Start your week off right with this awesomely strange music video – Gelbart’s Mass hypnosis by magnets (WORM studio version).

It appears to have something to do with alien sweet potato mind control – but you can’t be sure with these things.

Recorded at the WORM CEM studios in Rotterdam on the Arp 2500, VCS-3 and Korg MS-20.

Music and video by Gelbart.

via defektrecords

Sunday Synth Jams: Bernd Kistenmacher’s Celestial Movements offers some live Berlin School synth jamming with a kick.

via cosmiccagibi:

Bernd Kistenmacher is back ! First concert in Paris… Excellent ! If you couldn’t be there no worries, we like to share, so… enjoy, and see you next time. Soon !

Sunday Synth Jams: This synth music jam is pure analog, with the Eminent and the Roland SH 3A, wih Roland DEP 5 & Electro-Harmonix Small Stone phaser added for effect.

via magevers

Hollow Sun has announced plans for a new virtual instrument based on the rare and amazing Hammond Novachord – a polyphonic analog synthesizer released in 1939!

The Novachord is sort of the B3 of synthesizers – a huge, unwieldy beast that sounds like nothing else.

Unlike the B3, though, the Hammond Novachord has largely been forgotten. They were expensive, few were made, and few have survived because of their complexity.

The Novachord features divide-down oscillators and individual envelopes and LFO for each note. Yeah – this thing could do 72-voice polyphony in 1939!

Here’s an example of what this 70 year-old monster synth can sound like:

Imagine if this technology had taken off!

The Hammond Novachord Sample Library

Hollow Sun is working with Novachord owner Dan Wilson of Hideaway Studios in Bath, England, to capture the sound of this beast in all its epic glory.

Here’s what they have to say about this project:

Work has begun on this and tentative sampling sessions are beginning to reveal what lies ahead of us – textures that would not be out of place on a modern synth 70 years on in 2009 but with a strangely ‘earthy’ and ‘organic’ quality quite unlike I’ve heard before, full of flawed nuances and subtelty. The Novachord doesn’t generate sounds … it breathes them in gasps and grunts and squeals and whispers!

It’s early days. As time allows, I shall be bringing news of progress on a (hopefully) regular basis … so bookmark this Blog to watch us through our laboratory’s musty window. Dan and I aren’t quite ponsing about in white coats here (I favour a good tweed and a robust brogue!) but it feels a bit like it as Dan probes and regulates the 70 year old valves and massive capacitors with voltmeters and oscilloscopes and I work the resulting samples into an accurate representation of this incredible instrument.

No release date or pricing has been set.

Tom at Waveformless put together a fun post taking a look at going vintage on the cheap.

There are a number of really underrated synths that seem to go for consistently low prices. They’re awesome synths, but nobody seems to know about them, which means you can get a great deal.

Here’s the list of synths that he highlights:

1. Casio CZ-101 (typically less than $100)
2. Ensoniq ESQ-1 (typically $150-$300)
3. Moog (Realistic) Concertmate MG-1 (typically $100-$500)
4. Oberheim Matrix-6R (typically $150-$350+)
5. Roland HS-10/80 (typically $25-$100)
6. Roland HS-60 (typically $200+)
7. Roland MKS-7 (typically $200+)
8. Yamaha CS-01 (typically $150-$250)
9. Yamaha TX81Z (typically $50-$85)

See Tom’s post for his take on each of these synths.

Are these great synths? No – but you can get great deals on them and make some great sounds.

As an alternative to the Casio CZ-101, I’d recommend the CZ-1, which has twice the polyphony plus a velocity + aftertouch sensitive full-size keyboard. And is still dirt cheap.

Got other ideas for cheap vintage synths that don’t suck? Leave a comment!

The Realistic Concertmate MG-1 is vintage analog synthesizer that was distributed by Radio Shack under their “Realistic” brand name.

It was one of the worst synths that ever bore the Moog name. But, as the video demonstrates, that doesn’t mean it couldn’t make some great analog sounds.

Features:

• Two oscillators with sync & detune, one producing either a Square or Sawtooth waveform, with the other producing either a Pulse or Sawtooth waveform.
• One low pass filter/VCF, that can use the envelope generator, has limited keyboard tracking, and is capable of self oscillation.
• Limited envelope generator with variable attack and release, and a switchable sustain (no decay).
• Oscillator 2 can be tuned independently or synced to oscillator 1.
• Noise generator.
• Ring modulator (called “Bell Tone”).
• Polyphonic oscillator. This oscillator is routed through the filter, but not through the envelope generator or LFO.
• LFO that can modulate the oscillators and the filter using a triangle, square or random waveform
• Portamento (called “Glide”)
• External Control inputs for pre-MIDI CV/Gate.

