Finally some synth fun :-)

Today I found some time to sit down and actually play my synths, a few of them that is.
It was one of those sessions where you just switch them on, tinker around a bit and to see if something useful or inspiring "jumps up" out of the depths of my head. I guess some of you will recognise that. Either it's a rhythm that inspires, a certain sound, or by playing around you suddenly find that catchy hook you've always wanted, and presto another platinum album is born! :-) (well the lucky few of us may have that on occasion at least..) MY session wasn't that productive, but I had fun, and I did find a nice new sound that inspired me , and will be using to compose a future track. The source, well the MOTM of course! :-)

T J

Back home and a new post

Well, big changes ahead. I returned from work yesterday, and have a new job starting in 10 days from now, hopefully I can keep up with the MOTM community, and my own synth antics better from now on.
A few things of note coming from Synth Tech:

- The shipping backlog is getting smaller, will be at a 10 year low mid May, which got to be a good thing :-)
- The MOTM-730 competition is still on, so if you have one and have not yet entered, you still have a week!
- Owners of the MOTM-650 midi-cv, there are a few bugs in the unit still (mine occasionally freezes), but updates may be on the horizon finally. Paul hasn't mentioned any details, but says to stay tuned, and that should be encouraging.

2009 appears to be a year of change, Synth Tech's business is slowly turning to phase 2 (new modules, new mfg techniques, no more backlog), I'm starting a new job, and hope to be working on this blog more regularly than I have been able to in the past.

More soon.

T J

Sound on Sound magazine April 2009

For all of you interested in Modular synths, I recommend getting a copy of April 2009 issue of Sound on Sound, which runs a feature article on Modular Synths, including MOTM.

See the Sound on Sound website for more details.
The picture shows part of the 'Fat Bastard' synth owned by Lester Barnes.
T J

The future

Big changes are ahead in my personal life, as I've accepted a position with a local gasturbine generator manufacturer, and will be saying goodbye to my seafaring carreer, finally I must add :-)
This new job will still mean a lot of travel on my part, and I will have to see how I can schedule my life and how this affects my hobbies, although I think I'll be able to spend more time on that, or at least more regular. While this may mean that this blog will not get updated as frequently as I'd like perhaps, I do hope that these updates will be an interesting read, as I will be re-united with my MOTM on a more frequent basis, and will work on patches etc more often. John L Rice has inspired me making his Youtube video's, and I am considering doing something similar too, I will need to buy a video camera at some stage to provide good quality footage, but we'll see about that in due course.

I'll keep you all posted.

T J

17000

17000 visitors already, it's adding up , thanks everyone :-)

Wow time is flying past and I'm not getting much further musically, or with my MOTM, still finding myself doing all sorts of DIY around the house, painting mostly, but eats up valuable MOTM time, or any synth time for that matter, note to self: gotta sort that out.....
Having said that, have had time to quickly play around with my Roland JP8000 today. A friend and I were discussing VA synths the other day, so I thought I'd play around a bit with the only hardware VA synth I own.. Kind of lusting a bit after a bright red Nord Lead at the moment though....

T J

A hint of what's to come

Those of you navigating to the Synthtech website, may already have noticed it, but the player I mentioned in my last post is now alive on their site, as well with a few more hints of things to come. Looks like the website is about to get a decent overhaul. Paul Also reports that the backlog is getting smaller and smaller in regards to outstanding orders, and soon he'll be able to concentrate fully on the future of MOTM, and next up is the Cloud generator, the Euro rack derivative E340 VCO, and a 'surprise' frack rack module.

