Friday, July 27, 2007

4000 +

Well, most of you regular visitors have probably already discovered it, but it's still worth a mention, the site has now passed the 4000 visits mark.

Thanks for visiting, and keep coming back.

T J

Thursday, July 19, 2007

cupboard synthesis


For all of you who say that you do not have space for a synth, why not put it in your wardrobe :-)

Matrix Synth

The track that I uploaded yesterday to my MySpace page, is getting some good responses. (pfeww :-) )

It even made it onto Matrix Synth, a great website about anything and everything Synth, :-)
Thanks Matrix Synth for the link, and plugging the track , sorry no royalties though, not making any cash on this :-)

T J

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

MOTM Track uploaded

Hello again,

As reported, I was working on a track.
This track is now uploaded on my MySpace page Project Aries.
The version I've uploaded is a Promo version, free to download. I am working on an album which will have the title Universum.
This track will be featuring on this album, but it will not be completely identical.
Anyway, the track is called Orange Peel , as it is Tangerine Dream inspired. It features my MOTM in most of the monophonic parts you hear, the bass lines, some sequences, and some FX. Other synths used are some software synths, and a JP 8000.

Hope you like it, link is to the right here, click on Project Aries.

T J

MOTM antics

It's been a while since I was able to report on my own stuff, as there was frankly, not a lot to write about.
Anyway, I soon hope to let you hear a sample of what I am up to. I did previously report on a track that I was putting together, on which my MOTM would get a more prominent role. I am pleased to say that this track is nearing completion, and I am in the mixing stages now. All parts have been recorded, and I am happy with the arrangement too.
I was having some trouble with the audio cable that goes from my MOTM to the outside world, but that's solved now, no more crackle and pops there, apart from those produced on purpose by the MOTM synth :-)
When finished, I am going to upload it to my Project Aries site (see right hand column for the link) and will let you know here of course when it's posted.

Stay tuned :-)

T J

Monday, July 16, 2007

A glimpse of the Future

A recent update by Synth Tech revealed a little bit more about the future modules for the MOTM synths.

Paul had the following to report:

a) 25 MOTM-650 pc board sets are being assembled by the contract manufacturer this week. I should get the board sets Friday. This set of 25 should cover *all* existing '650 back-orders. And have like 5 extras :)

b) I am still on track to ship all VCO kits and power supply orders by the end of the month. I still have a few assembled MOTM-300s left to ship, those are tedious to make and calibrate. But 6 are shipping tomorrow so I am making progress.

c) I will send the prototype LiteEngine pc boards out to fab later this week. When they come back and I get them built up (1st week of August) I'll set up a web page and I hope people will offer suggestions for the 36 presets. Just to get you started, there are 2 inputs (Left/Mono and Right) that are sampled.
We can make amplitude (volume) measurements, and we can split the signal into a set of fixed BP filters (like a "color organ") and measure the energy content in each band (we are still crunching on the math/DSP routines, but will have a minimum of 10 bands. Trying for 14). There is 1 CV input called MOD that can be whatever you program it. It's just up to your imagination.

The "output" is a matrix of RGB LEDs. There are 8 horizontal and 16 vertical or 128 total (they are 5mm, pretty big). Each LED can be one of 63 colors (and #64 is off). So, SW routines can read the 2 input channels and the MOD CV
and then "do something". The most obvious is a bank of 'VU Meters' like peak-hold. And all sorts of spectral displays.
And text as well. I'm open for suggestions (there is a LOT of code space and a LOT of internal RAM in this ARM processor, so that is not an issue).

Paul S.

