Synthesizers

CatSynth Pic: Mystery Rhythm Machine – Barns & Mullins Percussionet 20

Via matrixsynth, where you can find more info and pictures.

“I recently picked up an old rhythm machine at an estate sale, It’s called a Percussionet 20, made by Barns and Mullins, London, England.

I think it may be rare because I could not come up with any info about this unit online anywhere, even tried Emailing Barns & Mullins twice, but they never responded.

Perhaps one of your readers may have some info about this oddity.

It will play all of the rhythm styles such as ( Fx – Foxtrot, Tw -Twist, Ch – Cha Cha, Tg- Tango etc.) at the same time, so you can combine various rhythms, also you can select and de-select the individual instruments in the rhythms such as: Snare, Tom Tom, Side, Bass, Bongo etc.

Rear has Hi and Lo output and ¼ ” footswitch input that starts and stops the rhythms.

Add some verb and delay or modulation effects and it sounds pretty incredable.

As usual, Charlotte the cat has her own thoughts about my Percussionet 20, see attached photos.”

CatSynth video: Synthesis for Cats

From Poppaneedsanap, via matrixsynth

“OJ (Turkey Leg) on the Etherwave pitch CV controls the rate of random LFO, pinging a Q106 oscillator. Bling Bling (aka Manwich) goes nuts on a contact mic and Moog MF104Z Delay. Ok, I mixed the contact mic pretty low I admit, but it was his first time wiggling and he was a little self conscious about his performance.

A more robust jam will follow when I find the fucking laser pointer!”

Analog modular improvisation

Here is a little track I created last night improvising with a few of the modules in my Eurorack system. Enjoy!

This analog modular improvisation featured the Wiard Anti-Oscillator and Noisering from Malekko Heavy Industry, Make Noise Maths, and KOMA SVF-201.

CatSynth pic: Quasimidi Rave-O-Lution Drum Machine SN 42262

Another “cat not included” auction photo courtesy of a matrixsynth:

“Cat not included!”

“This unit is unexpanded (hence the moderate price)… There are many technical photos of this synth at http://www.loscha.com These pictures are of the actual unit you will be buying.

The power socket has a slightly broken shell, but the plug holds in no problems.”

KORG Polysix/Mono-Poly era knobs.

CatSynth pic: M-Audio Venom Synth Keyboard

Via matrixsynth, where you can find more info.

49 full-size keys with velocity
12-voice polyphony
Features 512 single patches and 256 multi-sound patches
41 oscillator waves and 53 drum sounds sampled from vintage analog and digital FM synths and drum machines
Three oscillators per voice
FM, sync, and dynamic wave-shaping
Three LFOs and three AHDSR envelopes
Four-part multitimbral
Four independent MIDI-syncable phrase sequencers
Two global bus effects and one inset effect per part
Classic arpeggiator
Tap tempo and top-panel BPM control
Built-in USB 2.0 2-in, 2-out 24-bit audio interface
Microphone, instrument, and stereo line level inputs
MIDI in and out via 5-pin DIN connections
Large custom LCD display
Four rotary encoders for editing and performance control
Assignable pitch bend and modulation wheels
Vyzex Venom software editor for Mac and Windows included”

Cool cat not included.

We think the cat probably prefers the box 😉

CCRMA Transitions

We close out the year with one final gig report: my performance at the CCRMA Transitions concert at Stanford University’s computer-music center. The two-night event took place in the courtyard of CCRMA’s building, with a large audience beneath the stars and between an immersive 24-channel speaker array.

I brought my piece Realignments that I had originally composed in 2011 for a 12-channel radial speaker and eight-channel hall system at CNMAT, part of my Regents Lecturer Concert there. This version, outdoors in front a large audience and clad in a provocative costume, was quite an experience, and you can see the full performance in this video:

The Transitions version of the piece was remixed to use the eight main channels of the speaker array at CCMRA. Once again, the iPad was used to move around clouds of additive-synthesis partials and trigger point sources, which were directed at different speakers of the array. The overall effect of the harmonies, sounds and immersive sound system was otherworldly. I chose this particular costume to reflect that, although I had also used it a couple of weeks earlier in my duo “Pitta of the Mind” with poet Maw Shein Win at this year’s Transbay Skronkathon. I am planning more performances with this character (but not the same costume) in the coming year.

Ambient-Chaos at Spectrum (NYC): Groupthink, Amar Chaudhary, LathanFlinAli, Charity Chan

Today we look back at the November 15 Ambient-Chaos night at Spectrum in New York. Spectrum is a new loft space dedicated to experimental music, and I was happy to have the opportunity to both hear new music and perform there.

The performance opened with LathanFlinAli, a trio consisting of Lathan Hardy on saxophone, Sean Ali on bass and Flin van Hemmen on drums.

Their music was an intense free-jazz style that moved between individual hits, bends and other sounds to more idiomatic and rhythmic sections. Every so often the intensity would swell to a loud hit or brief run on all three instruments.

The trio was followed by Groupthink an electronic duo featuring Darren Bergstein and Edward Yuhas. While the first performance was all about percussive hits and rhythms, this set was the complete opposite with ambient drones and thick electronic textures.

Throughout the evening, large programmable lights were pulsating, casting different color patterns on the wall and onto the stage. It probably worked best with Groupthink’s music.

It was then time to take the stage. I brought a relatively compact instrumental rig with a laptop, iPad, a garrahand (a metal drum from Argentina), a Luna NT analog synthesizer and a DSI Evolver.

The garrahand was the centerpiece of the set, both as solo tuned percussion and as a source for laptop-based processing. The texture of the overall performance was quite varied, ranging from analog noise to more melodic phrases on the percussion instruments. You can see a brief excerpt of this set in this video:

Amar Chaudhary live set at Spectrum, New York City, November 14, 2012 from CatSynth on Vimeo.

The final set featured Charity Chan on piano and Lukas Ligeti on drums. From the start, the pair’s sound was loud, aggressive and highly percussive. Chan definitely put the piano through a workout with her intense playing both on the keyboard and on the strings inside the instrument:

Ligeti was equally intense on drums, moving between loud hits and resonances.

The motion required for this music made the pair fun to watch as well as listen to.

Overall, it was a fun night of music and great way to start things out in New York. I am grateful to Robert Pepper (PAS) and Glenn Cornett

for hosting me at Spectrum, and hope to play there again.