The Concertmate MG-1 is notorious for it’s inclusion of a cheesy polyphonic organ sound and for using black foam on the interior which decays into a sticky black sludge over time.

If you’ve used the Moog Realistic Concertmate MG-1, leave a comment with your thoughts!

The History Of The Moog Realistic Concertmate MG-1

Synthesis Technology’s Paul Shreiber, who’s known for designing the Cadillac of modular synths, the MOTM, has explained the origin of the Concertmate MG-1:

Radio Shack has no engineering. Rather, that falls (er…’fell’) under TSD (Tandy Systems Design). Also, twice a year Radio Shack holds a private version  of COMDEX/CES, just for them! Vendors line up 50 deep and present their wares.

Back then (early ’80s) about 40% of gear in a Radio Shack was bought ‘outside’. Most electronics was made in a Korean factory that Tandy owned a majority  share called EnCal (EnCal made all of Pioneer’s and Alpine’s car stereos there).

So, during one of these mini-trade shows who is on the presentation list (which TSD got in advance) but a one ‘Dr. D. Luce’. Well, when I saw Mr.  PolyMoog on the list I had to see this. So sure enough here he wanders in with a hand-made small synth. He demos it. Bernie Appel, the #1 decision maker (er…the *ONLY* decision maker of what went in the store or not) had this type of conversation:

BA:  What the f*** is that piece of s***? (BA enjoyed treating all new vendors this way. This was his equivalent of “Hello.”)

DDL: It’s a music synthesizer prototype. [Proceeds on a 3 minute demo. You had 5 minutes to present. Period!!]

BA:  (interested, but certainly not going to show it to the Yankee geek) How the hell do you plug it in?

DDL  points out the 1/4″ jack.

BA:  Where in the holy hell, in my store (they were always referred to as “my stores”) does that thing go? Up my ass?

See, RS had not a single piece of gear that had 1/4″ jacks! All RCA. BA knew this.

DDL at this point looks like he’s gonna puke. He’s quivering & sweating like a whore in church (sorry, that’s another BA expression!)

BA:  Play me a tune. [DDL one-fingers a classical thingy.]

BA:  That damn thing busted? What’s with this 1 finger shit? [DDL explains about monophonic blah blah blah.]

BA turns to me.

BA:  You know what the hell he’s talking about?

Me:  (thinking this is a trick question) Err…yeah.

BA to DDL: We’ll look at it. NEXT!!!!

So began the Luce/Schreiber effort. What he had was the boards out of a Minimoog, no A440 osc, no noise, in a box. So, I got handed that, designed  the MG-1 version (added the organ stuff BECAUSE BA was convinced that typical  RS customers wanted more than 1 note). Added RCA jacks, ring mod do-dad. Then, had to specify parts that Moog never had to use: cheapo pots. I’ll admit it: CHEAPO. They were ALPS and I think we paid (back then) about 23 cents apiece.

That is because the RS gross profit margin was an unheard of 63% (the average of ALL the Forture 500 is like 8%) and lastly, I spent about 3 weeks on just the panel layout and color scheme & wrote the Owner’s Manual along  with, oddly enough, Steve Leininger who designed the TRS-80. He played a Vox  in a jazz band and BA wanted his opinion as well.

Luce and I went back & forth about 5 months until they delivered the “pre-production” units. Moog made them, Tandy supplied most of the parts (we had a company in Japan that bought parts and resold them to Tandy. One day I’ll tell my funny modem capacitor story.)

So, the story was:

• Moog presented the original idea to RS
• They dumped it on me. I had to make it “Radio Shack compliant”. Which meant a re-design. Used the 3046 + Tel Labs tempco for the VCO. More Electronotes than Moog! Moog ladder filter, 3080 VCA. Prototype had mod wheel; *PUNT!*. Cost like $3. Get real.
• Moog built it.
• Tandy had 18 months exclusive. Moog then made the Rogue which is my design without the organ/ring mod, wheels back on.
• No, I didn’t get a free MG-1 or a Rogue.
• No, I didn’t get a lot of money. At that time I was making about $21,500/yr.

Final note: NO!!! I DID NOT pick that stupid black felt that lays over the sliders, then turns to tar. That was Luce’s deal. But, I DID get Luce to send me *every* piece of Moog literature at the time: still have it!

Paul Schreiber
Synthesis Technology

Resources:

• The Moog Realistic Concertmate MG-1 at cykong
• Synhouse plans for adding MIDI to a Concertmate MG-1 synthesizer
• Video via Thalassa77: During the last few days I’ve been restoring this Moog Realisitic Concertmate MG-1 and now the synth is like new. The Moog MG-1 is basically a Moog Rogue with a polyphonic section, it has 2 VCO , 1 LFO with S&H , 1 AR envelope , noise,ring modulator and a genuine Moog filter. The sound is amazing and you can get a lot of different kind of sounds from deep basses to soft leads and brass sounds. On this video i’m just showing a few of sounds that can be created on moment with this little synth
• Wikipedia entry

This is a deep interview with a deep guy – Ray Kurzweil – about some deep ideas.

