I normally don't like the term "synth porn*", but this definitely applies to this video clip. :)
We stumbled across this gem years ago while going through some VHS tapes.
No actual sex in this clip, but you can imagine what goes on from here. :)
Click here!
Oddly enough, a lot of people we've shown this clip to are more interested in the Moog than what's happening in front of it! ;)
----
* I like synths and I like porn, but I know the difference between them!
Showing posts with label modular. Show all posts
Showing posts with label modular. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Thursday, July 30, 2009
BUCHLA!!!!!
I get to play with this today... as well as the one in the background, hidden near where I put the "asb" mark.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Thought for the night...
Had fun fumbling around with a Buchla, but I've got a LOT to learn before I can actually make decent sounds out of it!
At least I continued my tradition of finding the noise source. ;)
At least I continued my tradition of finding the noise source. ;)
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Shameless Plug Alert-Sale on Minimoog/Moog Modular Pointer knobs!
We're selling 42 pointer knobs for Minis or Moog Modulars for the low price of $2.50 each!
You can buy one or as many as you need, but once the 42 are gone, that's all!
Click here for the eBay auction
You can buy one or as many as you need, but once the 42 are gone, that's all!
Click here for the eBay auction
Friday, April 10, 2009
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Jitter, Revisited
Taking a break from the jiggy series to tell a "jittery" story...
A couple years before I met Kevin, Hans Zimmer hired him to build him a very large Moog modular.
(HZ just wrote Kevin to say it's still fine 16 years later, too!)
According to Kevin, they both discussed synths right and left then and what made them sound good.
Hans said that he preferred the sound of the Moog 901 oscillators.
At the time, Kevin didn't understand what he meant--An oscillator to him had pitch, waveform shape, volume and that was about it.
But Hans was certain this wasn't the case.
Two years later, right as Kevin was putting the finishing touches on Hans' big Moog, he found himself with many extra parts left over.
One part was a blank Moog 921B panel.
Kevin decided to use it to build a CEM3340-based oscillator, which is used in Jupiter 6's, Memorymoogs and many other synths we all know and love. (And Kevin's portable VCO!)
You'd think that using a VCO on a chip wouldn't be any different than what Moog used in a 921B... they're both oscillators, right?
Wrong.
When Kevin installed and made a patch with this new "CEM" 921B, he suddenly realized Hans was right.
There was some sort of sound the Moog's had that this new oscillator didn't.
In Kevin's words, the CEM3340-based oscillator "sounded razor sharp and sterile."
This keen observation wasn't thought of much for several years.
Then, a couple years ago, while restoring a Moog modular, Kevin made a video showing a Moog 901 oscillator plugged directly into an oscilloscope.
Here it is: http://www.minimoog.net/moogjitter.mp4
This video showed some sort of "jitter" in the waveform that wasn't present in the CEM3340 chip.
In an interesting and semi-amusing round of "shoot the messenger," Kevin was slammed when he showed this video to others.
They insisted that the video showed nothing that could actually be heard, and anyone who thought otherwise was probably hearing things.
Ken Elhardt took this position after looking for this jitter with his DAW (Digital Audio Workstation).
However, he didn't use an actual 901 oscillator. He used an mp3 of one. (That always struck me as odd, trying to analyze a digital sample of an analog waveform. But hey, I only change caps and rebush keyboards!)
Mr. Elhardt and others added that they prefer a very accurate and stable VCO and if they wanted any "jitter", they'd add it in with noise or whatever. (Personally, I'm not much for ultra-accurate, sterile-sounding oscillators.)
One person even said that Kevin had documented how Moog power supplies were actually responsible for this jitter.
This made me laugh, as the video clearly shows that he used a precision laboratory power supply, not a Moog power supply.
(More on that supply in future posts, as it's the heart of many things that will be featured in the "jiggy series".)
Finally, several people didn't understand what Kevin was showing at all and said whatever great Moog sound there might be is due to drift. (I hope these folks weren't the same ones who like their oscillators sterile!)
But one very well respected tech, Juergen Haible, also countered that Kevin was wrong.
This hurt Kevin's feelings because Kevin used to be friends with him.
He used to share parts, photos and music with him and hosted his site for free.
