"I've pieced together a Buchla 208C, Buchla 218e V3 and placed it lovingly in a custom Haliburton case by Luther. I am including the Buchla 208 Preset Manager and a Portabellabz Stoned Marten LPG+ADSR card. I'm also including a handful of cables. Everything is in mint condition.
This is essentially the same as the Buchla 50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition that will be available for preorder next month for 10k. The case is nearly identical minus the retro colors, knobs, and midi and I/O options."
"Ho-Ho-Ho! This is Synthmas '21, the virtual calendar presenting a Christmas carol played by synthesizers - every day from 1st to 24th of December.
The song:
One of the best known German carols was written in 1895 by parson Eduard Ebel. The melody is most likely a traditional folk song.
The gear:
The lead melody is played by the Vermona Synthesizer from 1983. This two oscillator mono synth got nicknamed "Zonen-Moog" while "Zone" refers to the eastern zone of Germany where this synth was produced. Because of the import embargo for electronic parts produced in capitalist countries all circuitry had to be designed from scratch. However, these mostly discrete designed oscillator and filter ciruits give the synth a warm analog and unique sound.
In this stoned song's version Vermona synth is accompanied by Blofeld bringing a deep bass and Deepmind adding some dazed background harmonies.
Trailer material: Pexels.com (image @seurafrancis99, video @cottonbro)"
"A fully live impro session, no overdubs no corrections, one take. Andy Tillison of The Tangent slightly stoned....."
Studiologic Sledge on top. It took me a second to ID the bottom. See if you can. Tip: what looks kind of like a knob the right isn't. Not sure what it is, but everything else matches up. Highlight the following for the synth: GEM Promega 2.
"Neutron played via BSP pads, BigSky fx, Minimoog bass drone, drum loop. Was mashed so it's a bit rough. Soz about the lousy camera angle. More synth and less chin would have been good :)"
Playlist:
Sitaraawr (Novation Circuit live jam)
Illout (Novation Circuit live jam)
EAT THIS - NOVATION CIRCUIT AGAINST THE CLOCK (10 MINS)
FUNERAP STONED JAM - NOVATION CIRCUIT MEETS FRIENDS
1. Abyss Drone While Nyx and Erebus Randomly Sequencing
"For your maximum enjoyment, please use good headphones or ideally speakers with subwoofer(s).
Dawless synth jam with three extraordinary instruments from Greek synth-maker Dredbox Effects. Four voice analogue synth Abyss asks for most of your attention in this video. This time, however, not as polyphonic gear but in unison mode producing drone and self-oscillation type of sounds.
It starts with with 24 dB LPF cutoff closed and resonance full open. The filter is modulated by both LFOs of the Abyss. First both of them go very slowly as ramp and square waves, later LFO B goes much faster and is switched to ramp wave too. During the shooting I was also playing with the Drive (VCA) knob overdriving the sound and even getting it distorted - absolutely gorgeous and absolutely my type of thing. Towards the end Abyss on-board effects are also added to the mix. It was very interesting and inspiring to achieve self-oscillation of the Delay very similar to the self-oscillation of Roland's vintage tape Space Echo.
On the background of Abyss' drone you hear Nyx and Erebus. Both of them playing simple few notes sequence and are sequenced by Cirklon. Both sequences have also several random parameters, so they seem to never exactly repeat in the same way. Another layer of randomness was achieved by using CV inputs and outputs on both synths. Maths module from 0-Coast controlling LFO on Moog Mother 32 that was controlling VCA of Erebus added even more randomness to the Erebus sequence, and this one is very devilish, I would say.
All three synths are processed through vintage tape Roland Space Echo for delay (this time rather slower) and Strymon Big Sky for the reverb. Recorded live, stereo output from my Motu interface into Ableton Live only. Camera is GoPro, edited in Final Cut.
Will I be stoned, if I say I absolutely love these Dreadbox synths, the sound they produce and the feel they give and I have no doubts they are going to become classic like Moog, Art or Oberheim?"
2. Dreabox Abyss Slow and Heavy 4 Voice Sequence
"Exploring multichannel mode of Abyss 4 voice synth from Dreadbox Effects. Each of Abyss' voices is independently sequenced by Cirklon hardware sequencer. Additionally, I was also exploring possibilities of Abyss' multi-timbrality. Dip switch 5 is on and each voice has slightly different envelope set up.
