If you are able to come to my live show in Berlin on Friday you will see a special one minute intro. To “clear the air” between the band before me and my own music I have created audio and video from my HSS3i. The HSS3i creates analog audio and video. The kicker here is the video part. Just as pure analog give a certain untouchable sound analog video is also quite special. Stan Stencil from is an artist touring around using modular analog audio and video. Besides the HSS3i also look at LZX Industries. Check out Stan’s work and if you know more about analog video synthesis send me link as I’m getting more and more interested in the subject!
“The backbone of Stencil’s Eurorack system are modular analogue video synthesisers combined with audio waveform generators. The result is a mesmerising visualisation of sound synthesised entirely from audio signals and creating an incomplete visual artefact of the original audio.” – stanstencil
For more info: stanstencil.tumblr.com
via navsmodularlab
This entry was written by , posted on May 21, 2012 at 6:23 am, filed under modular, synthesizer, video and tagged analog video synthesizer, HSS3i, LZX Industries, modular, Stan Stencil, video synthesizer. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
A video demo of the wicked looking Pittsburgh Modular Foundation synthesizer I previously mentioned (link). There are great things happening in the Eurorack modular community. If your don’t already know and are interesting in these type of synths and modules be sure to spend time over at the Muffwiggler forums.
“The Foundation is a fully modular, eurorack, analog synthesizer. A patchable system styled after the great monosynths of the past with no hardwired signal path or fixed voice architecture to restrict creativity. Driven by two wide range analog oscillators the Foundation produces a huge, warm sound that can’t be matched by digital or VST synths. All of the elements of a classic voltage controlled synthesizer are available as an open, patchable, modern synth.” – pittsburghmodular
For more info: pittsburghmodular.com
This entry was written by , posted on May 17, 2012 at 6:08 am, filed under modular, synthesizer and tagged Foundation, modular, Pittsburgh Modular, synthesizer. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Here are two wonderful modular videos to get your week started. The first Buchla video above is from Italy and is just so very THX1138. Giorgio Sancristoforo does a great job creating lovely FM radio and filtering white noise. The next video shows Brazilian Arthur Joly’s incredible wall of metal. May these blips set the tone for a terrific week.
“A shortwave radio scans through North-African, Chinese, Russian, French, English and German channels, the output is then forwarded to the Buchla. Inside the synthesizer a white noise is processed with three narrow bandwidth band pass filters connected in serial configuration so to obtain quasi-sinusoids sounds. Both the sources are further processed with a balanced modulator and a frequency shifter and stochastically controlled by the Source of Uncertainty 266e module.” – giorgiosancristoforo.net
For more info: giorgiosancristoforo.net and Arthur Joly
This entry was written by , posted on May 14, 2012 at 7:10 am, filed under modular, synthesizer and tagged Brazil, Buchla, Italy, modular, modular synthesizier. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Acidlab who already make great Roland TR-808 (Miami) and TB-303 (Bassline) clones is recreating those products in beautiful Eurorack modular form. As far as pro-audio gearlust these things rate high on the wow I want to touch them scale. You can read an interview I did with Klaus Suessmuth here. Klaus posted these photos and information over at the Muffwiggler forum (link).
“The newest products are FRAME with 84TE space, a 5-ch Mixer and the POW-Modul. 3HE Case is at 75 Euro; the Powermodul with powersupply is at 65 Euro. POW-modules’ performance is +12V/700mA und -12V/700mA. Another new products will follow in the near future: 6HE Case, 303VCO & M303 (303-module); the 808-Drumodule will need more time. -a V/Octave to V/Hz Converter (for Korg-CV & Metasonix) will follow, too!” – Klaus Suessmuth
For more info: muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=55660&highlight=acidlab
This entry was written by , posted on May 2, 2012 at 4:12 am, filed under drum machine, hardware, modular, synthesizer and tagged acidlab, Eurorack, Klaus Suessmuth, modular, roland, Roland TB-303, Roland TR-808, synthesizer. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Imagine waking up, looking in your email box and finding an email from a member of Front 242. That happened to me today. DanielB reached out to me to let me know about his project Nothing But Noise. His email comes at an interesting time. Last weekend I ended up on Youtube watching November Növelet’s Misanthropy video. I realized for the first time that like any genre there is great and average. Misanthropy just blows me away so I started looking for more in the genre. I found more I liked and this morning after reading the email clicked to the Nothing But Noise website. I have to admit I was a little worried. I knew I had to honor one of my musical teachers by posting about his music on the blog. But what if I didn’t like it? I did a quick scan of the page. Images of silhouetted men coordinated in front of machines. They got this part correct. Image does matter and usually it’s a tip off if the music is going to be anything special. Before I hit play on the videos I noticed at the bottom of the page some gear. I found Livewire, Moog, MakeNoise and analog sequencers. I started to get excited. You see in the hands of these Belgians 80s Emulators or real analog works. Its the VSTs and such I’m not so sure they know what to do with. So I hit play and with great relief I am very pleased. It’s a serious effort. Yes I am starstruck but I never lie about music. This is good and as you can see by another recent 242 related post (link) I’m glad to be hearing from my old friends again.
