Polivoks – The best soviet synthesizer
The Polivoks is the most popular vintage Russian synth made in the early 80’s and it was among the first synthesizers produced in the USSR. It’s purely analog with two voices of polyphony, two oscillators each with triangle, square, saw, two types of pulse waveforms and one noise generator, the levels of which are controlled via the internal mixer. Although the oscillators can become unstable and difficult to tune, the Polivoks is well suited for making screeching sounds and thunderous bass. You can also connect an external audio input for processing through the Polivoks’ switchable dual-mode band pass/low pass filter and LFO sections. The LFO, or “Modulator” offers triangle, square, random and noise waveshapes and can be applied to the oscillator level and pitch or the filter cutoff. There are also two ADSR envelopes for contouring the oscillators and filters.
Polivoks had been produced since 1982 by the Formanta electronic factory (one of the biggest at the time); it was sold exclusively in the USSR. Polivoks has its own unique electronic components including a reliable keyboard (49 notes F to E) made with magnetically controlled contacts. Its synthesis modules consist of independent circuit boards, which is convenient for maintenance and repair. In addition, Polivoks is housed in an original rugged aluminum body of uncommon design with handy controls.
RIP Donna Summer
The disco queen has left us at the age of 63:
“Donna Summer, the “Queen of Disco” whose hits included “Hot Stuff,” “Bad Girls,” “Love to Love You Baby” and “She Works Hard for the Money,” has died, a representative said Thursday. She was 63. Her publicist, Brian Edwards, said Summer was suffering from cancer.” – CNN
For more info: donnasummer.com
http://youtu.be/fgRcUtpxh70
….
Fun stuff: Bananaphone TouchSynth
Playing the Bananaphone
Project details at: http://www.gadgetgangster.com
I was recently inspired by a Kickstart project which used Bananas as sensors to control a video game on a PC. I’ve done some video game controls using the Propeller in the past, but I thought this would make an interesting synthesizer project.
Parts List:
- Your favorite Propeller board. (I used a Quickstart board w/Terminal Module)
- A couple packs of alligator jumper wires. (Radio Shack)
- Nine Bananas (8 notes & 1 to snack on)
- A 220ohm resistor (Radio Shack)
- An amplified speaker w/connector
- The spin source archive
Sonic Kusama at Tate Modern
Workshop exploring connections between the work of Yayoi Kusama and creation and representation of new music & sound art through visual audio interfaces.
Presented by Simon Little and Kelvin Brown with Chase Lane.
Audio track by Capstone Music
Video production by Territory Studio
If you’re in London, Infinite Kusama is on view now at the Tate Modern.
HackMe Rockit Synthesizer Demo
A close up look at the HackMe Rockit synth:
This is a demonstration of some of the sounds and features of this HackMe Rockit synthesizer, designed by Matthew Heinz, which I built from kit a little while back. This demo is less about music and more about the technology and functions of the machine so if you are not into synths you will probably find it boring. You can find out all about the synth or order your own kit from this site http://hackmeopen.com/?page_id=474&fb_source=message.
The Rockit is a dual oscillator monophonic synthesizer. The oscillators are 8 bit and each have 16 different waveforms. It has a VCA with full ADSR as well as a multi-mode 2 pole VCF again with full ADSR. Add to this a pair of LFOs with complex routeing options, Full MIDI support and 16 patch memories and you have a nice little package.
Because of the 8 bit wave table oscillators this thing can do a plethora of Atari sound with the VCA and VCF wide open but once you start get them involved then it moves over to more traditional analogue mono sounds.
Just so you are aware I built the little box case for my Rockit from scratch, the designer does have a case for sale from his site but I am planning to rack mount this thing at some point so I built my own cheap case as a temporary method of keeping it dust free.
AlephOne-Looper2 – Cellular
Here’s a new sneak preview of a micro-tonal synth:
“Looping behavior is close to what I want. Aliasing and impulsing seem to be well under control, and balance is now reasonable.”
Tabletop 1.5 – new version adds SoundCloud support
Retronyms today updated Tabletop, its virtual studio for the iPad.