As for my own progress, I've replaced the backlight in my 01/W, and is as new now, ready for several more years of service.
Next I've also replaced the backlight of my Kurzweil K2000RS, which took only 20 minutes (it's a really accessible synth, a testament to it's good design, although the rack is probably easier than the KB version), compare that to the 01/W fd which took a few hours, simply because nearly everything needed to come out to access the display..So now it's hightime to continue with the modification of my MOTM-800 envelop generators. :-)

T J

My antics

I haven't written in almost a week, and for good reason, I've been very busy doing non synth related work and fitted a bathroom suite at home, plumbing tiling etc. all fun (not) but that's all done now.
In the meantime I have received the PCB's from Tellun for the MOTM-800 modifications I've been planning, and I have received shipping confirmation for my EL-foil backlight for both my Kurzweil K2000, and my Korg 01/W FD, they should be here soon too, so I have a few things I can get on with soon.
Also, I've been playing around a bit with my synth in evening times, just patching a bit, and trying to get some idea's for music projects I'm working on, so I hope to have a few more things to 'show' you soon.
In the meantime, Synthesis Technology is working on a redesign of their website, and I've seen the beta version of their sound player that is going to be incorporated in their new site (link removed at the request of SynthTech), and it looks great and works very well too, it's a promising new feature of the new website, which will hopefully launch soon :-)

T J

EL backlight foils

Yes, this has nothing to do with MOTM, but everything with synths. My favorite digital synth has a weak backlight so the display is hard to read. I've looked at the usual sources but every message I send them remains unanswered till this day, so I looked further and found a new source for replacement backlight foils for the Kurzweil K2000. The link is :
right here
Backlight4you ships foils etc for a lot of different synths (SY77's, Korg 01W, Akai samplers etc etc) so this is bound to help a lot of you I hope, so hence I posted this as a service to the synth community as a whole, they accept paypal and some creditcards.



T J

Hear the drummer get wicked!

Well, it's John L Rice actually, demoing the use of the MOTM-730 as a trigger for drum patterns, sounds fantastic John!


How this patch was made can be seen on this picture, click on it to view full size version :-)



T J

Another Synth

Yes I know this is an MOTM blog, but I just wanted to report on my latest synth. I went on E-bay, just browsing around and found a Korg 01/W FD on offer. I've always liked this workstation synth, because of it's sonic character, and the elaborate pads and whooses it can produce, it's quite a reasonable alternative to the Korg Wavestation, but less the vector control and a few other tid bits. So I bid on it, only once, and not expecting to win it at all, but low and behold I did, for a mere £137,- I am now the owner of a 01/W FD in pretty good condition. It doesn't have a resonance filter and only a LPF filter, but it has a waveshaping synthesis which is quite interesting and different sounding from my other synth, so I look forward to put this thing to good use in my future musical projects, besides it also offers reasonable master keyboard functions so it's a great synth to control the MOTM with, but more on that another time.
For more on the 01/W FD go here.

T J

Phase two of My MOTM

Thus far, I've reported mainly about building my MOTM synthesizer made from the standard kits without any other modifications.
However, having come close to 'completing' my synth over the years (I doubt it will ever be finished as it is very addictive), I have started to see what I can do to bring more functionality into this synth and also more 'blinky lights' as everyone loves those don't they? :-)
So I decided to start off with a modification to my envelope generators, and I've chosen the modification as available from the Tellun corporation run by Scott Juskiw. ( more info here ) This will enable the EG's to be triggered from slow LFO signals among others,and has led drivers on board for both the Gate and the EG out signals (bring on the blinkies :-) ). Several people have done this modification already and it is a very nice and quality upgrade to the MOTM-800. This will add another PCB to the 800 in the form of a daughter board, but will still fit behind the same 1U panel. The PCB can be seen in the picture here.
While I have not yet received the PCB's, I've received all the electronic components and hardware including the leds, so I will start soon to mark out and drill the holes on the front panel to accomodate these. Leaves me only one choice which color to use for what function, blue for gate, and yellow for the envelope, or the otherway around? Any preferences?


T J

Another MOTM-730 video

John L Rice is the lucky owner of a MOTM-730, and this video is one of the first patches he made with it. :-)

T J

Return of the Robotmakers

It's been a while but Roger Pellegrini has been at it again, modular synths and of course an MOTM among it, have been usede to create this track, enjoy the video clip :-)

go here for the clip, it is also available in HD.