In the early 80’s, Kurzweil developed the Kurzweil K250 digital synthesizer, which developed into one of the most influential digital synthesis platforms.

Kurzweil sold his music business in 1990 and in recent years has focused his attention on artificial intelligence, transhumanism and the technological singularity.

Some of his ideas for the future seem far out. But if you watch this video, you’ll hear Kurweil’s thoughts on exponential technological development and how it creates change that is difficult for our linear minds to predict.

Fantastic stuff – bookmark it and give it a listen when you have a chance.

via ComputerHistory:

[Recorded July 13 2009] Ray Kurzweil is a 21st century polymath. He is a scientist, inventor, entrepreneur, author, visionary and futurist. As a scientist and inventor he has pioneered work in optical character recognition (OCR), speech recognition technology, and electronic keyboard instruments. As an entrepreneur, Kurzweil has founded businesses in the fields of OCR, music synthesis, speech recognition, reading technology, virtual reality and financial investment. He is the author of numerous books on health, artificial intelligence (AI), the technological singularity and futurism. The Kurzweilian version of the future is the inevitable merger of humans and intelligent machines.In this discussion with Computer History Museum Senior Curator Dag Spicer, Kurzweil shares his vision of how technology will re-shape the human body (and culture generally) into one that incorporates advanced technologies into a new type of post-human organism. Kurzweil sees this transformation occurring over the next 20 to 50 years and beginning with the integration of electronic-based systems into the human body. Some decades after that, a further transformation occurs–one based on nanotechnology—which incorporates the manipulation and construction of interfaces and complex systems based on atomic-level structures that merge with and control specific bodily functions and attack its problems (i.e. cancer). Some of the philosophical implications of Kurzweils vision are also discussed.

Jeez Louise shows you how to combine your digital synths with analog guitar effects – so you can create face-melting prog keytar solos.

via JeezLouise666

Dave Smith Instruments

The new version boasts 60 potentiometers among its complement of 78 rotary controls.

“The response to the pot edition of the Prophet ’08 has been overwhelmingly positive,” said company founder Dave Smith, “so we decided to extend that functionality to the Poly Evolver, as well.”

Unlike endless rotary encoders, potentiometers allow the full range of a knob’s values to be accessed in a single turn of about 300 degrees. That simplifies filter sweeps and other more performance-oriented gestures. A kit with potentiometer-equipped panel boards is available to convert older Poly Evolvers.

There have also been some cosmetic changes. “We needed both lined and unlined knobs to distinguish between the pots and encoders, so we’re using Prophet-style knobs,” said DSI’s Andrew McGowan. “And we’ve updated the panel graphics a bit without changing them significantly.” The wood end panels are now made from bubinga.

First released in 2005, the Poly Evolver received multiple awards and has been used extensively by artists such as Nine Inch Nails, The Faint, Silversun Pickups, Van She, and Thursday. An analog/digital hybrid, the four-voice Poly Evolver features four oscillators—two analog and two digital—in a unique stereo voice architecture with a real Curtis analog low-pass filter per channel on each voice. The digital processing does not simply add effects at the end of the signal chain, but is tightly integrated with the analog electronics for tuned feedback, distortion, bit crushing, and synced delays. It can also process external audio and has separate stereo outputs for each voice.

The updated Poly Evolver Keyboard is available now with an MSRP of $2,899.00 and an MAP of $2,599.00. The conversion kit requires nothing more than a screwdriver for installation and is available directly from DSI for $399.00 or factory installed for $449.00.

Dream Theater’s Jordan Rudess offers his take on the Korg OASYS.

via Unholybarrelmaker:

The Oasys is probably the pinnacle of synthesizer technology. Basically take all the features from every Korg and Roland workstation and combine them into one sexy keyboard, and there’s the Oasys.

This is a demo of a vintage Maplin 5600s analog synthesizer.

In the early 70’s, the Australian magazine Electronics Today International published Tervor Marshall’s designs for two partly digital, mostly analog, Electronic Music Synthesisers. the ETI 3600 and ETI 4600.

Both were made available as kits of components. Barry Wilkinson at ETI was responsible for the final packaging and kitting coordination. Maplin Electronics Ltd.(in the UK) subsequently picked up the designs, which they marketed as as the Maplin models 3800 and 5600s Electronic Music Synthesizers.

