MATRIXSYNTH: Monday, August 24, 2009

Monday, August 24, 2009

Akai S5000 Hard Drive Madness

flickr set by Syd Heresy
(click for more)

inside an Akai S5000

Pictured:
Top Overview of the Akai S5000
"Popped open the top of the sampler. You can see almost all of the internal board layout and wiring."

XLR8R TV Ep. 123: Max for Live!

XLR8R TV Ep. 123: Max for Live! from XLR8RTV on Vimeo.

"What You Talkin' Bout, Willits? Max for Live!

We interrupt our usual broadcasting to bring you a special preview of the unreleased Max for Live!

Ableton gave Christopher Willits the green light to show off some of the features from the not-yet-released Max for Live. If you're a digital-signal-processing dork like us, you know this represents an exciting leap forward.

Tune in once a month as Christopher shows us some of the ways he produces his own music, as well as the many cool things you can do with recording software. According to Christopher, "I simply want to excite people's imaginations and creative processes so they can more easily create the sounds and music and art they love."
follow-up to this post

Synthesizers.com Q106 Sync Effect

YouTube via blwvideo
"This video is primarily intended as a comparison to an earlier one I posted today.

This is a stripped down version of the other video, consisting only of Synthesizers.com Q106 oscillators. There are no filters, VCA's, envelopes, sequencers, or other modules involved, just Q106's with me playing the same notes as before, straight into the mixer and recorded in Logic.

I wanted to offer this version in part to demo the sync effect, which I think is cool, and to better illustrate what the STG filter adds to the patch in the other video.

The patch involves two Q106's with identical settings, except that one is hard synced and one is soft synced to a pulse wave from a third Q106, with the pulse width being modulated by a fourth Q106 acting as an LFO. The third and fourth 106's aren't being used for audio. No other processing is added.

My apologies for the messed up timing in the slide show!"

Sequential Circuits PROPHET VS Rack

via this auction

YouTube via blwvideo
"This is a quick video showing the condition of the Prophet VS I am offering for sale. I am demonstrating that the numeric keys work fine, since this is a common fault with the units, and giving a tour of the cosmetic wear. Thanks!"

64 (Video) Fingers

64 (Video) Fingers from Charlie Visnic on Vimeo.

"This is a demo video of my app 64 (Video) Fingers. Modded from Dovemouse's 64 Fingers you trigger video and audio clips from the monome. Enjoy!" inspired by http://thru-you.com/

Zn'shñ : Wave study w/ Sleepdrone 5, Dual Tone Generator & analog filters

YouTube via znshn
"Wave study w/ Sleepdrone 5, Sherman Filterbank 2, Jomox M-Resonator, Dual Tone Generator + Tenori-On. Contents : square wave, oscillators, analog filtering, micro-pulses, clicks, glitches...

Warning : This video contains very high frequencies.

N.B.- According to a fictitious etymology, the term Zn'shñ signifies: the gleam of dark colours. Deliberately antithetic and intentionally enigmatic, Zn'shñ is enthused by Butoh iconography, Japanese Gagaku aesthetic and Tibetan rituals codification. Operating as a dual electronic unit (mulit-instrumentalis/composer Franck Smith and artist/sound-activist Elvire Bastendorff), Zn'shñ deepens some very specific works around digital phonocrafting and noise manufacturing.
IF POSSIBLE USE HEADPHONES OR CONNECT YOUR COMPUTER TO A QUITE DECENT SOUND-SYSTEM.

Material in this video:
- Sleepdrone 5 (via main output)
- 2 Benfox Dual Tone Generator
- Sherman Filterbank 2
- Jomox M-Resonator
- Benfox Ben HF
- TENORI-ON
- Space Echo RE-20
- Electro Harmonix Pulsar

http://www.myspace.com/znshn
http://znshn.blogspot.com
http://www.odiolorgnette.com
http://www.myspace.com/sthintosmither...

http://francksmith.blogspot.com

See also http://www.youtube.com/odiolorgnette
........................................
Zn'shñ Franck Smith Elvire Bastendorff alternative digital techniques Live Electronics Odiolorgnette TENORI-ON Yamaha Sherman Filterbank 2 Jomox M-Resonator Sleepdrone 5 Benfox Dual Tone Generator Space Echo RE-20 Analog Filters triggering analog bass drum module phonocrafting noise manufacturing"

Narrativas Sonoras

Narrativas Sonoras from Rui Penha on Vimeo.

