Thinkertank’s Chess Sequencer is a step matrix sequencer made from a chess board.
Placing chess pieces on the board switches notes on. In the demo above, the sequencer is being used to control software synths on a Mac via USB.
Here’s a review, via inside synthesis, of the Korg Monotribe, with mods.
Note that the review demonstrates multiple features that are only available via mods, including drum sound tweaks and MIDI control. That said, it shows that Monotribe mods add some very useful functionality, especially if you want to use the device as a sound module.
Boutique synth manufacturer Eowave has announced plans to release the Magma analogue bassline synthesizer at Musikmesse 2012.
According to the developer, the Eowave Magma analogue bassline synthesizer was inspired by classic synths from the 1980s.
Key features include:
The Eowave Magma is priced at €599 and is expected to be available ‘soon’.
Electronic music pioneer Suzanne Ciani has a new retrospective CD out, Lixiviation.
This vintage video, taken from the Omni television show, takes a look at her sound design work in the 80′s for the Xenon pinball game.
Host Peter Ustinov’s narration hasn’t aged too gracefully, but the video offers a rare view into Ciani and her work during this time period.
This video captures some experimentation with a Buchla 200e modular synthesizer and Synthetic Bits’ Little MIDI Machine, a free software step sequencer for the iPad.
As the video demonstrates, Little MIDI Machine can make a fairly powerful step sequencing option for both MIDI and CV gear.
Reader Martin Bircher sent word of a new interactive sound installation, Digital Enhancement.
Digital Enhancement consists of an electrified Symphonion Brevet No. 28 music box, a synthesizer, an amplifier and four headphones.
The Symphonion musical box dates back to the beginning of the last century and its mechanical workings are combined with digital technology to convert it into a MIDI sequencer.
The original music, embossed on steel plates, can be played on the synthesizer, which is programmed to mimic the sounds of the Symphonion. In order to operate the sequencer, a hand-cranked dynamo serves as a remote control.
MIDI is almost 30 years old. In the years since it was introduced, it’s become one of the most important standards in musical instruments and software.
For the first two decades of MIDI’s existence, you could connect just about any two MIDI-compatible devices together. With a couple of DIN MIDI cables, you could connect keyboards, synth modules, effects, controllers and computers with MIDI interfaces.
More recently, though, connecting MIDI devices has gotten more complicated. Manufacturers have switched to USB cables on keyboards and MIDI controllers. And the explosion of iOS music applications means that musicians now want to connect MIDI devices to iPhones and iPads, which use a proprietary 30-pin connector.
What do you do if you want to use an iPad sequencer to run your hardware gear? Or you want to use your computer to sequence hardware synths — and also iOS apps? Or you want to use your USB MIDI controller to play your old-school synth module?
These are the sort of situations that iConnectivity’s iConnectMIDI was designed to solve.
The iConnectMIDI is a MIDI interface that’s like the Rosetta Stone of MIDI. It not only has the physical ports to connect computer, iOS devices, USB controllers and old-school MIDI devices together, it has the power to do it intelligently.
Sunday Synth Jam: Reader Ville Väisänen wrote in to let us know how they do it in Finland – with synced Monotribe + MC-505:
Hello! I’m a daily reader and long time fan of Synthtopia from Finland. I got my Monotribe last week, and made this synth jam in sync with Roland MC-505.
I included instructions on how to sync them in the video. I
This video is part synth jam & part tutorial. Check out the video text for details on how Väisänen is syncing the Monotribe + MC-505.
Here’s a little something for all the electronic dance music lovers for Valentine’s Day – the track that, arguably, started it all, the Donna Summer + Giorgio Moroder classic I Feel Love.
It’s hard to imagine how futuristic I Feel Love must have sounded when it was released in 1977 – with its driving Moog basslines and electornic drums, sexy vocals and ethereal chorus. But it still sounds amazing after 35 years.
I Feel Love has been covered and remixed hundreds of times. Here are a few examples:
Korg has uploaded another intro video for one of its older products, this time for the Korg Koassilator.
We’d rather see new gear introductions, of course, but it’s nice to see Korg ‘backfilling’ intro videos for some of the products that are a little older. I hope that more companies follow Korg’s lead on this, because it’s sometimes surprising how little media is available on some fairly recent products.