Buchla Music Easel at NAMM 2013
Synth design mad scientist Don Buchla is back, and this re-issue of his Music Easel is a virtually identical copy of the original from the mid-’70s. Esoteric synth expert Gino Robair goes hands-on.
Background information:
Summary Description / December, 1973
The Music Easel is a highly evolved electronic musical instrument. It maintains many of the design philosophies and functional characteristics of its predecessors, the 100 series Modular Electronic Music System and the 200 series Electric Music Box. The Music Easel introduces some substantial innovations in electronic instrument design – innovations that make it a truly expressive real-time instrument for composition and performance.
The Music Easel contains many of the elements commonly used to generate and process sound: a keyboard, sequencer, pulser, preamplifier, envelope detector and balanced modulator; oscillators, gates, envelope generators and filters; facilities for mixing, monitoring and reverberating. Many of these elements possess an unusual degree of sophistication. The keyboard is solid state, with touch sensitive, chromatically organized keys, accurate and reproducible pressure output, tactile feedback, octave shifting, and voltage controlled portamento. A complex oscillator, developed through computer aided simulation studies, is a rich source of complex audio spectra. featuring voltage control of pitch, timbre and waveform, this oscillator provides the Music Easel with a timbral range unapproached by other musical instruments.
The connectives are as important as the elements to be connected. Interconnection within the Music Easel is accomplished with a combination of switching and patching, a system which is flexible, expedient, and open ended. Logical, compact organization and color coded graphic feedback facilitate rapid and effective interaction. Multiple correlations between a performer’s actions and the Music Easel’s responses are readily implemented, enabling a degree of expressive articulation heretofore impossible with electronic instrumentation.
Further augmenting the Music Easel’s real time performability is the capability of permanently storing and immediately retrieving complete instrument definitions (patches) or portions thereof. (An “instrument definition” includes settings of parameters, degrees of articulation, switch positions and interconnections.) Storage entails the installment of resistors on program cards; retrieval is accomplished by plugging in a desired program card and activating a switch.
With its extended timbral resources, unusual expressive capability, and its facility for storage and recall of instrument definitions, the Music Easel opens new horizons to the composer and performer. To appreciate its potential as a new musical instrument the Music Easel must be seen, heard and played.
Music Easels are provided with six blank program cards, an assortment of programming resistors, and a comprehensive instruction manual. Available accessories include additional program cards and resistors and a 12 volt battery pack. Complete with case and charger, this battery pack will power a Music Easel for approximately three hours per charge.
Electrical requirements are 30 watts at 110 volts A.C. or 2 amperes at 12 volts D.C. Preamp input impedance is 1 megaohm; gain is 30 dB. Nominal program output level is 1 volt R.M.S., sufficient to drive tape recorders or power amplifiers. A separate 2 watt monitor output will drive headsets or low level speakers.
Housed in a rugged aluminum case, the Music Easel is built to travel. Weight is 30 pounds; dimensions are 6″ x 17″ x 22″ (carry on baggage for jetliners).
Korg MS-20 Mini demo by Rich Formidoni at NAMM 2013
Korg product manager Rich Formidoni demonstrates the new Korg MS-20 mini Monophonic Synthesizer at the 2013 Winter NAMM show in Anaheim, CA.
The same engineers who developed the original MS-20 have reproduced its circuitry and fit into a body that’s been shrunk to 86% of the original size, yet retains the distinctive look of the original.
Features:
- Overseen by the engineers of the original MS-20, a complete replication of the original analog circuitry
- 2VCO / 2VCA / 2VCF / 2EG / 1LFO structure
- Self-oscillating high-pass/low-pass filters with distinctive distortion
- External signal processor (ESP)
- Extremely flexible patching system
- Miniature MS-20 that’s 86% of the original size
- MIDI IN and USB connector
- Replicates every detail of the original, down to the package binding and the included manual
The Korg MS-20 Mini will be available April 2013 for a U.S. Street price of $599.00.
Spectral Eye for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch
Spectral Eye is a free sound analysis tool from Secret Base Design
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/spectral-eye/id546934084?mt=8
Sound wave forms can be decomposed into individual sine waves by using a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). This is frequently used by musicians and sound engineers to analyze the performance of microphones and speakers, as well as to study the tone of musical instruments.
The traditional way to visualize an FFT is with a frequency chart. Spectral Eye takes this information, and wraps it as a spiral, so that frequencies that are an octave apart are lined up as rays from the center of the display.
The app performs analysis in real time on audio. The app was initially developed as a debugging tool, used while working on some of our other apps. We decided to make this freely available to anyone who might want to use it. The app supports the iPad, iPhone (including the iPhone 5), and iPod touch. The current version also allows freezing of the display to look more closely at sound frequencies.
Korg KAOSSILATOR PRO+ & KP3+ KAOSS Pad Demos at NAMM
KAOSSILATOR PRO – a supercharged version of the palm-sized KAOSSILATOR, reborn as a powerful track-making tool and loaded with live performance power.
As a trailblazer among the “instrumental gadgets” that allowed anyone to easily create melodies and phrases, the KAOSSILATOR gained a strong and dedicated user base, even among those without any performing experience. Today, the KAOSSILATOR continues to be enormously popular. Retaining these revolutionary features – while adding a wide variety of new ones as well – is the new KAOSSILATOR PRO. With 200 sound programs, a new Electribe-inspired gate arpeggiator, and four loop recording banks that can even record external audio sources, the KAOSSILATOR PRO is packed with features that make it ideal for both live performance and premium productions. In addition, USB connectivity with your computer and SD card memory storage allow the KAOSSILATOR PRO to be used not just for improvised performances, but also as a superbly intuitive, track-making music production tool.
