Vermona Synthesizer

via this auction

"Vermona synth made in West Germany."

West Germany or East Germany?

Vintage synth featured in 1957 film "Different from You and Me."

video upload by Robotussin Vintage Synths

"The dangers of electronic music, according to a film about the menace of homosexuality from 1957 called 'Different From You and Me'. It features the Trautonium, a synthesizer from the 1930s that was created by Friedrich Trautwein and used by Oskar Sala. The film, which was called 'The Third Sex' or 'Bewildered Youth'(!) when released in the US, is about a prosperous German family whose son is lured into a seedy world of gay men, nude wrestling and avant garde electronic music by an effete friend and a licentious antique dealer.

Terrified that their son is not into women, the teen's parents induce their cleaning lady to seduce him and awaken his more 'natural' desires. This ends in the month's arrest for arranging prostitution!

While the film is based on homophobic ideas, the original version has some nuance and depicts some of its gay characters in a relatively balanced light for the time. Being gay was still a crime in Germany and elsewhere in the 1950s. However, before it could be released in West Germany censors insisted on changes, weaving in more anti-gay rhetoric, making the gay characters more criminal and removing scenes that showed gay men in positions of authority and respectability.

For me, it's remarkable only for the scenes featuring the synthesizer, but it is interesting that even then electronic music was associated with same-sex relationships, given that 20 years later the gay communities would be such a driving force behind the foundation of the electronic music scene.

I have uploaded all the scenes from this film that feature the Trautonium to my YouTube channel, which is also called Robotussin Vintage Synths."

Original WALDORF Microwave I SN 900600

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction
technoempire

Update: A Campbell Payne in the comments noticed something interesting I never paid attention to before on the original Microwave.  The back reads "Made in West Germany".   East Germany opened its borders on November 9, 1989 and the Berlin wall came down in 1990.  The Microwave I was released in 1989.  That's an interesting bit of synth history and a reflection of the times, forever engraved on a synth. It's interesting to wonder what it might have been like at Waldorf at that moment in time.  The celebration of their first Microwave and the end of the Berlin wall.

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Original Waldorf Microwave I "Made in West Germany"

See the update in this post for an interesting bit of synth history right there on the back of the original Waldorf Microwave I.

The Noiseblast Hour, Episode 9: IAMEVE and Orphx

Noise Engineering

https://www.orphx.com/

"'Described as '... if Alice took Ziggy Stardust’s hand and followed him down the rabbit hole to a world guided by the twists and turns of ethereal and colorful vocals," by The Huffington Post, IAMEVE is a singer, songwriter and storyteller. Her evocative sound tapestries are inspired from a world of a supernatural nature full of hypnotic vocals, spacey sounds, and surrealism.

IAMEVE has won several awards for her short music film “Starman” and is currently in production on a 360 Fulldome show. She has been featured in numerous TV shows and Films, most notably for the theme song “To Feel Alive” in Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters with composer Andrew Lockington and Nicholas Dodd on Sony Classical. She has performed with many celebrated artists, notably as a guest vocalist for Moby, The Today Show, Fox Good Day NY and is featured in TC Helicon’s 'The Ultimate Guide To Singing'.

Orphx have been creating their unique fusion of rhythm and noise since the early 1990s, combining and recombining elements of techno with the experimental techniques and critical spirit of industrial music.

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Forst, West Germany | SE-02, Plumbutter, Minidisc, OP1, Fieldkit FX, Thyme

Published on Aug 5, 2018 HAINBACH

"The last piece in my holiday series - back home today. The Ciat-Lonbarde Plumbutter is a beautiful filter - running the Roland SE-02 through it gives wide stereo movement and adds even more warmth to this tiny but powerful synthesizer.

Minidisc plays lyrics I sung and cut-up through the lovely delay and frequency shifter on the Field Kit FX, OP1 is the choir patch.'

KORG USA to Exclusively Distribute Waldorf Gear in the US

Thought this was interesting. If you are caught up with this morning's posts you might recall KORG is distributing Reon products in the UK. It appears they are also going to be the exclusive distributor for Waldorf in the US.