With all that in mind, I submit for your perusal:
http://www.jhaible.de/living_vcos/jh_living_vcos.html
It's a vco design made by Mr. Haible that he calls "living VCOs."
In reading his description, Mr. Haible describes things this way:
"...A good part of that special sound of early Moog and EMS oscillators is not because of any "randomness", "unstability", "instability" or "noisyness", as so often is said. A good deal of their behavior is because of that, but it is not the whole story. There are also some very deterministic factors in these old circuits which have been unpleasant side effects for the designers back then, but which are worth a closer analysis when we're designing a musical VCO today. "
Kevin found this amusing. (Once he reminded me of this whole jittery debacle, so did I.)
He pointed out that while Mr. Haible says what his VCO's aren't, he doesn't say what they are. No schematic or analysis was provided (at least yet.)
No mention of the word jitter either. ;-)
But Mr. Haible's board layout suggests a design very close to the Minimoog and Moog 921B oscillators. Many of the same exact parts are used as in Moog oscillators.
Mr. Haible's comments suggest that he learned something new here.
He designed his oscillators not to be super accurate, but to be musical instead.
He just built his "living VCOs" upon Moog's basic design.
He intentionally sacrificed perfection for musicality.
Isn't that what Hans originally observed and Kevin documented?
I think Mr. Haible changed his mind, and is skittish about using the word, "jitter."
No harm in a man having to change his position after being so insistent on it previously! (Though I suppose admitting that might be difficult.)
By the way, Kevin said he's has no hard feelings and would love one of his boards.
If we can find the extra cash, I wonder if Mr. Haible will sell us one? :)
A couple years before I met Kevin, Hans Zimmer hired him to build him a very large Moog modular.
(HZ just wrote Kevin to say it's still fine 16 years later, too!)
According to Kevin, they both discussed synths right and left then and what made them sound good.
Hans said that he preferred the sound of the Moog 901 oscillators.
At the time, Kevin didn't understand what he meant--An oscillator to him had pitch, waveform shape, volume and that was about it.
But Hans was certain this wasn't the case.
Two years later, right as Kevin was putting the finishing touches on Hans' big Moog, he found himself with many extra parts left over.
One part was a blank Moog 921B panel.
Kevin decided to use it to build a CEM3340-based oscillator, which is used in Jupiter 6's, Memorymoogs and many other synths we all know and love. (And Kevin's portable VCO!)
You'd think that using a VCO on a chip wouldn't be any different than what Moog used in a 921B... they're both oscillators, right?
Wrong.
When Kevin installed and made a patch with this new "CEM" 921B, he suddenly realized Hans was right.
There was some sort of sound the Moog's had that this new oscillator didn't.
In Kevin's words, the CEM3340-based oscillator "sounded razor sharp and sterile."
This keen observation wasn't thought of much for several years.
Then, a couple years ago, while restoring a Moog modular, Kevin made a video showing a Moog 901 oscillator plugged directly into an oscilloscope.
Here it is: http://www.minimoog.net/moogjitter.mp4
This video showed some sort of "jitter" in the waveform that wasn't present in the CEM3340 chip.
In an interesting and semi-amusing round of "shoot the messenger," Kevin was slammed when he showed this video to others.
They insisted that the video showed nothing that could actually be heard, and anyone who thought otherwise was probably hearing things.
Ken Elhardt took this position after looking for this jitter with his DAW (Digital Audio Workstation).
However, he didn't use an actual 901 oscillator. He used an mp3 of one. (That always struck me as odd, trying to analyze a digital sample of an analog waveform. But hey, I only change caps and rebush keyboards!)
Mr. Elhardt and others added that they prefer a very accurate and stable VCO and if they wanted any "jitter", they'd add it in with noise or whatever. (Personally, I'm not much for ultra-accurate, sterile-sounding oscillators.)
One person even said that Kevin had documented how Moog power supplies were actually responsible for this jitter.
This made me laugh, as the video clearly shows that he used a precision laboratory power supply, not a Moog power supply.
(More on that supply in future posts, as it's the heart of many things that will be featured in the "jiggy series".)