I have to say I was so nicely surprised how heavy such 4-voice sequence on Abyss can be. Haven't expected that. Also not exaggerating if I say that otherwise I achieve so heavy sequence usually only when I put Taurus III Bass Pedals into work. In this context we should indeed mention suboscillators of Abyss.
Moog's CP-251 controls filter cutoff and phaser of Abyss. Not sure if CP-251 gives the proper voltages for Abyss, but definitely interesting things sonically speaking.
Noise and hissing on the background is Erebus by Dreadbox heavily modulated and controlled with 0-Coast by Make Noise and Moog's Mother 32. Before it goes to delay and reverb effects it is also processed quite drastically through Zvex Fuzz Factory. All these appear at the very end of the video.
Both synths are further processed through vintage tape Roland Space Echo for delay (I think the time for changing the tapes is quickly approaching as you may hear the repeats get bit out of tune) and Strymon Big Sky for mighty lush reverb.
Recorded live, stereo output from my Motu interface to Ableton Live. Camera was GoPro, edited in Final Cut. I like these late night improvised dawless synth jams."
3. Dreadbox Abyss 4 Voice Sequence and some Erebus, Moog's Mother 32 and 0-Coast too
"Each of Dreadbox Abyss' voices is sequenced in C sharp minor independently by the Cirklon hardware sequencer, Abyss is therefore in the multi-channel mode. Additionally, Dip switch 5 is on for bit of multi-timbrality when each of the voices has slightly different envelope set up. Filter cutoff and phaser are modulated and controlled by Moog's CP 251. And some tweaking on the fly (sub-oscillator level, wave form shape, drive VCA, filter modulation etc.)
Noise on the background was intended as I like when there's always something disturbing and distracting. It's Dreadbox Erebus heavily modulated and controlled by Make Noise's 0-Coast - that is also sequenced by Oberkorn sequencer - as well as Moog's Mother 32. Before it goes to delay and reverb effects it is also processed through rather psychedelic Zvex Fuzz Factor stomp-box.
Both Abyss and Erebus are further processed through vintage tape Roland Space Echo for delay and Strymon Big Sky for reverb. It was dawless synth jam, recorded in one take, stereo output from my Motu interface into Ableton Live. Camera was GoPro, video was edited in the Final Cut Pro. "
"This piece has six parts. If you don't like what you're hearing at any given time, wait a minute, because something different is coming around the corner.
Lots of CS-60 on this track. Most of the effects sounds, the brass sounds, bass, "guitar" sounds, flute sounds, and more. The arpeggios are the Roland D-50 and Ensoniq ESQ1. Novation MoroderNova is playing some 303-ish filter sweeping arpeggios. String pads are the Korg M1 and XILS V+. The ESQ1 also does the repeating string stabs toward the end. Drums are a combination of the Roland XP-30 and Emu Proteus I.
This is the first time in years I have incorporated a drum track. I'm not big on drums. But this piece started as an attempt to do an Italian disco-style track, then evolved into something very different. The drums are a vestige of the original idea.
This is also one of the few times I've used a compressor. I usually prefer a looser, more organic sound. But because of the dance-like quality of the second half, I thought it needed the compressed sound associated with dance music. I'm not experienced with compressors, so it's probably not the most elegant example of audio compression you've ever heard. I might upload an uncompressed version in the future.
The video splices together many takes. During the outro, when you hear the brass sound, you are not seeing the same take you are hearing. The video of that take got deleted, or was never shot. So I had to use video of a different take and dissolve out of it before it became obvious. That is why that shot seems to end prematurely.
During the intro and outro, when it seems like I am staring into space, not playing anything, it is not because I'm drunk, stoned or insane. I am performing the rising and falling glissando effects. See my fingers at both ends of the keyboard? I'm actually playing something, honest."
"Winter 1977/78. Guitar, bass, drums, MiniMoog, EMS Synthi AKS, EMS Vocoder, RMI 300B. David Goessling, Dennis Kelley, & me. Mixolydian Studios in Boonton, NJ, 8 tracks & Don Sternecker engineer. Sometime in 1978 or 79 these tapes were used as pre-show tunes for DEVO. The band WKGB (duo of Dave & Dennis) opened for DEVO at Wollman Rink in Central Park that summer.
Dark skies are overhead,
"Not far". God said.
Black smoke and a dead cat,
Kids today know where it's at.
The air is getting hot,
stoned bliss it's not.*
If I could read your mind
I wonder what I'd find.
(kids today know where it's at)
Dark skies are overhead,
"Not far". God said.
