Friday, February 29, 2008

Analog Heaven North East , April 26th

Hello all you analog gear lovers , here is your chance to get up close and personal with some of the finest analog synths and related gear. So gather up your analogs and come on down!
Kyle Jarger writes:
AHNE 2008 (Analogue Heaven NorthEast) will be held on Saturday April 26 in Bolton, Massachusetts. Visit our website for more information at: www.stretta.com
deknow will kindly be hosting an afterparty nearby on Saturday evening.Thanks to Eric Crawley for getting this great thing started, and for all of the local volunteers helping out in so many ways!

Regards,

Kyle Jarger

So here you go, anounced nice and early,so there's time to schedule in that trip :-)

T J

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Kits are shipping

It's been a long wait, for various reasons, including having to wait for a shipment of potentiometers from France, but there is some movement:
The first set of 65 MOTM kits begin shipping 28Feb. This is not a misprint :) This is ~1/2 of the kit backlog. All 65 will be shipped by Monday.

Paul S.


Now lets hope that at least one of my backlog modules is amongst these first 65 modules....

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

still waiting

As I write this, it has been a week ago that I ordered my Focusrite interface, and it still has not arrived, despite paying an additional £20,- for speedy delivery. I've ordered it from Turnkey in the UK, but so far nothing....
I've written them, and was asured it would be dispatched, and still nothing., Any more that have this experience?

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

About brackets

In the www.synthtech.com/tech here directory, Synthtech added detailed CAD drawings for the 'regular' BR-1 bracket (the colors are messed up, but you will get the general idea) and for the 3-pot Stooge bracket (there are 2 drawings in the set).

They will add the MOTM-19A rail drawing shortly.

Paul says : "I will drag out my scanner and put-up the drawing (color photos, actually) of the MOTM-510 rotary switch assembly."

This should help all DIY builders out there making your own MOTM modules along in decent and sturdy fixing methods.
The same directory also contains the bill of materials of most MOTM modules to date. No schematics of course :-)

T J

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Jim is at it again :-)

Check out Jim gordon's latest track, on You tube, or here :-)
Lots of synths, and a great MOTM that featured here a couple months ago :-)

T J

Cynthia announces MOTM format Quad low pass gates


Howdy!

We've received several requests lately for an MOTM format release of our popular Buchla Quad Low Pass Gates.

So the answer is... YES, we'll do it!

(just thought you'd all like to know :)


Cynthia

Cyndustries

To the left is a picture of the standard version Cyndustries produces, looking forward to the MOTM style module :-)

T J

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Recording your synth


It is about time, but I finally invested in a decent audio interface to record my hardware synths with.
Until now, I've always recorded via a Soundcraft Spirit mixer, straight into the line in of my Mac. Even though the resulted quality isn't bad at all, I feel it could be improved, especially in recordings that are more complex. So after reading many reviews online etc, I've decided to go for a Focusrite Saffire. I wanted something portable as I do travel a lot. The Saffire has build in DSP's for some of the fx processors it ships with, and has sufficient inputs and outputs for my needs.
I'll let you know of my first experiences once I have made some recordings, I may even re-record some of my older stuff for an A-B comparison if I have the time, but we'll see.

I wondered if any of you readers have the same unit, and what do you think of it? I'd like to hear how you record your MOTM or other synth :-)

T J

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Featured MOTM system


Browsing through the net, I found the following MOTM format system. It is build and owned by Bob Knarley, and you can see more of this synth on his website.Here it's sitting in his studio.
With hindsight this is a 'famous' synth, as I've seen pictures of it in the synthtech catalog. anyway, here it is, I'm not going to repeat the specs of the synth here, as you can read all about it on his website.
Enjoy.

T J

Monday, February 04, 2008

New module developments

Last week, Paul Schreiber reported the below on the MOTM users group, feedback is encouraged:

Quote:
Some my recall ~ 1yr ago there was discussion about a MOTM-102 Noise/S&H module (some wanted just the S&H part).

I am in the process of finishing the 'design in my head' (well, also the schematic!) and this is where the module is right now. The intent of the module is two-fold:

a) this will *replace* the MOTM-101 as parts are getting hard/expensive to find looking out 2-5yrs from now.
b) I want to add more 'bells & whistles' and take advantage of SMT ICs available

To get this out of the way early on: this is a digital module :) It uses a 60Mhz 32-bit ARM uP connected to serial ADC and DACs. But let's check out the current feature list:

a) I am dropping the Vibrato section of the '101, and replacing it with a tunable noise source (there are still White/Pink/Slow Random) ----- Now, should I *drop* Slow Random, and instead have Internal Clock Out? I am leaning this way myself as this is missing from the '101. See later features).

b) The current single in/out analog S&H circuitry is replaced with a 4-section output (cascade, also called an ASR). The S&H function is through a 14-bit A/D D/A path, meaning no "droop".

c) the time delay *between* taps can be set by a panel pot from 0 (typical ASR to 256). So, at maximum, there are 1024 clock between the input being sampled, and that voltage appearing on the output of Tap #4.

d) early calculations have indicated that the S&H code can be clock at a *minimum* of 1Khz. So, at max tap setting, you can get a 1sec delay. Now, this is not a "delay line" per se, but certainly you can sample an ADSR EG output and get a series (sort of like an arpeggiator) of time-delayed EGs out. Yo can also take the 4 outputs to a MOTM-830 mixer, and then shove THAT back into the input and get no telling sort of stuff out. We may be able to double that, running up to a 2Khz S&H clocking speed.

e) there is not output lag function like in the '101

f) there is a pot (not an input CV, no room) to set a couple of quantizing scales. We don't have a lot of room in the ARM's Flash for 256 14-bit scales :) We can stick 4-6 scales in there. Suggestions for *which* scales needed.
Note: this module is NOT intended to be a general-purpose quantizer. That is another module altogether. Rather, this is specifically to quantize the S&H output. As in the '101, the default S&H input is Pink Noise (no patchcord inserted into the S&H IN jack).

g) lastly, there is a *new* feature, enabled by recent high-speed memory technology. We will be able to *record and playback* the data into the S&H "engine". There is enough memory to record 16 *seconds* at 1Khz clocking.
Note that the *input* is recorded, not the 4 tap outputs. So, you can record and X clock rate, and play back at *any* clock and tap setting! You can also loop the recorded data. I though this would be a simple "CV recorder" but again not *intended* to be something like the Modcan. Rather, something to 'fool around with'.

Thoughts?

Paul S.

unquote:

To me this seems like a great new development, and indicates yet again that the future of MOTM is largely based on digital and SMT technologies, because there are already plenty analog designs out there, and in the MOTM product list. The combination of these analog modules, with the new digital ones is opening up new sonic capabilities and horizons :-)

T J