Finally, several people didn't understand what Kevin was showing at all and said whatever great Moog sound there might be is due to drift. (I hope these folks weren't the same ones who like their oscillators sterile!)
But one very well respected tech, Juergen Haible, also countered that Kevin was wrong.
This hurt Kevin's feelings because Kevin used to be friends with him.
He used to share parts, photos and music with him and hosted his site for free.
With all that in mind, I submit for your perusal:
http://www.jhaible.de/living_vcos/jh_living_vcos.html
It's a vco design made by Mr. Haible that he calls "living VCOs."
In reading his description, Mr. Haible describes things this way:
"...A good part of that special sound of early Moog and EMS oscillators is not because of any "randomness", "unstability", "instability" or "noisyness", as so often is said. A good deal of their behavior is because of that, but it is not the whole story. There are also some very deterministic factors in these old circuits which have been unpleasant side effects for the designers back then, but which are worth a closer analysis when we're designing a musical VCO today. "
Kevin found this amusing. (Once he reminded me of this whole jittery debacle, so did I.)
He pointed out that while Mr. Haible says what his VCO's aren't, he doesn't say what they are. No schematic or analysis was provided (at least yet.)
No mention of the word jitter either. ;-)
But Mr. Haible's board layout suggests a design very close to the Minimoog and Moog 921B oscillators. Many of the same exact parts are used as in Moog oscillators.
Mr. Haible's comments suggest that he learned something new here.
He designed his oscillators not to be super accurate, but to be musical instead.
He just built his "living VCOs" upon Moog's basic design.
He intentionally sacrificed perfection for musicality.
Isn't that what Hans originally observed and Kevin documented?
I think Mr. Haible changed his mind, and is skittish about using the word, "jitter."
No harm in a man having to change his position after being so insistent on it previously! (Though I suppose admitting that might be difficult.)
By the way, Kevin said he's has no hard feelings and would love one of his boards.
If we can find the extra cash, I wonder if Mr. Haible will sell us one? :)
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Another System 700 video. :)
This time I'm hosting it on my server, 'cause I got the wrong kind of attention when I posted the last video on YouTube.
Again, I'm not a synthesist nor a musician... just havin' a little fun with something I had a hand in restoring. :)
Again, I'm not a synthesist nor a musician... just havin' a little fun with something I had a hand in restoring. :)
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Friday, December 12, 2008
New Arrivals!
I wasn't here when they arrived, but I did pass by two trucks on my way home from a pre-snow supply run. :)
The big unit is an EMS Synthi 100, and the two cabinets underneath it are Emu Modular.
Both units come with keyboards, too!
For a high res pic, click on the "Synthfool" link. :)
The big unit is an EMS Synthi 100, and the two cabinets underneath it are Emu Modular.
Both units come with keyboards, too!
For a high res pic, click on the "Synthfool" link. :)
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
I don't think he'll want it back...
A couple of the 901's in the Moog modular that's here have this on them:
Yes, I know the pic's blurry. I'm not used to using my husband's fancy camera. ;-)
Yes, I know the pic's blurry. I'm not used to using my husband's fancy camera. ;-)
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Always double check your work...
My better half discovered that a Buchla 192 module he's restoring had one wire on a jack that was never soldered. He took this pic with a very cool USB microscope we have. :)
Thought for the day:
While I have the knowledge and tools required to replace components on a circuit board, my limited experience means it requires a bit of effort to do correctly.
Thought for the day:
While I have the knowledge and tools required to replace components on a circuit board, my limited experience means it requires a bit of effort to do correctly.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Happy VCA Day!
We missed the first VCO Day (9/01), but we're early for the second VCO Day, which is on 9/21. :)
Oh, and I realize some of the auctions are not buy-it-now, so my comment on same-day shipping might not apply. ;)
Oh, and I realize some of the auctions are not buy-it-now, so my comment on same-day shipping might not apply. ;)
Monday, September 1, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
My Living Room, Summer, 2008
...What you don't see are the two Arp 2600's, the Ody, and the Minimoog. :)
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
It's back!
This Moog is back!
I should add that it's not here to be fully restored, and that it's a synth that travels more than the average Moog Modular. :)
I should add that it's not here to be fully restored, and that it's a synth that travels more than the average Moog Modular. :)
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