This one is in via Soviet Space Child, who spotted it on Music & Sound Retailer.

"Korg USA Inc. is now be the exclusive distributor for Waldorf Music. The new partnership will see Korg USA managing and implementing all marketing, sales and distribution strategies for Waldorf in the U.S.

'Waldorf is a natural fit for Korg USA, and we are honored to welcome them to our family of brands,” said James Sajeva, director of technology brands. “We pride ourselves on connecting dealers with the very best products to help them grow their business, and Waldorf is a great complement to that initiative.'

Waldorf was founded in 1988 in West Germany. For almost 30 years, it has created synthesizers and software, including the popular Blofeld series. Its most recent offerings, the KB37 and full line of modular products, expand Waldorf’s reach into the world of Eurorack.

Waldorf Music is the most recent addition to Korg USA’s growing assortment, which has also come to include Crush drums and Tanglewood guitars."

Realton Variophon Gig wind synth

via this auction

"Made in West Germany early eighties, 1980/1982. Comes with the Martinetta wind blower and 6 voice cards: sax, tuba, oboe, panflote, trompet, horn."

Peter Vogel - The Sound of Shadows (2011)

Peter Vogel - The Sound of Shadows (2011) from Jean Martin on Vimeo.

"Pre-published part of the documentary about Peter Vogel explaining his work in his atelier in Freiburg i.B., South-West Germany, by Jean Martin and Conall Gleeson."

Gorillaz & ondes Martenot, glassharmonica, cristal Baschet

YouTube via theondes

"Thomas Bloch: http://www.thomasbloch.net -
Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz, "The Good, The Bad and The Queen" leader) works in his studio (London) with music supervisor David Coulter and French multi-instrumentalist virtuoso Thomas Bloch (ondes Martenot, glassharmonica, cristal Baschet) who he has played as well with Radiohead as with most prestigious classical soloists and orchestras in the world) during the preparation of his first opera : "Monkey: Journey to the West", in April 2007.

Thomas Bloch informations: http://www.thomasbloch.net
Damon Albarn informations : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damon_Al...
David Coulter informations : http://profile.myspace.com/davidcoulter
"Monkey: Journey to the West" informations : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey:_...

Other names : Ones Martenot (Catalan), Ondas Martenot (Spain, Portugal), Martenot waves (English), Onde Martenot (Italy), Fale Martenota (Poland), 0™0Û0...0˚0fi0Î0»0Œ (Japan) - wrong name : Martinot / armonica de verre (France), Armonica de vidro, orgue de verre (France, Belgium), crystal harmonica, crystal armonica, glass organ, crystal organ, Armónica de cristal (Spain), Armonica a bicchieri (Italian), glasharmonika (Germany, Denmark, Sweden), glassharmonika (Norway), Harmonika szklana (Poland), 0¢0Î0‚0À0´ (Japan), close instruments : glass harp, glassharfe, glass harfe, harpe de verre, verrophon, verrophone, seraphim, verres musicaux, musical glasses"

Ondes Martenot / Messiaen 4° Feuillet Inédit by Thomas Bloch

YouTube via theondes

"Thomas Bloch: http://www.thomasbloch.net - Olivier Messiaen "4ème Feuillet Inédit" played by Jean-François Zygel (piano) and the French multi-instrumentalist Thomas Bloch (glassharmonica, ondes Martenot, cristal Baschet) who has played as well with Radiohead, Gorillaz as with most prestigious classical soloists and orchestras in the world, during a french national TV program ("La boîte à musique de Jean-François Zygel - spéciale Noël"). December 21, 2007

Thomas Bloch: http://www.thomasbloch.net
Jean-François Zygel informations : http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-fra...

Ondes Martenot /virtuosistic Formule by Thomas Bloch-TV 1999


"Thomas Bloch: http://www.thomasbloch.net - "Formule" is one of the most virtuosistic piece written for solo ondes Martenot, composed by and played here by the French multi-instrumentalist Thomas Bloch himself (ondes Martenot, glassharmonica, cristal Baschet) who has played as well with Radiohead, Gorillaz, John Cage as with most prestigious classical soloists and orchestras in the world (Milano Scala, Paris opera...).
A short excerpt of the piece taken from a TV program recorded in Paris Musée de la Musique. June 8, 1999.

