French Connection

Nortec’s Pepe and Ramon visit BigCityMusic, and check out one hundred and one synthesizers in two minutes. 

“This is one our many visits to Bigcitymusic, one of our favorite analogue synthesizer store around, we really thanks to Roger and all bigcitymusic family we love you guys.” – Pepe & Ramon.

You can see here at least a knob or slider from Analogue Systems modular systems, LL Electronics, Metasonix, Cwejman, Mellotron, Sherman, Jomox, Vermona, System 8500 modular, French Connection Martenot-style controller, rs-420 Octave Controller, rs95e VCO, rs370 Polyphonic Harmonic Generator, rs300 CV to MIDI and others. 

See anything else in the video? Leave a comment!

Matthew Davidson (Stretta) demos the Analoque Systems French Connection. 

Based upon the Ondes Martenot, the French Connection is a unique controller for virtuoso 
performance. By placing a finger through the ring suspended below the physical keyboard the player can smoothly glide between notes by moving the playing hand from left to right, and create natural vibrato in the process.

Theremin effects are easily obtained by connecting one of the cv outputs to an external vco with sine wave output.

More videos by Davidson are available on Vimeo.

via Davidson’s comment on a previous post

This video, Where Are You?, captures Stretta (Matthew Davidson) playing a French Connection controller against a looping phrase. If you listen carefully to the phrase, the pulses change slightly throughout the composition. 

The French Connection is controlling a small collection of modules including a Cwejman VCO-RM2, MMF1, Plan B model 11 and Doepfer VCA. The left hand joystick is controlling various parameters including the frequency of the slave osc of the VCO which is also frequency modulating one of the filters.

Besides being a lovely piece, this is the most musical use I’ve seen of the very cool French Connection, which offers the discrete phrasing of a keyboard, along with the more vocal phrasing of a continuously pitched controller.