"Narrativas Sonoras is a very simple audio sequencer that uses granular synthesis at it’s core engine.
Note: The interface appears slow due to the overload caused by the video capture software, the application actually runs smoothly, but only on a recent computer!

More info: www.ruipenha.pt"

modo [pre-release]

modo [pre-release] from occular on Vimeo.

"Hello. This is modo.

Modo stands for -modulating oscillators- and is basically a midi CC-sequencer. In detail, the sequencer try to mimic a LFO behaviour with ability to modulate each other. It let you create fancy animation curves, you wouldn't want to draw these by hand. More soon on monome forum."

electrotablajam 1

YouTube via behanger. via Ernst van der Loo.

electrotablajam 2

"My electronic tabla (it says "proffessional") controls my home built 32 step sequencer, of which 20 positions are used for this rhythm. The Sool rhythm has 10 beats per cycle.

The sequencer not only plays these voltages up or down, but it can also derive other patterns. I worked these out and implemented these in hardware. I would have to look up how I did this. I do not think of it anymore, as each of the patters is useful. So in a live situation, I just choose a different one at random.

The output of the sequencer is analog, and sends out 0-10 volt. This is then converted to midi by my new miduino, a circuit by Tom Scarff. The software was partley rewritten by me. to make it play in the key of my choice. Using a very secrative math trick called rounding, I made the sequencer play in a minor key, rather than in the 12 tone system. This allows for live tweaking of the knobs without ever being out of key. Freedom!

Then there's my Arcade joystick, which has an home baked circuit that converts the 4 switches and the fire button to 15 different notes, and connects right onto the keyboard matrix of an old casio childrens keyboard which cooks midi note messages. I would do this in the miduino too if I needed to do it again. A series of if/else statements is much easier and more flexible than soldering and debugging a circuit with 8 logic IC's and a over a meter of wire.

Then there's the large joystick. It has a doepfer midiconvertor on board. The miduino has enough pins to do it all together, but I like the fact that it is a funtional unit on it's own. It controls all the effects of the Arcade channel.

The pitch of the tabla can be controlled by the sequencer as well as by the Atari paddle. I made this input on the tabla when I replaced the tuning pot with a precise ten-turn pot. It works with two vactrols.

Sound sources are: cymbals, a Raagini shruti box, the tabla box, a Waldorf Blofeld running 2 patches amplified by a 40 year old Italian tube amp.

I recorded it with my photocamera, which has a rediculously low audio sampling rate. They all have. It's just not a number the camera's are sold by. I should have checked weather I was in the image myself. Now I am a pair of hands on youtube too, looking like the Lorax of Dr. Seuss. A well. It's just a test drive to check if my work is getting somewhere."

Sampling the Modular - Doepfer Track

via Isotope of Me

"I just got around to posting about a track that I made that focuses on multitracked modular lines and sampled modular sounds for percussion (along with a nearly irresistible modular pic and a description of how it was somewhat inspired by some of Stretta's newer modular work) over at http://www.isotopeofme.com/isotopics/?p=102.

History of the Moog Sonic 6 on Sound on Sound

"The pioneering Sonic 6 has a complex and intriguing background, featuring not only the synth industry's most famous name, Bob Moog, but also that of an unsung hero called Gene Zumcheck -- a shadowy figure now, but one whose contribution to synthesis deserves acknowledgement....