Roger writes: "Ever since the last Robotmakers clip ended up as a "featured video" on Youtube, I'd been plotting the follow-up. With the distractions of the financiapocalypse intervening, it's taken a very long time, but "Crush Kill Destroy" is finally done. There are some interesting synth bits:

- At 0:59 to 1:11, and 2:15 to 2:30, there's a synth line that's played without envelope generators or triggers. Instead, the VCA (and VCF) are controlled by the X-axis of a Novation RemoteSL xy pad. The Y-axis is vibrato. A footpedal through a MOTM pedal interface controls the rate of downward glide of a MOTM lag processor. It's a revelation how different it is to play this way - like driving a manual transmission car in London (for an American).

- Throughout there's a hammond-esque organ that's actually 4 synch'ed Moog921AB VCOs producing sine waves, sampled into Kontakt. The sound is then processed in Cubase with distortion and rotary vst plug-ins."

T J

MOTM--730 Video

Paul Schreiber gives us THIS VIDEO of the MOTM-730 in action.






It is being demonstrated by none other than Robert Rich!
It's a big file (33MB), and can best be downloaded and played in iTunes. A Youtube version is in the works.
Perhaps this demonstrates better to people what this module can be used for and how it works.

T J

PS: You might need to 'right click' or 'control click' to download the file in the link.

Raw waves

I've been patching, as the picture shows, and as promised I would post some comparison between the Oakley and the MOTM VCO's.
Well to be honest, in the raw output I cannot detect any real difference unless my ears deceive me. There is some difference perhaps in the Pulse wave , but this is also dependent on the front panel setting. Therefore I also recorded a sweep of this pulse wave.
What you hear is each VCO, going from Sine, to Tri, to Saw, and finally Pulse, followed with a pulse sweep.
Each VCO note is pressed twice, then switched over to the other VCO. In each case, the MOTM is first, followed by the Oakley. Then moving on to the next wave form.

Download the MP3 at my download area.

Judge for yourself :-)

T J

Oakley VCO arrived and installed

My 3rd VCO has arrived and is installed in my modular. It required a short calibration session to get the 1V/Oct response completely right, or at least completely matching with my MOTM VCO's, which took approx. 20 minutes to do properly.

First impression is that I can hardly detect a difference in sound between the MOTM and the Oakley in raw wave forms, with the exception of the pulse out, which sounds a bit more hollow on the Oakley, and I detected a small tick in the saw wave of the oakley, but I think that with a little extra calibration, this can be completely corrected, besides it is not disturbing at all.

Okay, I guess I'll be experimenting with it a little, and will post some comparisson recordings in time, in addition to those already available in the previous post, courtesy of Jason Proctor.

T J

Stooge cables available

Some decent patch cables are available again, Jeff Laity writes:

"I convinced my company to create 1/4" cables as an accessory for our instrument trainers. Little did they know it was all a ploy to get Stooge Cables for my modular. :D

These are 4-foot translucent red Rapco cable, made by Rapco in the USA. They use Neutrik 1/4" jacks. Here's a shot of them in action, a HDR photo so zoom in :-)

Cables in action

Sorry, only in red and only 4' lengths. Chop them in half and solder new jacks to make 2' cables. We're selling them online for $15 each but I convinced them to allow a bulk order of 10 cables for $100 (33% off). These are nice quality cables and hard to find so check them out.

store link

Enjoy, -jl "


T J

Filter sweeps

Someone asked me recently what the difference between some MOTM filters was. I decided to record some filter sweeps with my 3 filter types that I have to show what they can do. Now these sweeps are at a low frequency only (saw wave of approx 50-60Hz) at the request of the person who asked for them.
I've driven a low saw wave from a single MOTM-300 VCO at approx 50-60Hz straight into the filter, then on to the output mixer, and recorded dry into Logic 8.
First is the 420: Sweeping with max resonance in LP mode, then near max resonance. Then switching to Notch doing the same, finally HP.
Second is the 440: First sweeping the filter in 'normal' LP mode as above, then with bass enhance switch ON.
Third is the MOTM 490, this one self oscillates at low resonance settings just under half scale, but the last sweeps are with resonance max on this one.
this filter has a slightly lower output level so it may sound a little less loud, but that's easily compensated in a real patch with VCA and mixer settings crancked up a bit of course :-)

You can find the file filtersweeps here at the download area. I also had a MP3 version, but this contained artifacts so I cancelled that, so this file is a bit big (approx 28MB). It's in AIF format, which can be played using Quicktime among others.

