February 2012
5 posts
WatchDIY Synth Modules and a Radio = fun
January 2012
7 posts
December 2011
2 posts
Korg Poly-61
The Korg Poly-61 was released in 1982 as the successor to the Polysix. It was somewhat of a step up from the Polysix, as it has 2 DCOs for better reliability. It also retained the arpeggiator of the Polysix. It has a very dirty sharp sound much like the Yamaha DX7. This is good if you are into the lo-fi sound of electronica. The Poly-61 can provide cool gritty basses or trippy analog...
October 2011
2 posts
Moog PolyMoog
Moog Polymoog
The Polymoog is a preset-based and fully polyphonic synthesizer released in 1975. The eight preset sounds consist of strings, piano, organ, harpsichord, funk, clavi, vibes, and brass. Though it may not sound as good as other analog poly-synths of the time (from ARP and Siel) the Polymoog was still a popular instrument because of a great new keyboard and the ability to edit the...
August 2011
7 posts
1 tag
rocketsandrayguns:
Gary Numan, Dead Sun Rising
...
July 2011
5 posts
Anonymous asked: current favorite?
June 2011
8 posts
2011: The Year Synth Broke?
Synth music has been around for quite some time but I feel like this might be the year that the listening public at large is actually taking the genre serious again as an art form and not just a vehicle for dancing. While I personally love dance music, and dancing at clubs for that matter, I have to say that the quality of modern synth music is getting a major boost. For a reference point on the...
tumblrbot asked: WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE INANIMATE OBJECT?
Rockets & Rayguns: Mixtape RAR005: Synths For... →
A lot of great synth stuff here!
rocketsandrayguns:
Download → Rockets & Rayguns Mixtape RAR005
A new mix of tracks from albums I’ve been enjoying lately, with a few like-minded classics thrown in. A couple of artists make a return appearance from previous mixtapes. Again, it’s heavily biased towards synth music,…
Moog Prodigy
From the Wikipedia site: The Moog Prodigy was a synthesizer produced by Moog Music from 1979 to 1984. Of the 11,000 produced, versions released after 1981 included a control voltage/gate input on the back that allowed the VCF of the filter to be triggered and controlled by an external source. These later versions began at serial number 4160. The official model number of the instrument is 336....
May 2011
19 posts
Michael Garrison!
Michael Garrison is a criminally overlooked synthesist of the Berlin School from Oregon. His album “Prisms” is one of my favorites. Here is a link with great background information on his life and amazing work.
“Lazers” from the album Prisms: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDgXtbI1sJM
Watch
The Space Between is my favorite synthesizer album of all time. The equipment used in the production of the album was the Roland System 100, Roland SH1, Roland SH5, Roland SH7, Roland CR78, Roland TR808, Roland SRE555, Casio MT32, Korg MS20, EMSVCS3, Eventide Harmonizer, Gristlizer, Boss Dr Rhythm, WEM Copicat, Boss Pedals, Sony Walkmans, RevoxA77, Seck6-2+10-4
Casio CZ Synthesizers
The Casio CZ series came out in the mid 80s as a way to have a phase distortion device that was professional and affordable. To make the item cheap, Casio implemented a digital synthesis device instead of the analog devices that were in use at the time. Several people complained of the somewhat “tinny” of the digital synthesis sound of the CZ series of keyboards when they first...
Step Sequencer
The first sequencers played rigid patterns of notes using a grid of (usually) 16 buttons, or steps, each step being 1/16 of a measure. These patterns of notes were then chained together to form longer compositions. Sequencers of this kind are still in use, mostly built into drum machines and grooveboxes, and are now called step sequencers. They are monophonic by nature, although some are...
Wurlitzer Sideman
The Wurlitzer Side Man has the distinction of being the first drum machine ever made. Designed as an accessory to their organs, Wurlitzer made the Side Man in an all wood case and offered electronic representations of all of the popular drum patterns. It uses an all tube design; even the sound generating circuits are tube-based. It is driven by a small electronic motor. The motor...
ANS Synthesizer
The ANS synthesizer is a photoelectronic musical instrument created by Russian engineer Evgeny Murzin from 1937 to 1957. The technological basis of his invention was the method of photo-optic sound recording used in cinematography (developed in Russia concurrently with USA), which made it possible to obtain a visible image of a sound wave, as well as to realize the opposite goal—synthesizing a...