To hear and see the complete work, a more recent version played live at the Barbican Center (London) was added recently on youtube:

Live ondes Martenot in Barbican (London) by Thomas Bloch



"Video recorded live in the Barbican Center, London (October 2007)."

for more videos including the Glass Harmonica see theondes YouTube channel.

"MODULAR: The Documentary" Gets a New Name & Seeks Funding

"An announcement from Robert and Jason, director and producer respectively, of the upcoming film, "I Dream Of Wires: A Modular Synthesizer Documentary":

We have just launched an IndieGoGo fund raising campaign for "I Dream Of Wires", with rewards and incentives for your contribution. If you have any interest in this film, even if you are not able to contribute, please take the time to check out the page - it is full of information about our story, plans, aspirations, and an ETA for the film's completion. You want us to travel to Germany to interview Dieter Doepfer? You want us to travel to the West Coast to interview Don Buchla? Here is your opportunity to help us to make these things happen. Thanks for your enthusiasm and support!

http://www.indiegogo.com/I-Dream-of-Wires

Please Note: "I Dream Of Wires" is the same film/project previously known as "Modular The Documentary". We are aiming to conclude filming before summer 2012, with a fall/winter 2012 ETA for the completed film."

I Dream of Wires: The Modular Synthesizer Documentary

YouTube Uploaded by booster744 on Sep 5, 2011

"Formally known as: MODULAR: The Documentary, the film is currently in production, directed by Robert Fantinatto, original score by SOLVENT. This is the extended promo video and features some of the east coast participants such as Morton Subotnick, Sean McBride (Martial Canterel) and Jason Amm (Solvent). The film is still in production with a west coast shooting block coming up, along with European locations.

We are currently raising funds to complete the film, please visit:

http://www.indiegogo.com/I-Dream-of-Wires?a=269090&i=addr

There are some great incentives for even modest contributions.

To keep up to date on the production visit:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Modular-the-documentary/106157466146310

For info on Solvent visit:

http://www.youtube.com/s0LVentCIty

For info on Lori Napoleon's switchboard synth and sequencer, visit:

http://meridian7.net/"

An Avant-Garde Synthesizer From 1960s East Germany

video upload by HAINBACH

"The Subharchord is a very rare electronic instrument from East Germany, made in the early sixties. At that time, the international music world was excited by the new electronic music coming from places like the WDR Studio in Cologne. As the GDR sought to lead over the West in all aspects, they established the „Labor für Akustisch-Musikalische Grenzprobleme“ (English: Laboratory for Problems at the Acoustics/Music Interface) to develop advanced electronic sound production. There the Subharchord was created by Ernst Schreiber as the lead engineer, while the striking look was designed by Gunter Wächtler. From the beginning it faced ideological concerns, which should later spell its doom. Thanks to the Elektro-Akustische Studio at ADK Berlin I got to explore it."

POLIVOKS VINTAGE DUOPHONIC USSR SOVIET ANALOG LEGENDARY SYNTHESIZER

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

"The Polivoks (also occasionally referred to as the Polyvox; Russian: Поливокс) is a duophonic, analog synthesizer manufactured and marketed in the Soviet Union between 1982 and 1990. It is arguably the most popular and well-known Soviet synthesizer in the West, likely due to the uniqueness of both its appearance and sound.

The Polivoks was designed at the Urals Vector plant, but actual production was handled at the Formanta Radio Factory in Kachkanar, Russian SFSR. It was intended to appear and sound similar to American and Japanese synthesizers from companies such as Roland, Moog, and Korg. The Polivoks was engineered by circuit designer Vladimir Kuzmin with the appearance of the instrument influenced by his wife Olimpiada,[2] who took inspiration from the design of Soviet military radios. Its retail price upon release was 920 rubles and over its lifetime around 100,000 Polivoks were manufactured - sometimes with a production rate of up to 1,000 units a month. But accordingly to information shared by Vladimir Kuzmin only 200-300 Polvokses were produced per month. It means that total number cannot be more than 32000.