T J

Oakley VCO (Updated)

UPDATE:
Jason Proctor was a step ahead of me, and recorded both the Oakley and the MOTM VCO , he writes:"ok so here are two doodlings starring the MOTM-300 and Oakley issue 4 VCO. i'm not really playing anything, just messing around. both start with sawtooth through a wide open superladder filter. then i mess with the filter a bit, hit it with an envelope. then i crank the resonance. then i switch to pulse wave with some PWM, and mess with the filter a bit more etc."

You can find the " recordings here.

I recently asked members of the MOTM community for tips and suggestions on how to progress with my synth, and I received several e-mails, and the general tone of this was, "get another VCO, and add some additional modulation/envelope sources."
As I had a small financial bonus in these uncertain times (no I don't work for a bank :-) ), I decided to treat myself and start with a VCO.
I've pondered for a while already what VCO to get, and I decided to go for something a little different. I thought about getting the MOTM-310 , which would give me the same basic quality and sound as my existing ones, while saving some space, but then I thought perhaps I should see if another brand would add some 'variety'.So I went for the Oakley VCO, eventhough it would fill out my currently available 2U space I have left.
I am still not sure how different the Oakley sounds, my guess it's not 'that' different, but I won't know until I get one and try it out. I'm sure someone would take it of my hands if I don't like it, but I'm sure that won't happen, so it's ordered and on it's way.
I'll let you know about my findings when it's here :-)

T J

MOTM community

I've had some positive feedback on my little improvisation, and John L Rice even produced a video/slideshow using pictures of my synth through the years from this blog, and using the track as the background music.
This is another reason why I enjoy this hobby, there is a great community with like minded people out there sharing tips, info, suggestions, and help each other with their work, of which this video is just one example.
Thanks very much John, I enjoyed watching it! It's posted below for everyone else to see and hear :-)



Enjoy,

T J

New song uploaded

I've made a short improvisation, called Universum II, which you can download on my download site by clicking here
Slightly Robert Rich inspired, with a few bits added, I hope you enjoy it, dream away :-)

T J

Self running patch by John L Rice

Enjoy

T J

MOTM-730 patch

The first batch of MOTM-730 modules has been shipped, and Richard Brewster is one of the early adopters/purchasers. He has gone to 'work' and came up with these patches.

T J

MOTM-650 4 voice mode

I found this footage via Matrix Synth.
It's a classical piece of music, in which the great MOTM-650 Midi-CV module is used in 4 voice mode to control a modular synth which is partly MOTM, partly dot com, and other makers, to play this song.



Enjoy,

T J

Quantix 8 MOTM module

Here's a great new module kit from France. It's a CV quantizer Wavetable Oscillator rolled into one. The picture shows two of them side by side. Very interesting indeed.
For more info on this module I'd strongly recommend to check out this site for all about it and more.

T J

MOTM-510 wavewarper

I have one of these modules, and so does John L Rice, who has posted the below video of a live Jam with the 510.
It demonstrates nicely that this module can help in creating some great cutting lead sounds, aside from all the chaos that you can get up to using this crazy module (the circuitboard has a printed warning that it could kill rodents and upset spouses etc :-) )



Enjoy,

T J

Update: When I asked John how he created this patch he replied:

There actually is NO filter used at all! Basically it’s just sine waves from two MOTM-300’s into X and Y and then a pulse from a third MOTM-300 into Z. Then the Sine and Triangle from a MOTM-320 LFO go into the X and Y offset inputs and a sine from a MOTM-380 LFO goes into the Z offset (I processed this LFO though a DotCom Q125 module so it wasn’t so ‘wide’ of a modulation) The output of the MOTM-510 just goes to a MOTM-190 and the COTK C1680 delay. All of the knobs on the 510 are cranked pretty much all the way up and the selector switch is set to unity.

