerFooger Cluster and Analog Rig

flickr by brotherloco
(click for more)

Moog Synth

flickr by Peter William Vinther Sørensen

full size

"This is without doubt the coolest guy ever"

do bem™ - Suco de Laranja 100% fruta (MPC de torradas)

do bem™ - Suco de Laranja 100% fruta (MPC de torradas) from do bem on Vimeo.

The Breakfast MPC sent my way via khoral
"Ingredientes: Laranjas fresquinhas, funk carioca e uma pitada de bom-humor.
dobem.com twitter.com/dobem
flickr.com/photos/dobem

Art direction and Creation
Hardcuore - hardcuore.com

Design and Animation
Breno Pineschi e Rafael Cazes

Audio Effects and MPC Tropical Soundtrack
Joao Brasil

Colaboration / Thanks
Joana Angert"

Korg Poly 800 RC with man

via Alex

Korg DS-10 Spooky Forest

YouTube via LPChip.
"Have you ever heard reverb on a Korg DS-10? Well, technically, its not really reverb, but the delay, that produces a similar effect to reverb. I used this to create strings like sound. My initial goal was to create an Ambient track. I even set the BPM to 10 and it worked quite well. Too bad that I got all these faster melodies in my head that I couldn't write down due to the speed. So I decided to set the speed higher and clear the patterns. I ended up with 45 BPM. I'm very proud on the sounds that I made.

I've got a new camera, and that allowed me to get a better quality video than my previous video's. In addition, I've recorded the video also through my line-in. After that, I edited the video and replaced the audio with the line-in recording. This produces a much better sound here on youtube. Its nearly the quality that you get when you download the mp3 version, except ofcource that the mp3 version is just the song, not all the edits afterwards, which you'll get here on youtube. :)

If you want the mp3 version, click here: http://files.lpchip.nl/lpchip/LPChip%..."

Korg DS-10 Walking

"For this song, I wanted to do something different. I wanted something like Baseflow, but differently.

I was aiming for New Age, but I think it went more into Ballad/Waltz. Not a bad change though, I like it. :) You can expect a really nice and calm song. I also added the more important screens. :)

I hope you enjoy the song as much as I did making it. Want the MP3 version? http://files.lpchip.nl/lpchip/LPChip%..."

more vids here

An odd time signature theme

YouTube via attorks
"The time signature for this theme is 5/4 so its a little bit difficult to track the chords and the solo. You can see my head moving on the down beats in the solo. But it turned out well I think. The Waldorf sequencer has an 8 step sequence with 6 x 1/8 step-lengths and 2 x 1/4 step-lengths. The Doepfer MAQ16/3 has 10 step sequences on two rows driving the Synthesizers.com and the self-built Modular. The first odd note sequences comes from the self-built Modular, the second sequence from the Synthesizers.com and the third sequence from the Waldorf Q Keyboard. The Roland XP80 is currently on the keyboard stand because I have to practice some music to be played on a 50 year anniversary party together with some Tidal Wave members from some 30 years ago. The XP80 has the Vintage Keys card which contain some Mellotron sounds. The solo is played on the Clavia Nord Lead 1.
Notice you can see our dog Zoë in the mirrordoor behind me.
I had to shorten the video somewhat because of the YouTube limit of 10 minutes. The original video can be seen or downloaded from my website."

Roland SH-32 stringmachine sound

YouTube via knarrbacken
"The sounds are from the SH-32 when I had turned knobs for intensity, LFO:s & more and did get some kind of stringmachine / synthesizer-sound."

Makeshift Omnichord with Korg nanoPAD, GlovePIE & Alesis Ion

YouTube via adzy31

"Recently discovered the amazing 80s instrument the Omnichord (and its newer cousin the Q-Chord) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENY3BX... - brilliant kind of electronic autoharp where you have individual buttons for a load of different chords... and a touch pad you can strum and it plays notes in that chord in some kind of amazing arpeggiated goodness.

This is my attempt to recreate the Omnichord interface with a Korg nanoPAD. I set up all the pads so they're just sending control data rather than note data, and via GlovePIE the control data from the x axis of the touch pad is divided up into 13 regions, each of which is assigned a note from an arpeggiated chord. the chords are chosen by the top row of pads. bottom right pad sends a note off message. Right now it's all chords in the key of C but something which can be changed - it's just a pain writing out the note data for the arpeggiated chords.

Midi data is being sent out from GlovePIE running on my PC to my Alesis Ion synthesizer, on a patch I forgot the original name of (renamed it when i tweaked it a bit) then through some reverb on my guitar amp.

All sounds very technical but the end result is pretty fun to use :)"

MacBeth X-Series Dual Oscillator B

via the Big City Music blog

ToneBoard on iPhone

YouTube via felixxing
"ToneBoard is an iphone app with which you can compose millions of fun music by enabling various tone buttons on the tone board.

It consists of 10x16 tone matrix.

The horizontal line is the time axis while the vertical line is the tone axis. 16 different tones are distributed along the tone axis. Press each square to activate the tone and press again to deactivate it."

ToneBoard iPhone - Song 1

ToneBoard 2.0 on iPhone

Available on iTunes here:

apc

flickr by zerozeroisland

"sone stuff in the studio right now, akai apc 40 prototype, home-made weird sound generator, there's a casio sk-1 int here somepalce and just off to the right you can see the Rhodes Chroma Polaris, propped up against the wall. that one needs a little work"

iPhone SoundGrid App - NOW in AppStore!