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I Dream of Wires Call for Action - Please Read & Happy Thanksgiving!

Update: the new funding page is here: I Dream of Wires on IndieGoGo
Note the links below point to the old funding page.

Hi everyone! First off, Happy Thanksgiving to those celebrating. Second, the I Dream of Wires crew is currently 10 days away from their target date on gathering funding on IndieGoGo for the film. In short, they are making a documentary on the modular scene. They have much of the North American scene covered but would like to cover the UK and Europe as well. In order to do so they need funds. If you plan on picking up the DVD when it is released, please consider paying for it now on http://www.indiegogo.com/I-Dream-of-Wires. Why now and not when it comes out? Because the more they raise now, the more they will be able to cover. Is there a risk in paying now if they don't reach their goal funding? Yes and No. No in that they have plenty to cover for a DVD now, so you will get your money's worth. Yes in that if they don't receive enough funding, the UK's & Europe's modular scene will likely not get covered.

The long version via Solvent (also on Muff's):

"An update on I Dream Of Wires' fund raising:

We now have less than 2 weeks left in our IndieGoGo campaign, and have so far raised just one third our $30,000 goal. We have done our best to avoid badgering you with endless pleas for a contribution, but the time has come where we need to come right out and ask you to please consider contributing to the campaign now, if you haven't already.

If you are reading this, chances are you are interested in seeing this documentary, so if you do intend to buy the DVD when it comes out, there is really no reason not to contribute to the film now; your contribution is essentially a DVD pre-order. In fact, your advance contribution will net you the DVD at a cheaper price than it will be available for commercially. More importantly, your advance contribution will help to make 'I Dream Of Wires' into a better documentary.

The $10,000 we've raised so far is not even enough money to cover expenses for our upcoming West Coast trip / series of important interviews. We've booked our tickets and committed to this trip, but if part of the money ends up coming out of our own pockets, this is unfortunately the last trip that we are going to be able to consider. That means no trips to Germany and/or UK, trips that we had hoped and made tentative plans to do. This would essentially limit the film's perspective to the North American modular scene, which would be a shame. 
 


Some notes and clarifications:

(1) Unlike it's more well-known competitor, Kickstarter, IndieGoGo campaigns remain active after the closing date. So technically, we will still be able to receive contributions after the campaign has finished. Here is what the closing date represents to us: In December, we will be evaluating and determining the future scope of the project, and this will largely be based on the results of our IndieGoGo fund raising. Yes, we are also looking into alternate funding options, but ultimately we would prefer to keep this production as independent as possible. Raising the money through IndieGoGo is our best option for maintaining 100% independence. This will allow us to keep our vision pure and in tact, without the compromises that investors often bring to the table.

(2) People continue to ask: 'What happens if I contribute and then you don't reach your goal?' Similarly, we've had several comments saying things like: 'I hope you reach your goal so this film will become reality.' To clarify - the film is going to be completed, regardless of the fund raising outcome; contributors will get the package that they paid for, guaranteed. We have already invested a lot of time, energy, and money into this film - we are passionate about it, and committed to seeing it complete! We want to take this film beyond the Youtube playing field and into the greater public realm, to help foster an appreciation for the incredible talent, passion and dedication found in the modular synth community. Your contributions are helping us to document this exciting time in the history of electronic music, and the more contributions that we receive, the more wide-reaching our scope will be. 



Finally, we would like to say THANK YOU to the 143 people who have contributed to our campaign so far - Amazing! It is greatly appreciated, and has already proved vital in the film's continuing production."

Again, if you plan to pick up a copy, please considering paying for it now: http://www.indiegogo.com/I-Dream-of-Wires Update: new link here.