Nice MOTM system

I'm a bit short for pictures of others and their MOTM modulars, so I haven't been able to keep up the "MOTM of the week" that I tried to run several months back, so I will post a nice picture if and when I have one available, and here is another:

You can find more about this one at: modularsynthesis.com

T J

Another forum

Some of you may be familiar with this one, some of you may not, I wasn't anyway.
A great forum to do with anything and then some in regards to modular synthesis and synthesizers.
The address is: www.modularsynth.net

I hope this is useful to you, whatever type of modular synth you may have, or just if your just interested in them.

T J

very basic free running patch

Just something I've started experimenting with, considering the limited size of my modular synth, is the possibility of using the modules I have so far, to create a free running patch of some sort.
Here is a simple example of one of my first ones: to download go here and choose free running

I've used two independent LFO's each outputting a square wave, feeding to an ADSR each. The ADSR in turn controls a Filter each,and a VCA (via a multiple to split the output of the ADSR to two destinations). One filter has white noise as input, the other filter a patch of two VCO's , resulting in a bass note, and a percussive sound. Unfortunately it is very hard to sync the two lfo's exactly to create a patch that sounds rhytmically correct, but it was fun to do :-)

T J

Patching away using Oakley modules,a 'micro review'

Well, I've been playing around with my synth, and been comparing the Oakley modules (particulary the ADSR) with my existing EG modules, as made by Krisp1.
The modules are well made, and every jack goes in with a re-assuring 'click', but that's no surprise as the same Switchcraft sockets are used. The pots feel a bit heavier than the Synth Tech pots, but it's something I personally find quite pleasant. What I did observe is that the PCB's on these modules are not mounted on a bracket, but instead are secured in place via the pots and pot brackets. It feels every bit as sturdy as the Synth Tech modules, but I'm not sure if the absence of the PCB bracket could result in interference in some module arrangements or near power supplies etc.
As mentioned in another post, all resistors are metal film types of 1% tolerances, which makes each module made to very exacting standards.
Carbon resistors are completely absent.
Also absent are coaxial cables to the connectors, instead, a mini PCB is used to with the switchcraft sockets are soldered, and which in turn is connected to the main pcb using a short ribbon cable with connectors. A very clean design indeed.

Using the modules:
The ADSR-VCA is very useful as it's integrated design saves space.
Using this module as a ADSR controlled VCA, the settings of the envelope knobs translate to the onboard VCA circuit and when a signal is patched to the IN of the module the outs are audio signals. Also there is an inverted OUT that acts inverse from the standard out, so if one has 0 output the other is max, and vice versa. When there is nothing inserted to the IN, the outputs are a CV signal that has a peak of -5V or +5V (depending on the output used), and the module becomes a standard ADSR module, very handy indeed!.
The envelopes that can be set can be quite slow, and also very fast, although I made a few comparrisons with a few sounds that had a fast attack and I think that the synth tech envelope generators are a fraction faster/snappier, but the difference is minor and may well be due to small tolerances that are inevitably present in analog designs.
The multimix module that I ordered is also pretty good, although one pot did give a little crackling sound when I operated it, but this went away after a few turns, I like the fact that also these have a negative and positive range from -5 to +5 on the scale, with the center position being neutral.
I am sure I have not yet used them in every possible configuration, but this will surely come at some stage.

Concluding, I can recommend the Oakley 'MOTM' format modules build by KRISP1 without hesitation, they are build well, perform great and have a great feel and finish, and would be a welcome addition to any motm format modular synth, and with the current exchange rate, US and EU customers could very well find them selves buying modules at a very attractive price!

See KRISP1 for more details.

The picture shows me patching away happily on a temporay set up at the dining room table :-)

T J