“Nothing But Noise is the new musical project from Front 242′s mastermind Daniel Bressanutti, Dirk Bergen (ex Front 242) and Erwin Jadot. Upcoming is the project’s first album “Not Bleeding Red” (expected to be released… April 12, 2012).” – side-line.com
For more info: nothingbutnoise.be
This entry was written by , posted on March 12, 2012 at 7:48 am, filed under music and tagged Daniel Bressanutti, Dirk Bergen, Erwin Jadot, Front 242, Livewire, MakeNoise, modular, moog, NBN, noise, Nothing But Noise. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
In my quest to find a place in the NYC area to buy Modular synth modules I came across MeMe Antenna. It seems they recently started carrying an interesting collection in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Sometime next week I will head over there and check it out! They are located 218 Bedford Ave (Corner of N5 inside Mini Mall) Brooklyn, New York 11249.
“MeMe Antenna, annex of Concent Productions Inc. , is a gift & music store, located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY. We carry vintage jewelry & furniture, idea stationary, vinyl record & CD, rare synthesizer, local brands merchandise, and more….” – memeantenna.com
For more info: memeantenna.com
This entry was written by , posted on December 1, 2011 at 6:22 am, filed under modular, synthesizer and tagged Brooklyn, MeMe Antenna, modular, modular synthesizer, shopping, synthesizer, Williamsburg. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
I’ve started to plan a modular synthesizer. I really like the Monorocket cases and I’ve picked out some modules to start with: Doepfer A-190-3 Midi to CV interface, Doepfer A-155 Analog Sequencer, Doepfer A-198 Ribbon Controller, Livewire Audio Frequency Generator (AFG), Harvestman Hertz Donut digital oscillator, Doepfer a-118 Noise Module, Livewire FrequenSteiner Filter, Doepfer A-140 Envelope Generator (two of them), Doepfer a-147 LFO, Pittsburgh Modular Analog Delay and a Doepfer a-199 Spring Reverb.
I have some questions: Do I need to know anything about powering these? If I got the Monorocket M9B could I just plug the above in and expect it to work? Is there a shop or meet up in the NYC are where I can try out some modules? What about my choices above? For example I picked two Doepfer A-140 Envelope Generators because I have two Oscillators. I assume I need them otherwise the Oscillators will just drone on. I know there are a lot of other exciting modules out there but any recommendations are welcome.
“Combining the signals generated by multiple modules into a common audio output allows a potentially infinite number of configurations, leading to a potentially infinite number of sounds.” – Wikipedia
For more info: modularplanner.co.uk
This entry was written by , posted on November 25, 2011 at 10:09 am, filed under modular, synthesizer and tagged Doepfer, Livewire, modular, Monorocket, Pittsburgh Modular, synthesizer, The Harvestman. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Have you ever been watching modular synthesizer videos and wondered what the touch “keyboard” was you were seeing? It most likely was the Make Noise Pressure Points. A module like this makes you part of the CV circuit. Don’t you want one? $215 USD.
“Pressure Points is a controller in which 1 of 4 sets of 3 tuned voltages are selected by touching the corresponding printed copper wire at the bottom of the instrument (aka the Touchplate). Touching Pressure Points, you become part of the circuit, generating a gate signal (Gate OUT), a control signal proportional to the amount of pressure applied (Press OUT) and activating the corresponding Stage. The Tuned Voltages for the activated Stage appear at their respective OUTs along the right side of the module. In this way, Pressure Points is like an analog sequencer that is played by hand. 2 pots allow the circuit to be adjusted for desired playing response.” – makenoisemusic.com
For more info: makenoisemusic.com/pressurepoints.html
This entry was written by , posted on November 21, 2011 at 6:38 am, filed under modular and tagged Make Noise, modular, Pressure Points. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Nitzer Ebb’s early and wonderful EBM track Isn’t it Funny How Your Body Works? reproduced by a DIY modular system. So here’s my proposal to the builder Henrik Nydell… make me some original patterns and I’ll scream for you! Imagine taking that beast live?
“My DIY MFOS modular – the Modulator – playing Isn’t it funny how your body works by Nitzer Ebb. The 16-step sequencer’s gate outputs trigs two ADSRs for bass drum. Clock out is sent to slave 10-step sequencer and to two ARs controlling filter cutoff and VCA. 16 step seq CV out gets patched to both VCOs. The stereo auto panner is used during the last few seconds.” – hnydell
For more info: nydell.se/projects/modulator
This entry was written by , posted on November 10, 2011 at 5:26 am, filed under music, synthesizer and tagged EBM, electronic body music, modular, Nitzer Ebb. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Under Sea from David R Ryle on Vimeo.
I went scuba diving a few times in my life. The last time I went was in the Florida Keys. I happened to have a high fever but still decided to take the trip. We went out to sea much further than I expected and under the water our group went. The water was deep and then I came upon a ridge. The ridge was really an underwater cliff. I never saw anything so deep or frightening. I’m not sure if it was the fever or not but I’ll never forget that scene.
“A live modular recording. Three CGS01 Harmonic Sequencer modules from Catgirl Synth were used to generate melodies automatically. This generative piece reminded me of the virtually unlimited species of creatures under the sea.” – David R Ryle
For more info: bubblevision.com
This entry was written by , posted on September 21, 2011 at 4:24 am, filed under hardware, synthesizer and tagged Florida, modular, synthesizer. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
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