At this point, let's spare a thought for Gene Zumcheck. Having (allegedly) fallen out with Bob Moog once before, he again found himself working alongside the man, and soon left the company. Once Zumcheck had departed for the second time, Moog decided to take the Sonic V and turn it into a Moog product. To do so, he made just one significant change; he returned to one of the rejected 1969 drawings for the Minimoog (one that never made it, even as a prototype), and installed the Sonic V's circuitry and keyboard into this. He then added a pitch-bend wheel and glissando control. The result was the Moog Sonic 6."

read the full article on Sound on Sound.
via Dave Manley on the SDIY list.

Stevie Wonder - Boogie On Reggae Woman

YouTube via johnniewalker23. 1974 - Fulfillingness' First Finale
ID the bassline synth. via Mark Pulver on the AH list.

Live Techno Series 2 - MC-909 & Virus - SImon Stokes

YouTube via siedgey. follow-up to this post.
"Part 2 of a new little techno series getting back to my hardware roots! Like part 1, this track was made today in a few hours using only the 909 and my sexy new Virus TI2 Desktop. You'll see it's a bit more bangin' - hope you like it!

Thanks to everyone who bought the Lapse EP on vinyl - incredibly, almost every store worldwide that it was shipped to has sold out in under a week! It featured in the Juno minimal/tech-house charts when it was in stock and has got into the top 10 best sellers on various shops..!

There are still a couple of places online that you can pick up a copy - try www.plastic-music.co.uk if you can't find one. :-)

The digital release is out on Thursday on Beatport and all major MP3 stores...thanks for watching, commenting, supporting..it means a whole lot to me.

Cheers,

Simon

www.myspace.com/mrsimonstokes
Add me on Facebook! Simon Stokes from Glasgow.."

THE ZRO HOUR: Interview with THE BEAT KANGZ and Preview of THE BEAT THANG Sampling Drum Machine

THE ZRO HOUR: Interview with THE BEAT KANGZ and Preview of THE BEAT THANG Sampling Drum Machine from EDAYE on Vimeo.

"When beatboxer Chesney Snow told me about a drum machine he was working on (Chesney provided human beat box sounds for the drum machine) with Tennessee production crew THE BEAT KANGZ, I combed the net for more info as I picked their brain. I had posted a couple of articles on THE BEAT THANG- synthesizer, sampler, sequencer- and connected with their publicist for the interview above. It was suggested that we do it through Skype, which was a great idea. It was my first time using Skype and though I had a bit of technical difficulties during set up, I was able to record our great conversation about THE BEAT THANG, the desktop version THE BEAT THANG VIRTUAL and the iphone app THE PLAYA THANG!"

Update: finally had the time to watch this a bit more. It's a great interview.
You might remember the Zoom Streat Box they mention from this previous post back in 2006.
It's a trip to see these guys got from there to here. I can't help but see them as underdogs in a corporate synth world. Just before 12:00 the interviewer mentions the ability to trigger vids with the pads. Made me think of this vid with the monome doing just that.
Update: iPhone app at around 21 minutes in.
You can find videos of the virtual version here. Apparently you get the software free with the hardware or if you buy the software for $149 , you get that as a credit on the hardware. http://www.beatkangz.com/

Roland JD-800 cutted #1

flickr by Ran Kirlian

"Roland JD-800 with keyboard glue issue being cutted and converted into a light pseudo-module version. Still needing cleaning and case closed.

Complete customization process (in spanish) at celiar.blogspot.com"

Herb Deutsch and the Buchla 200e

flickr by buchlajoe

bottom: 259's open for repair

The Rock & Roll Public Library

flickr by Edú
(click for more)

Korg DDD-1
LinnDrum

At The Clash's Mick Jones Rock & Roll Public Library

VCO mod x0xb0x tb 303

YouTube via accenter. "x0xb0x VCO2 mod"

JayB's sounds for Quasimidi Sirius - Part II

YouTube via Hanni13579
"I recently shared some quality time with my Sirius again, and that's what came out. A few new sounds that again show the hidden sound quality of that machine.

All sequences used in songs are written down in the video. All other melodies are improvised so DON'T ASK FOR A SONG TITLE!!!111oneeleven

As always you can download the soundbank for free on my homepage:
http://jayb.ath.cx under the section "Sounds"."