Richard Lainhart at Avantgarde Festival Schiphorst

"Schiphorst Avantgarde Festival

Schiphorst, Germany — Richard Lainhart will be performing live solo electroacoustic music with his Buchla/Continuum analog modular synthesizer system in a solo concert Friday night, Jul 2 and Saturday night Jul 3. On Sunday afternoon, Jul 4, he will perform with thereminist Thomas Zunk, including world premieres of our transcriptions of two sections from Olivier Messaien's "Quartet for the End of Time," arranged for Theremin and Buchla.

The entire festival will be broadcast live on http://www.rockradio.de/

A unique limited-release Festival Edition of Richard's upcoming new Ex Ovo CD "Cranes Fly West" will be available at Avantgarde Schiphorst.
See a preview of the CD design from Ex Ovo, links to Festival sites, and times for Richard's performances."

Harold Bode's Birthday & the Bode Ring Modulator Schematics

via The Bob Moog Foundation

"It’s the birthday of Harald Bode (1909-1987), German-born pioneer in synthesizer design and inventor of the Warbo Formant Organ (one of the earliest polyphonic synths), the Melochord, and the Bode Frequency Shifter, among many other instruments and devices.

Bode and Bob Moog began to work together in 1966, and this ring modulator is an indication of their partnership. Bode’s Ring Modulator and Frequency Shifter designs were implemented in R.A. Moog Co. products, and his vocoder was the basis for the Moog Vocoder released in the 1970s.

The schematic below was hand-drawn by Bob Moog himself. (Note the the “B.S.” in the “drawn by” square. In order to keep from having his initials in all the boxes when he drew up a certain schematic, Bob would use joke initials B.S.) Image: Bob Moog Foundation schematic for the Bode Ring Modulator. Many more Bob Moog Foundation archival schematics here: http://moogfoundation.org/schematics/"

"Warbo Formant Organ (1937), an archetype of today's polyphonic synthesizer, was a four voice key-assignment keyboard with two formant filters and dynamic envelope controller. Eventually it went into commercial production by a factory in Dachau, and it became one of the earliest polyphonic synthesizer products, along with Novachord (1939) by Hammond.

Melochord (1947–1949) developed by Bode was extensively used by Werner Meyer-Eppler in early days of the electronic studio at Bonn University. Then in 1953 a Melochord, along with Monochord by Freidrich Trautwein, was specially commissioned by the Studio for Electronic Music of the Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR Studio in Cologne, West German Broadcasting Corporation), and used by the Elektronische Musik group throughout the 1950s. (See #Melochord at the WDR Studio in Cologne for details)

From 1950, Bode designed electronic organs for the Apparatewerk Bayern (AWB) in Germany and the Estey Organ Company in the United States. In 1954, Bode immigrated to the United States as a chief engineer (later vice-president) of Estey Organ, and resumed his research at several companies and as a contractor of German companies.

In 1959-1960, Bode developed modular synthesizer and sound processor, and in 1961, he wrote a paper exploring the advantages of newly emerging transistor technology over older vacuum tube devices; also he served as AES session chairman on music and electronic for the fall conventions in 1962 and 1964; after then, his ideas were adopted by Robert Moog, Donald Buchla and others.

After retiring from the chief engineer of Bell Aerospace in 1974, he composed TV-advertising spots and gave live concerts. Also in 1977, Harald was invited as a chief engineer of the Norlin/Moog Music after Robert Moog left.

He died in New York, New York, United States in 1987."

Moby's Drum Machines For Sale

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

You can find them on Reverb here.

Don't miss the video here.

Update: some pics and details captured. I made the mistake of trying to capture them all and then realized how many were listed. :) I ended up switching to the more esoteric models. Quite a few have never been featured here on MATRIXSYNTH before. What's a little bit interesting, is only two new labels were needed, one for Domino and one for Side-Kick-Er. All other brands have been featured before. See the labels at the bottom of this post. Side note: Blogger limits the number of characters to 200 for labels, so I wasn't able to capture them all for this post. You can always search for the brand names featured for more. I assume most do this anyway. The labels are more for maintenance and for finding posts that may not feature brand names in descriptions.

Pictured:

Realistic Concertmate Electronic Accompanist-Metronome

"Fully analog rhythmic companion utilizing 5 beat buttons to combine how you wish. Features metronome, speaker and line out, and tempo control.

