Eric Barbour
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Filed under: Drum Machines & Groove Boxes, Electronic InstrumentsEric Barbour of Metasonix demonstrates a prototype vacuum tube drum machine at Robotspeak in San Francisco.
Flickr VideoCheck out BeerNotBombs’ Flickr set for more photos and videos from the event.
So – what do you think Barbour should call his vacuum tube drum machine?
After the AssBlaster & the Butt Probe, the obvious name for a Metasonix vacuum tube drum machine would probably be the Butt Kicker. If you’ve got a better idea for what to name this thing or other thoughts on the idea of a vacuum tube drum machine, leave a comment below!
2009 NAMM Show: Usually about this time of year, Metasonix‘ Eric Barbour comes out with something called the Fucking Fucker or the Scrotum Smasher.
This year, he’s got teases for the Metasonix R-51 & the Metasonix KV-100 – which I’m guessing have more colorful names, too:
Metasonix R-51v audio demos by Josh Humphrey at Big City Music, using Analogue Systems modules (RS-95 VCO, various LFOs, EGs and sequencer:
“R51withLFO” shows what happens when you modulate the distortion CV input with a slow LFO signal.
Metasonix KV-100 demos, courtesy of The Wretch:
This is a demo of Eric Barbour’s Metasonix S-1000 all-tube Wretch Machine in action.
There are different clips, some using the Wretch as a drum processor, some as a synth. There’s a short little bit with the pulser section too.
It’s not very nice sounding, but aren’t most synths trying to sound nice? Different is good.
via bigcitymusic
Bridechamber has announced the Metasonix TM-1m Waveshaper, a MOTM-formatted Metasonix TM-1.
This version of the TM-1 is 2U and has attenuators for the CVs — skinnier, fully modularized, and not yellow.
Having this in MOTM is nice – but I kind of like the lurid yellow of the original.
It’s $400.
Here’s the description of the original Metasonix TM-1:
The Metasonix TM-1’s circuit is directly derived from the EM EDITOR’S CHOICE award-winning Metasonix TS-21. The pentode preamp gives pure tube distortion, from soft and creamy to screaming guitar-amp like leads. Just crank the input volume.
The “pulser” circuit injects small, badly-formed pulses on top of the signal, giving an effect roughly similar to very erratic (and violently unstable) VCO sync. Forget getting this effect from another synth, analog or digital; they just can’t do it. It sounds out of control, yet it is easily tweaked over a broad range with the PULSER STABILITY knob. Subtle, or gross; a vast range of sonic manglings are at your fingertips. (The pulser circuit works best with sharp-edged electronic waveforms, especially those from digital synths or analog VCOs.)
Finally, a special beam-deflection vacuum tube gives both wavefolding and ring modulation (carrier is provided by an internal wide-range oscillator, or inject your own carrier signal). There is nothing quite like the crossmodulation produced by the beam tube, its nonlinearities and resulting tonal effects are distinctive. Crude and NASTY, too.
TM-1’s pulser effect uses a positive feedback loop, so the circuit is not stable under all settings. This allows its use as a self-contained pseudorandom signal generator, by patching its output back to its input. You’ve read about “strange attractors” and other chaotic sound generation techniques? The TM-1 is the first all-tube chaotic sound generator. The results must be heard to be believed!
Metasonix‘ Eric Barbour, the tube freak behind the Fucking Fucker guitar amp, the TM-7 Scrotum Smasher & the Butt Probe, is now blogging.
His site, the Fucking Fucker blog, aka Eric ass-rapes you with a ‘59 Les Paul Custom, is at ericsaysfuckyou.blogspot.com.
Guess what – it’s NSFW…..unless you work someplace really bizarre.
The topics he plans to cover include:
Metasonix, vacuum tube, rant, hate, shit planet, blah, blah, eric, you suck. Sodomy, Sodomy, Sodomy. This is the Fucking Fucker blog. Where we cheerfully insult guitarists. Have a nice day, asshole.
(Go and read www.deviantsynth.com, first. Maggot brain.)
If this doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, you tell Eric what you think in the forum, where he announced his new blog.
You can also find out why he thinks threatening anal rape is a good motivator in our Eric Barbour interview.