YouTube via pronvit
"New sequencer-like iPhone app that gives you way to create stunning audiovisual performances anytime anywhere."
Available on iTunes here:

SoundGrid App for iPhone - Demo 2

"New Tenori-On-like sequencer iPhone app that gives you way to create stunning audiovisual performances anytime anywhere."

Update:

SoundGrid iPhone App - Tutorial

Akai AX80

via this auction

EMS Synthi A Mk1 vintage modular analog synthesizer

via this auction
"very early vintage EMS Synthi A Mark 1 suitcase synthesizer in great cosmetic and functional condition. Auction includes synth, lid, 19 patch pins, power cable with Bulgin connector, some vintage EMS sales literature, a spare for the rare reverb driver IC and a .pdf copy of the owner's manual. This unit has been modified to run off of 110V North American power. The Mark 1 is very rare and it is estimated that only 300 of the Mark 1 Synthis were ever made. Many people (myself included) prefer the Mk.1 to the Mk.2 VCS3 and Synthi mainly due to the fact that it has individual waveform outputs on the patch matrix for Oscillators 1 and 2. Though both revisions sound similar (and each individual one sounds completely different from each other!) there were actually quite a few differences... do a google search if you're interested. One of the big diffs, alongside the different matrix layout and Prestopatch jack, was a diffferent power supply on the Mk.2 that allowed it to run the KS sequencer. So any factory-original Synthi AKS you've seen has been a Mk.2, as the Mk.1 wasn't equipped for it. I did find a page in my "Synthi Mk.1" search where someone had Robin Wood mod one to accept a KS, though, so it can be done. I've previously owned a Mk.1 VCS3 and a late model Robin Wood Synthi and the Mk.1 is definitely where it's at in my opinion."

OCTAVE KITTEN

via this auction
"The Kitten takes all the best parts of the Cat and boils them down to a lighter, smaller package. For a one-oscillator synth, the Kitten has a huge sound. I can't think of a better synth is its class. Micromoog? No. The Kitten offers two mixable modulators on both the VCO and VCF. The Axxe? No way. The Kitten's oscillator has three mixable waveforms, plus independent sliders for 2 suboctaves! The SH-09? Nope. The Kitten's filter is just as ballsy and can be modulated by the oscillator! Korg MS-10? Not even close. The Kitten has just as many interface jacks and sounds much bigger. Overall the sound of this synthesizer is unique and high quality; it offers lots of flexibility for its size."

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SLp1 - SLp4 and SLp music

YouTube via PlanetSynth
"http://planetsynth.com
http://myspace.com/planetsynthdotcom
formerly Ypsisynth
The Soundlab plus Runs off an AC adapter (included). Built with MFOS PCBs.
Im very impressed with the tracking of these Synths when Tuned correctly.
Mostly all 1% resistors used throughout. Nice smooth 24mm Alpha pots
Give a great feel to the knob action."

MFOS SoundLab Vids

YouTube via PlanetSynth
vids:
overview
tracking
selfres
SL polycase seq1
Soundlab MFOS sounding creepy
"http://planetsynth.com
http://myspace.com/planetsynthdotcom
A few things and some with the SoundLab.
Built with MFOS PCBs.
This is built into a Polycase ABS case. Runs off an AC adapter (included).
Im very impressed with the tracking of these Synths when Tuned correctly.
Mostly all 1% resistors used throughout. Nice smooth 24mm Alpha pots
Give a great feel to the knob action. "

SoundLab Analog Synthesizer

YouTube via PlanetSynth. via this auction
"Formerly know as Ypsisynth, I finally settled on a permanent name
http://planetsynth.com
http://myspace.com/planetsynthdotcom
A few things and some with the Musicfromouterspace.com SoundLab.
I am building 5 like this one, a black faced, 3 white faced, and a black yellow (EDP WASP look)
faced.

This is built into a Polycase ABS case. Runs off an AC adapter (included).
Im very impressed with the tracking of these Synths when Tuned correctly.
Mostly all 1% resistors used throughout. Nice smooth 24mm Alpha pots
Give a great feel to the knob action.

Circuit design and PCB from musicfromouterspace.com
check them out if your a diy'er But if you dont like building them, I have a few for sale."

ElectroKraft.com SpaceSynth Part I (Demo of Synth Sounds)

YouTube via orphiusflux
"The SpaceSynth has three oscillators, one is controlled by a photocell light sensor (optical Theremin). It also has an instrument input so that you can process a guitar, bass, keyboard or another synth. It adds pulsing/modulation effects as well as various distortions to guitar and bass.

When processing an instrument you can further modulate the effects by waving your hand over the photocell sensor. The photocell sensor functions similar to the way an "expression pedal" does.

I'll be making this available as a kit. Please see ElectroKraft.com"

Arduino Step Sequencer video2

YouTube via larsby
"ASS (Arduino Step Sequencer)

A step sequencer made with an arduino for brains. schematics and buildinfo over at www.larsby.com/johan/ass.

This is the version that is as close to finish it's going to be for this summer."

DX5 playing Depeche Mode "Christmas Island"

YouTube via DX5

"Christmas Island played with an Emu Emax only (With new EL foil light on the display).
Emax sequencer is a realtime recording (non quantized) one, then the bass sequence (and therefore my realtime bassdrum and snare playing) can be out of sync sometimes.

Two sounds are samples from the original track, the others were created by myself or taken from some of my libraries.

BTW; I forgot the clothes I use for covering my keyboards against dust on the sofa.

Originally Composed by Martin Gore and Alan Wilder."