Smoke Rise and a dead cat,
Kids today know where it's at.
*or "stoned kids eat snot" depending on my mood that night."
"This morning I woke up and realized I own a synth the likes of which only a few dozen people in the world may have ever seen. I believe this is one of only two that still exist and no 2 are alike. No solder here ... all wire-wrapped boards.
Full patch panel • assignable joystick • 3 oscillators • capable of frequency and amplitude modulation • two wave forms — controls such as: a sample and hold (of sorts) • symmetry • rotation direction • 3 dimensional rotation • DC offset • and the famous FCE effect.
What is it you ask?
It's a Laser Light Show synthesizer, circa early 1980's. It's made to bounce oscillators and waveforms off one another to create those psychedelic, spirographic and dense spiral designs ... the kind gear heads saw while listening to the synths of Pink Floyd while stoned at a Laseruim show. The FCE effect you ask? It was on all equipment this company made. It stood for Floyd's Cool Effect. Each time it was a pot hooked up to nothing ... either a space holder, a place for future expansion or just a conversation piece." Note this is not a video synthesizer itself, but rather a synth "for driving galvanometers with mirrors on them for Laser Light Shows."
"just jamming out with the Korg Ms2000, midi source was Cascadr for ipad (wonderful app) also you can hear the sound straight from the app later on in the video (if you're high enough to make it that far). also two delays and a flanger video cuts off for a while. I didn't realize it wasn't recording anymore, i was way too stoned to notice"
I did a quick search for stoned in the right search box and this just might be the first stoned post. That's out of 75811 published posts to date. A search on stoned in the search box above brings up the following.
YouTube Uploaded by discomodulator on Feb 27, 2011
"testing this *WEIRD* eBay find... As you can tell I have no idea of how to operate this thing... got it without a manual and the guys who programmed it were stoned out of their minds. It's from a German home-organ manufacturer. sounds very nice in that 80ies way you'd expect. *cool feature: the "hey" and "aha" samples can be pitched up and down with the tempo slider when the patterns have stopped :)"
"The year, 1971, 16 years old from Japan, on a trip to NYC.Walk into Manny's Music in Manhattan. Excited that I'm getting my first "real" guitar, a new Gibson Les Paul Deluxe ( still have it!! finish is cracking nicely!!). Strange keyboard with a ton of switches catches my eye. Way cooler than the Mini-Moog I had seen before. My Dad, being cool that he is, urges me to check it out. Makes all kinds of weird noises. Gotta have it!!! Wow everybody back home, groove to Walter Carlos, pre Wendy, Morton Subotnick, etc. Awesome tones and crashes when I intertwine the oscillators, envelope generators, VC filters. Many a stoned headphone journeys taken. 2010, Synth hasn't seen the light of day in 30 years, packed away the whole time. Plug it in, move around the oscillators, and BAM, wacka-wacka memories!!!!!! I have no use for it now.But I know that it'll make someone's fantasy come true!!! The workout.... Every switch works, every knob works, every key works in tune ( all keys are uniformly stiff. they will need to be re-conditioned.. felt?) As you can see, no dings, a little dusty. This machine has never been played outside. Never been onstage like my Paul. Just in great condition for its age. Let me know how you would like it wrapped for shipment. Merry Christmas!!!!"
Update via Micke in the comments: "The Synthacon first appeared in 1975 so there's no way the seller could've bought it back in 1971. It's obviosly a typo.
Much more interesting than DM's use of this synthesizer is, in my opinion, its use on the Apocalypse Now soundtrack (1979). The Steiner EVI, synthasystem modular and double-synthacon are all over the score."
"The rich square wave of the CS-10 can sound somewhat like a bass clarinet sometimes. Also present here is a heavily Small Stoned Juno-6 with the filter all the way open for some sharp string machine-like sounds. The second, higher pitched lead and background noises, whispers and chirps are all courtesy of the CS-10 on the remaining tracks."
Analog Impressions #011
YouTube via Dovinia "Dark soundscape with the Yamaha CS-10 through a Revox A77 - for some good old tape echo."
via Wikipedia "She worked extensively with the physiological (not psychoacoustic) phenomenon called otoacoustic emission, in which the ears themselves act as sound generating devices. Amacher composed several "ear dances" designed to stimulate clear "third" tones coming from the listener's ears. The subtitle of her first Tzadik Records album Sound Characters (Making the Third Ear) references these "ear tones".