Here’s what’s new in Tabletop 1.5:
- CloudSeeder – access the Tabletop Community (powered by SoundCloud)
- Audio Copy – collaborate with other Apps
- Module Bundles – discounted collections of in-app add-ons
Here’s what Retronyms has to say about it:
CloudSeeder makes it easy to publish your songs to a music community and receive feedback. It’s also the perfect place to find inspiration before diving into a new track. Your fans are waiting, so don’t be shy and jump in! Publish a track, leave a comment, find listeners and collaborators.
Tabletop is a free download from the App Store. It comes with a small collection of virtual modules. Additional modules are available as in-app purchases.
PIXITRACKER App – iPhone / iPad ChipTune Maker! – First Look
Chip Music Maker is a “Power Up” for your iPhone or iPad! Fun, Easy to Use, and authentic 8 / 16 bit sounds
No time to delve into the big and serious music apps?
PixiTracker is what you need! It is a simple and fun tool to quickly create musical sketches or chip tunes. Without requiring a lot of musical knowledge!
Features:
* high quality 16bit sampler and pattern based sequencer (tracker);
* unlimited number of patterns;
* several packs with unique sounds;
* MIDI keyboard support;
* mic/line-in recording;
* Wi-Fi export/import;
* export to WAV;
* audio copy/paste;
* iTunes File Sharing;
* true warm pixel interface!
DSI Poly Evolver Keyboard Demo
Background information:
Only using a single PEK voice. Oscillators turned on/off for variation parts, using Output Pan for stereo affects. Sequenced/recorded live, from the PEK. Tiny amount of compressions and EQ (bass rolloff). No external effects – delay is from the PEK. All drums from Jomox 888 / 999.
The Poly Evolver Keyboard is DSI’s flagship synthesizer, a nearly-knob-per-function knockout that sounds unlike any other synth out there—except another Evolver, of course! Don’t like a high-end hardware synth that requires wading through endless menus to program? Not an issue with the Poly Evolver’s 78 knobs—60 of them potentiometers—and 58 buttons, incuding a keypad for direct access of programs.
An analog/digital hybrid, the four-voice Poly Evolver features four oscillators per voice—two analog and two digital—in a unique stereo voice architecture with a real Curtis analog low-pass filter per channel. 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 Poly Evolver is capable of producing sounds ranging from classic analog to more brash and edgy digital sounds. It is also multitimbral, with the ability to play up to four parts simultaneously through separate stereo outputs. And it can process external audio.
The Poly Evolver is not a generic “slab” workstation. If you’re looking for realistic pianos and strings, keep looking. But if you want a truly unique, inspirational, real instrument, look no further.
- Each voice is a complete Evolver with four oscillators per voice, two analog and two digital.
- True stereo signal path with separate Curtis analog low-pass filters in each channel for each voice. Each voice has its own independent effects (feedback, delay, distortion, high-pass filter, etc.).
- Highly accessible sound control for easy, intuitive operation: 78 knobs and 58 switches.
- Clocked, pulsing blue LEDs and hardwood end-panels.
- Each voice has an independent 16 x 4 step sequencer. Everything (sequencer, LFOs, and delay) syncs perfectly to MIDI.
- In Program mode, all four voices play the same sound. In Combo mode, voices can be allocated however desired: stack all 4 for a huge unison sound, split or layer the keyboard in any configuration, and/or play one or all sequences at the same time. Each voice can respond to a different MIDI channel.
- Each voice has its own stereo output in addition to the mix and headphones outputs.
- Stereo audio input that can be routed to any or all of the voices, enabling parallel audio processing of external stereo or mono signals. The output of one voice can be routed to the input of another for interesting double-processing effects.
Review of Wave Alchemy Pro II Synth – Extended Video
Russ takes a look at the Wave Alchemy Pro II synth.
Inject your mix with a comprehensive collection of fully editable and beautiful sounding analogue synth sounds…
Driven by a custom scripted Kontakt 4 engine, intuitive graphical interface and over 6500 carefully recorded samples, Pro II is a limitless source of screaming bass lines, lush synth tones and powerful sequences.
Inspired by one of the most popular synths of its time, Pro II combines classic sounds with modern sound shaping tools to achieve a versatile and fully programmable hybrid synthesizer!
Pro II ships with a 3.9GB core sound library and includes 195 expertly programmed presets, all of which are editable via our extensively scripted instrument panel and stunning GUI controls.
DATAMASKIN