Main features
- KAOSS X-Y touchpad offers intuitive, realtime control
- 200 sounds covering modern synth sounds such as lead and bass, and diverse acoustic sounds from piano to trumpet and beyond
- PCM samples provide dramatic drum kits and ready to rock percussion patterns
- Vocoder programs deliver scintillating vocal effects
- Access up to eight of your favorite sounds instantly using the assignable Program Memory buttons
- Loop Recording can layer both internal Program sounds and external audio overdubs
- Four Loop Record Banks each allow up to four measures of loop recording, with easy muting that allows expressive realtime layering and DJ-Style re-mixing – ideal for live performance.
- Gate Arpeggiator repeatedly triggers sounds in sync with the tempo. The slider controls either the gate time or gate speed.
- Choose a key and select one of 31 musical scales to easily create musical phrases. Limit the X-Y pad’s note range for even more control
- Loop data, user settings and Program Memories can be stored on SD card
- Dedicated software lets you manage loop data, MIDI assignments, and user settings from your computer
- Performs double-duty as a MIDI controller for external equipment or software applications
More information at Kraft Music:
http://www.kraftmusic.com/digital-pianos-and-keyboards/synthesizers-and-sampl…
Video premier: The Knife – Full Of Fire
‘Full Of Fire’ a short film by Marit Östberg*.
Music by The Knife
As we’ve previously reported, Swedish electronic pop/not-pop duo The Knife are set to release their long-awaited follow-up to 2006’s acclaimed Silent Shout, entitled Shaking The Habitual, on 8th April. Now the official video has been released 
This April The Knife release their first studio album since Silent Shout seven years ago. The album, Shaking The Habitual, is now available to pre-order in the below formats:
2x CD: http://smarturl.it/sth2cd – Digipack Includes cartoon by Liv Strömquist and a lyric poster by Studio SM/Martin Falck.
3x 12″ Vinyl: http://smarturl.it/sthvinyl – 180g heavyweight, gatefold edition with CD. Also includes the cartoon and lyric poster.
iTunes Download: http://smarturl.it/sthitunes – Includes an instant download of Full Of Fire and digital booklet.
All formats also available on the Rabid Records Store: http://www.rabidrecordsstore.com/
More information at http://theknife.net
*Marit Östberg is a filmmaker and visual artist, based in Stockholm and Berlin. Her works are often focused on images of queer bodies and sexualities. She sees her work in a wider context of feminist fights and histories and her visual world has been described as uncompromising. Uncompromisingly current. Uncompromisingly sexy. Uncompromisingly political.
“The film ‘Full of Fire’ started to grow as an embryo in the song´s lines ‘Who looks after my story’. Who takes care of our stories when the big history, written by straight rich white men, erase the complexity of human´s lives, desires and conditions? The film ‘Full of Fire’ consists of a network of fates, fears, cravings, longings, losses, and promises. Fates that at first sight seem isolated from each other, but if we pay attention, we can see that everything essentially moves into each other. Our lives are intertwined and our eyes on each other, our sounds and smells, mean something. Our actions create reality, we create each other. We are never faceless, not even in the most grey anonymous streets of the city. We will never stop being responsible, being extensions, of one another. We will never stop longing for each other, and for something else.”
– Marit Östberg
Indepth demos of the new Arturia Sparkle and Minilab at NAMM 2013
Arturia Minilab is a $99 controller that comes with Analog Factory soft synths and pre-mapped knobs. Sparkle is a hardware controller bundled with their complete Spark drum machine software, and is surprisingly easy to make beats on even for the untrained.
Moog Sub Phatty demo by Amos Gaynes
Amos Gaynes from Moog Music gives an outstanding walk through of the new Moog Sub Phatty. Amos is responsible for the
firmware design of the Sub Phatty, as well as the firmware on the reputable Moog Minitaur which debuted last year at NAMM 2012.
We’re honored to have this authority on the matter explain some of the features and design principles in Moog’s latest
synthesizer. They will retail for $999.00, will be shipping in March, and are American manufactured as Moog has always been!
The sound is quite huge and the build quality is solid. It retains the classic sound you would want in a Moog synth, but is also ventures into a wider
palette of sonic possibility.
NAMM: Leon Dewan demostrates Swarmatron
Leon Dewan demonstrates the Swarmatron at the Big City Music booth at NAMM 2013.
Close encounter with the Kurzweil Kore 64
Kurzweil KORE 64 ROM expansion for Kurzweil PC3 and PC3K demonstration
The KORE 64™ ROM option represents a complete expansion and reimagining of the PC3 and PC3K’s sonic potential (not for the PC3LE). Pushing the limits of V.A.S.T. synthesis for both realistic and experimental electronic sounds, KORE 64™ adds over 300 new programs, including stunning new Synths, Electric Guitars, Horns, Drums and Percussion. With KORE 64™ installed, the PC3/K built-in program library now totals over 1400 presets!
Here Comes The Schmidt Polysynth
Here Comes The Schmidt Polysynth – Video Just because..
Mr Schmidt has made this synth to be a Super Synth – and indeed it appears to be just that. This is definitely a case of, if you have to ask how much this is, then you cant afford it. It has presets, it has 7 filters (3 ladder type, 4 state variable 12 dB set up as 2 ‘dual filters’) and 4 Oscs – each osc is a bit different. Something like 107 knobs on the thing!
DATAMASKIN