Video Details:

This sequence is based on his two transient trapezoid envelopes. It’s a very nice matrix synthesizer with many parameters …much more than an EMS VCS3. His Matrix has 30 x 30 contact points (900 in total) for complex I/O and control voltages. It has a built in spring reverb and an amazing cv controlled phaser. The “kick” come out from a RSF Kobol driven by the Maplin 5600 trigger.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Shards, by Gattobus,is a lie granular synthesis experiment.

Patch details below.

Gattobus explains the setup:

Stereo headphones recommended.

The audio is sampled live from Nord Modular G2 audio inputs and reduced to bits, stretched, and compressed by a patch of my creation.
The button that I press on the modular is for capturing audio fragments.
The captured sound sources are the Nord Modular itself, Elektron Monomachine and the Elektron Machinedrum.
Nothing is pre-recorded, everything is sequenced LIVE and processed in real-time time.

—

Per un ascolto migliore è consigliato usare delle cuffie.

L’audio viene campionato in tempo reale dagli ingressi audio del Nord Modular G2 e spezzettato, stretchato e compresso da una patch di mia creazione.
Il bottone che mi vedete premere sul Modular serve per catturare frammenti di audio.
Le sorgenti sonore catturate sono lo stesso Modular, l’Elektron Monomachine e l’Elektron Machinedrum.
Nulla è stato pre-registrato, ogni cosa è sequencerizzata dal vivo e processata in tempo reale.

This series of seven videos looks at using Ableton Live 8 with Open Labs’ DBeat music production workstation.

This is an official intro video for the JUNO-Di: Mobile Synthesizer.

The Roland Juno-Di is designed for the musician on the go, providing a wide array of sounds in a lightweight, portable design. The JUNO-Di is now shipping with an MSRP of $799.00.

The video lays it on a little thick – but offers a general overview of the Juno-Di and its sound.

via 7sick0Productions:

On stage or in the streets, the JUNO-Di is a traveling musicians dream. Its lightweight, it can run on batteries, and its easy to use, yet it performs and sounds like a heavyweight synth. Its packed with a wide variety of top-quality sounds — over 1,000 to choose from! It has a friendly direct access control panel for easy editing and a Song Player for larger-than-life performances. First-timers and pros alike will love this friendly, portable, great-sounding synth. * Professional synthesizer with over 1,000 instruments onboard * Friendly, intuitive user interface * Battery operation for mobile use (supports Ni-MH AA-size rechargeable batteries) * MP3, WAV, AIFF, and SMF playback capability via optional USB memory — perfect for backing tracks when performing live * Microphone input with dedicated reverb and vocoder effects for sing-along * PC/Mac Editor software included

This is a sneak preview of MacBeth Studio Systems‘ upcoming all-analog keyboard synth controller.

via macbethsynthesizers:

As you can see- this prototype is not housed yet so it moves around a bit- but none the less- it gives you some idea of what is going on!

The unit features two LFOs- inspired by the Sonic Six!

I hope that you enjoy

Ken M

shot using a Nikon D90- Tamron 80-210 of old.

This demo showcases the new Korg SV-1 Stage Vintage Piano, which offers 36 vintage analog- and digital-style sounds.

The Korg SV-1 is designed for gigging musicians and is offered in 73-key and 88-key versions.

Image: rolandmks7

Saturday Synth Porn: This 1982 ad featured a clear plexiglass Sequential Circuits Pro One analog synthesizer.

Anyone know if there are any clear plex Pro-Ones around anymore?

via the Synthtopia Flickr Group

In this rather awesome video, the guys from Blorp Corp help you get to know the Roland Juno 106 keyboard synthesizer.

The Korg MicroSampler may have only been announced a couple of weeks ago, but Sonic State’s Nick Batt has already run the MicroSampler through its paces.

His overview video, above, offers a good look at the hardware itself and how the MicroSampler works.

Batt says:

The microSAMPLER is not going to be a sampling workhorse for you if you require large string libraries or hours of storage, but as a simple loop replay device or maybe sound effects trigger for a theatre production, it could really fit the bill. Where the microSAMPLER’s strength lies is in the ability to quickly set up loops or phrases. With some careful planning and arrangement, I dont see why it couldn’t run the show, negating the need for a laptop – assuming you dont need to run a LOT of audio and backing vocals etc.

If you’re interested in the Korg MicroSampler, don’t miss Batt’s full review.

And if you’ve used the MicroSampler, leave a comment and let us know what you think of it!

The Moogist’s Scratch From Scratch

via timtsang3:

So after losing my 1 TB external HD full of my sounds and beats and 300 gigs of itunes this week, I decided to start “from scratch” and make music with a fresh mind. Yay!PS: Thank you to all my friends and fans for your sweet support – you are much appreciated. Moogist loves feedback!! Leave a comment, send me an email, postcard, chocolate, candy – whatever – I’d love to hear from you!www.moogist.commoogist@gmail.com