Serial: 42-2103. Works with no issue."

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Sri Chinmoy's Synthesizer Symphony

Published on Dec 6, 2015

What is that?

"Compiled with footage from 9 peace concerts that spiritual teacher and musician Sri Chinmnoy (1931-2007) gave in Germany in 2005. Sri Chinmoy usually played the synthesizer as the highlight of the evening. The video also contains some Jharna-Kala art reproductions also created by Sri Chinmoy. These pictures were shown on a big screen behind the stage during the performances. Filmed and edited by Kedar Misani. Length: 49:23 min."

via Wikipedia: "Chinmoy Kumar Ghose, better known as Sri Chinmoy[1] (27 August 1931 – 11 October 2007), was an Indian spiritual master who taught meditation in the West after moving to New York City in 1964.[2] Chinmoy established his first meditation center in Queens, New York, and eventually had thousands of students in 60 countries.[3][4][5] A prolific author, artist, poet, and musician, he also held public events such as concerts and meditations on the theme of inner peace.[6][7] Chinmoy also advocated athleticism to achieve spiritual enlightenment, including distance running, swimming, and weightlifting. He organized marathons and other races, and was an active runner and, following a knee injury, weightlifter.[6][7]"

An Interview with ERRORINSTRUMENTS' Paul Tas & New Product Announcements

The following is a fascinating look at the man behind ERRORINSTRUMENTS, Paul Tas. Note the questions are not mine, but were sent in with the full interview by inmar lsbtv grtz sleep good.

So how did all start? What was your life before "error instruments"?

- my life before error instruments can be described as a life of an artist in making sculptures and paintings. I was making sculptures from robots, called "the beeb" collection. It is a wooden robot with the concept that in the 50's, we have thought that robots will replace our jobs. However, with the influence of the media, and the medicines we take against emotions, figuratively we can say that we are the robot, and we get programmed by commercials and news. This robot has been a big succes due to the fact that it has been bought by numerous art collectors from different countries such as Japan and the United States. Furthermore, the collections had been sold also at auctions houses Christie's. Later on, I have started to work more in fashion and art and making moveable sculptures with electronics, I made also a traditional Dutch blue sculptures, big horse heads with the intention of giving a controversial thoughts and ideas. Moreover, sculptures about religion, which was a mix between Jesus and the corporate companies in the world with the meaning behind it, that they use the same propaganda to control people's mindset. I was also threatened by religious groups from Germany and Belgium during the time of exposition, not only me, but also the other people in the gallery. This situation has got to a point where i had to go to the court, but in the end I was free to go. Later i have done a project for Damian Hurst and made some installations together with BitMove for the "Love of God" exposition in the "RijksMuseum Amsterdam". As a result, more and more technical and electrical equipments got involved.

When did you have the idea for error instruments and what did the first steps look like?

- First of all, it is important that you know that as a child, i was not able to read, thus it was difficult to go to a normal school, and i have attended a special school, which allowed me to use my creativity, furthermore my writing was always full of mistakes and because in the 80's we used "Commodore 64", and every time i was writing something, a text appeared " Syntax ERROR". Therefore, the kids at my school, gave a nickname to me , called "Error". As a result, i got a fascination about the things that go wrong with machines, such as glitches or accidentally algoritmes and of course the sound of noises. By exploring the art of circuit bending and hardware hacking, i have found out that many people miss this, because the commercial products were created as a mainstream products, with a result for mainstream music. Thus, with the money that i have earned from art, I have started the shop, "ERROR INSTRUMENTS".

Do you have artistic projects beside error instruments?

- Yes, I perform under the name "ERROR EMPIRE", on several festivals. I have also some conceptional sound projects, called "Pink data". The idea of "Pink Data" is that is not controlled by humans, thus all the music is created by accidental algoritmes. I also make sculptures, with acoustic and electronic purposes. Furthermore, I am busy working on the modelar synthesizer and exploring control voltage. design eurorack modules for and special audience

What is the error philosophy?

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