yamaha

CatSynth video: Yamaha DX7 DEMO 1 Electric Age REGENERATION

From paul mangru on YouTube, via matrixsynth.

“The legendary DX7 like few have ever heard it. Ive put my 22 years of experience with FM and the DX7 into this and my other demos to show what is really possiblle.

When you dont believe the myths and go into those parameters. I hope to inspire others to what is really possible with this sonic masterpiece. All my demos are 100% DX7 no software samples or drum machines.”

Spot the cat! Overall, the demo does have that unmistakable 1980s synth sound, which is a bit of a mixed experience for me. Some of those sounds in the intro, however, are awesome and remind us the potential of FM. I do have a TX802 module that never use and a 4-op TX81Z that I sometimes still use.

CatSynth pic: Soft Lightning interview with I♥SYNTHS

soft_lighting_cat

Interview with Soft Lightning by I♥SYNTHS.

♥SYNTHS: You love your cats. Are they a big inspiration to your music? What are their names and what synths do they like the most?

Soft Lighting: I actually only have one cat and his name is Ziggy. My wife and I foster litters of kittens for our local shelter so we always have a bunch of new kittens around. They like ALL the synths and ALL the gear – especially hiding in the back of amplifiers.

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There are quite a few more cat-and-synth photos in this post, I suspect a few more of them may show up here as well 🙂

Via matrixsynth, where you can read all the interviews with well-known synth artists and see quite a bit of classic and modern gear.

NAMM: MIDI at 30

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface), the protocol that we use to connect musical instruments together, has officially been around for 30 years now, and the occasion was being marked with an exhibit at NAMM:

There were some of the earliest instruments as well as those demonstrating how it is being used today. The Yamaha Disklavier series was quite prominent, as an instrument that is both acoustic and a MIDI device at the same time. There was also the Prophet 600, a forerunner to the Prophet 12 we reviewed yesterday and the first commercially available instrument to implement MIDI.

In the middle, between “1983” and “2013”, were a few of the devices I remember from the mid-1980s.

I had a Yamaha box (a sequencer) with the same beveled shape as the TX7 pictured here. And I was quite interested in the Atari ST computer, though was never able to get one. Both devices seem quite primitive today. Unlike the analog synthesizers that we have been reviewing, earlier digital devices don’t seem to hold up as well. Nonetheless, the MIDI protocol itself is still vital for much electronic music-making, despite its well-documented limitations in speed and resolution.