So all in all, the new modules will not only open up new sonic boundries not heard before in a traditional modular synthesizer, but it also promises to be a feast for the eyes. And if you are like me, enjoying pulsing LED's on a black wall filled with knobs and patch cords, you are going to love it! I know I will :-)

T J

Saturday, July 07, 2007

MOTM news AGAIN

More MOTM news yet again from Synthesis Technology:

Update straight from Paul:

The MOTM 'work week' is about over. Despite the 11 *inches* of rain (thankfully today was just a drizzle) a lot got done. All of the outstanding MOTM-310 and MOTM-510 kits are built up and will start shipping next week. I sweet-talked my old tech Shane to put in some time soldering up all of MOTM-830 Mixer assembled backlog, so that module is at least caught up. I built 22 Frac modules and those are shipping tomorrow to Analog Haven. The one thing I didn't get to this week
but will this coming week is all of the power supply backlog shipped out.

About the Stooge cables: another person has agreed to handle this and so I will forward him all of the previous requests. That deal is now between him and the Hanebergs and I am no longer involved. I'll let him "announce" it when he wants to.

The next three weeks will be more "real work" than MOTM. I am still on track to ship over 100 modules in July and another 100 in August which would get me 100% caught up. I think the single biggest chore is building about 15 assembled MOTM-510s but that pcb goes pretty smoothly and shouldn't take that much total time.

Paul S.

So there you go, stuff is moving along nicely, and this means that my 510 Wavewarper should be shipping soon. When it arrives and when it gets installed and used, you shall hear about it :-)

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

More Music

More of my Music can now be found on my Myspace page.
Except for the first 'dance' track, there are no MOTM synths used in the other tracks, as it is older material.

There are two tracks there that are from a concept album that I never released, and never will probably.
I used to be a big Jean Michel Jarre fan. I'm not too keen on his latests offerings the past 5-6 years but I still buy it to keep a complete collection, and gain some inspiration here and there.
Anyway back to the topic: There are two Oxygene albums that Jarre released himself, and my concept album continues this, as an experiment to see how Jarre could have continued the Oxygene series. I called it Oxygene 14-20 (not very original, but it fits the series). Two of the tracks are now on myspace, Oxygene 15, which is an upbeat track that may remind you of Oxygene 8, and Oxygene 14, which is a remix of the album track that was done by Rene of Studio 35d. The album version is more spacey, meditative, Rene's version is more commercial sounding and actually comes close to Oxygene 4 in character and feel.
Anyway, give them an listen and I look forward to your comments.

T J

Monday, July 02, 2007

site update

For those of you that browse a lot:

I've now added a google search bar on the blog, so you can look up your favorite topic, or websites, right from within my blog pages.
Hope you'll find this useful.

T J

MOTM update

Hello folks,

Remember Stooge industries? Also , remember their fantastic patch cables? It now turns out that there is still a left over batch in various lengths and colours still available, and Synthesis Technology is considering buying these cables, provided there are enough customers to sell them too. Paul is not going to commit to buying these, unless sufficient can be sold on, and they are very low priced.
Contact Paul for pricing (see e-mail link on synthtech's website) and place your 'order' so that these fine cables will find a great home.

Here is the latests in regards to this, and more around synthtech and MOTM:


a) I have about 60% "commitment level" for the Stooge cables. I know this is a
holiday week, so I'm not going to decide one way to the other until the 15 of July. But again, I *refuse*
to be 'stuck' with a bunch of odd colors/lengths. If you order 30 cables you *will get* 30 cables. As close as I can to what you want.

For example, the most requested is 1ft. So, you might get some 1ft and a few 2ft.

I'm am doing this as a *favor* to the Haneberg's who right now are the ones being 'stuck'. Let's pull together and help them out.

b) I am off all this week, been looking forward to attacking the backlog all year. I will ship *all* MOTM-310 kit backlogs this week, all of the MOTM-510s as well and all of the power supply kits. The rest of the time is assembled modules, over 40 of them shipping out (and 17 Frac modules on top of that).

c) My trip to Oakland for the 9th gathering is booked! Hope to see the bay area MOTMers there.
If you stay until closing, dinner's on me at Scott's Seafood.

Paul S.