'When played at the right sound level, which is quite high and exciting, the tones in this music will cause your ears to act as neurophonic instruments that emit sounds that will seem to be issuing directly from your head ... (my audiences) discover they are producing a tonal dimension of the music which interacts melodically, rhythmically, and spatially with the tones in the room. Tones 'dance' in the immediate space of their body, around them like a sonic wrap, cascade inside ears, and out to space in front of their eyes ... Do not be alarmed! Your ears are not behaving strange or being damaged! ... these virtual tones are a natural and very real physical aspect of auditory perception, similar to the fusing of two images resulting in a third three dimensional image in binocular perception ... I want to release this music which is produced by the listener ...'"
Amacher & Moore 1/2
YouTube via castelolx. "clip from 'daytrip maryanne'"
The following is an excerpt from this obit by Alvin Curran: "Maybe it was at the N.Y.U. electronic music studio in an old movie house on Fourth Street in the late 1960s. Mort Subotnick invited her; she slept in a kind of mop closet with her precious tapes, magnetic, bubbly, bizarre, but hard-wired to things I was just beginning to intuit.
Or was it 1970, when she piled into Frederic Rzewski’s mother’s car, all bundled up, aviator cap and all, along with Serge Tcherepnin and Anthony Braxton to whiz off from the Upper West Side on a brief Musica Elettronica Viva early spring tour of Midwestern colleges? These were long hauls on Interstate 80, wet roads, stoned passengers, utopian destinations, laughing singing rapping hyping. Nothing mattered it seemed, except that the youthful skins we were all wrapped in should bestow us eternal life and that the world out there should be waiting for the revolution we were about to deliver from the contents of the trunk of this vintage car."
Update via Michael Trigilio in the comments: "Truly an inspiration - - I worked briefly with her while a graduate student. My collaborative radio project, Neighborhood Public Radio, is doing a piece in homage to Maryanne called HOLD YOUR PHONE UP for a show at the contemporary museum in Baltimore - - - anyone can call 1-888-361-4NPR and we'll process the sounds we hear (in honor of her seminal City Links projects)."
"Eric Barbor allowed me to post some groovy shit on umop.com over the weekend showcasing the writing & artwork I've done for Metasonix over the past coupla years.
There's links to a TX-2 Butt Probe page featuring highly offensive manual art (Retarded Animal Babies characters), a TM-7 Scrotum Smasher page containing most of the owner's manual (entertaining read if you're stoned), and a G-1000 Fu**ing Fu**er page which needs updating, but is for now the product reveal page I made back in January.
Just finished new art for a secret project called the KV-100 also... that'll be teased over the next few months.
So I found this image of the Metasonix Agonizer on this VSE post of stuff for sale including a Realistic MG-1, Nord Lead 2, Akai S612, and a couple of other pedals. I don't remember checking out the Agonizer before, so I head over to Metasonix for more info. It's not listed as a current product but I did find the manual in the support section. I take a look and the first thing in the manual is:
"AAAGGGGHHH!!!!! YOU SLIME! YOU PERVERTED ANUS-MAGGOT!! YOU ACTUALLY BOUGHT ONE??!?? WHAT THE HELL'S WRONG WITH YOU???"
Eventually followed by:
"The Agonizer is great for driving the bloody hell out of a tube guitar amp, but don't whine at US if it blows your speaker's cone across the room.... Because of the construction techniques required, the Agonizer cannot be kicked around like a fuzzbox. You WILL BREAK A TUBE if you kick it around. And thereafter, we will kick YOU around, shortly after charging you a large amount of money to fix the damn thing.The Agonizer is for the DISCIPLINED, intelligent, non-risk-averse musician. It is NOT SUITABLE for drunken/stoned bozos who play dude-guitar in Creed cover bands. Dude! MAN! Like, it SUCKS, right? (Getting the damn PICTURE yet??)"
Suddenly it all makes sense... I have to admit, I found the image of the cone flying accross the room pretty funny. Aah! My eye!
Update via phloem in the comments: "The TX-1 Agonizer art was done by Sarah Combs."
Update via Dave in the comments: "I am happy to say I provided about a dozen custom illustration for the TX-2 Butt Probe manual, and my soul still aches from the process. Easily the filthiest shit I've ever drawn in my life."
Now it really makes sense. Dave did The Packrat series and Retarded Animal Babies. Be sure to check out Retarded Animal Babies for some cute, wholesome toons. You can find more of Dave's work on UMOP.com.
