Electronic Music & Recording Gear

Playing the Building, a 9,000-square-foot, interactive, site-specific installation by David Byrne, will transform the interior of the Battery Maritime Building in Lower Manhattan into a massive sound sculpture that all visitors are invited to sit and “play.”
Byrne’s project will consist of a retrofitted antique organ placed in the center of the building’s cavernous second-floor gallery […]

Velvet Acid Christ’s Bryan Erickson has published a nice interview with Wowa Cwejman, the creator of Cwejman Synthesizers.
Cwejman developed a large line of synth modules in Eurorack format
Here are a few highlights:
BE: Did you make your systems and modules to cover all the analog ground from the strange sci-fi sound fx to bread and butter […]

Modular synthesist Bakis Sirros sends word via the forum of new demo clips for the Analogue Systems RS370 Polyphonic Harmonic Generator, a 6-voice polyphonic harmonic generator and wavetable synthesizer.
You can preview some of the sound clips below. More demo clips are available at the Big City Music site.
RS370 Features:

6-voice polyphonic harmonic generator and wavetable […]

 

 Clicky Percussion: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Instant glitch: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Harmonic Finale: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Velvet Acid Christ’s Bryan Erickson has published a nice interview with Scott Jaeger, the guy behind The Harvestman’s digital synth modules.
The Harvestman has introduced some of the most interesting and innovative new synth modules in recent memory, including the TymeSefari loop sampler/delay and the Malgorithm voltage-controlled bit-crusher.
Here are a few highlights:
BE: What got you interested […]

Analogue Solutions‘ new Leipzig monosynth is new old-school style analog synthesiser, with a fairly classic layout and sound.
You can preview the Leipzig sound below.
Features:

Pure analogue voice circuitry.
Fat Moog style filter.
2 VCOs with Glide and Sub-VCOs.
Plenty of modulation routing possibilities.
Extra tone controls and circuits for more sound variety e.g. LFO, CrossMod.
Rugged steel construction and ‘vintage’ wood […]

 

 Leipzig demo [0:55m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Leipzig demo [0:31m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In this cool video, Wire to the Ear’s Oliver Chesler goes to Jomox in Berlin, Germany, to purchase a Mbase 01 analog kick drum module. There, the owner Jürgen Michaelis shows Oliver his workshop and toys.
Michaelis is responsible for some of the craziest electronic music gear being created.

xelent’s Tape Delay Machine uses two Walkman type tape players, a Realistic Stereo Mate and a Memorex XB, to create a tape delay. It’s Frippertronics on the cheap!
A single tape loop runs through two modified cassettes (each which have had one of their left or right sides removed). The players themselves have had there walls […]

Interesting synth DIY project, via noystoise, the Mouse Trap features quad frequency modulating oscillators built with 556 timers.
The oscillator frequencies are controlled by a quadruple pot joystick. two of the four have switches to add a slow decay. The mouseball changes the pitch of the oscillators randomly. The thumb wheel pot sets the minimum frequency […]

DIY kit maker CuriousInventor has introduced a new music sequencer kit, called the Voice of Saturn, that looks like an inexpensive way to get into analog sequencing.
This is a 10 step analog sequencer, which basically steps through 10 different […]

Minneapolis is the last stop for Bent Festival 2008, being held at the the Intermedia Arts Center, Thursday May 1 through Saturday May 3rd.
Workshops will begin on Friday with tutorials on HighlyLiquid’s MIDI kits and on Saturday there will be a wide range of classes for every skill level. Each night there will be Music […]

Yamaha has introduced a collection of Yamaha Key designs for Milano Salone 2008, an international furniture design trade show and competition, based on the theme “key for you”.
According to the company, the designs use a Minimal Element/Maximum Effect concept.

Let me know what you think of these design concepts in the comments.

The Moon Modular 563 is a Moog modular format trigger sequencer. Four rows of toggles control eight steps of four trigger voices.
Per YuSynth:
This Moon Modular 563 module is apparently the commercial version of a module that was custom-made for Gert Jalass. For Xmas 2006, Gert Jalass sent me a Xmas card showing his sequencer unit […]

Sometimes it seems that there’s no end to the types of MIDI controllers that people come up with.
Want proof? Here’s are some of the strangest MIDI controllers we’ve seen:
Using Pennies As A Drum Controller

That’s just of start of it. Read on for MIDI Hamsters, MIDI Drivers’ Licenses and more!

Arturia’s preview for the Origin synth is a teaser, more than anything else.
Origin is the first Arturia Hardware synthesizer. It is a modular system, featuring modules based on some of the best synthesizers of all time (Moog Modular, ARP 2600, CS-80, Minimoog and Prophet VS).
Features:

500+ presets created by talented musicians and synthesizer specialists
Up to 32 […]

Totally Wired is a documentary film about Andreas Schneider’s infamous Schneider’s Buero, the boutique electronic musical instrument Mecca in Berlin.
The firm explores one man’s electric evangelism, and the interface he has built to connect analogue instrument inventors with their end-users.

The film features a selection of inventors and artists, including:

Dieter Doepfer
Junior Boys
Ken MacBeth
Anthony Rother
Jessica Rylan
Daniel Miller
Wowa […]