Steffcorp ARP2600 Eurorack modules

VCF 2612

Arplifier

Steffcorp from Sweden is the next new Eurorack manufacturer on my list.

After passionately working with synthesizers for over 20 years, doing both music and a lot of sound-design, Rickard Steffensen started a journey 2 years ago recreating his favorite synthesizer of all time – the legendary ARP 2600.
The result of this quest is the first batch of 4 Eurorack modules that Steffcorp released this month;

The Oscillarp is a eurorack-clone of the 4027-1 VCO used in the ARP 2600.

The VCF 2612 is a clone of the 4012 VCF used in the ARP 2600.

The Envelarp is a eurorack-clone of the 4020 ADSR/AR used in the ARP 2600.

,and the Arplifier VCA is a eurorack-clone of the 4019 VCA used in the ARP 2600.

Envelarp

Oscillarp

Rickard is now working hard on getting a full voice of 2600 modules out the door, followed by other even older designs that deserve to be revived.

I'm looking forward to the first sound-examples...

More info at https://steffcorp.se/

via MATRIXSYNTH

BookTip XIII: Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer

I have had 2 whole weeks off from work this holiday season, so i had enough time to read a few interesting synth-related books.

The first one i read was 'Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer' by Trevor Pinch and Frank Trocco.
It's a very interesting book (368 pages) that was published in 2004, and that tells the story about Robert (Bob) Moog, synthesizers from the mid-60s to the mid-70s in general and about the Moog company and its products.

The book has a foreword by Bob Moog himself (he passed away a year after the publication of this book) and the writers have spend a large amount of time and effort into making it.
The book is filled with stories by musicians, technicians and other pioneers from that era where everyone seemed to share a same passion for analog synthesis.

The list of interviewed people for this book is too large to mention, but it includes people like Don Buchla, Suzanne Ciani, Keith Emerson, Rachel Elkind, Tom Oberheim, Alan Pearlman (from ARP) and many more.
That's a very impressive list, and the whole book is written in a chronological style, filled with many anecdotes and interesting facts, what makes it fun and easy to read.
A must-read in my humble opinion, if you are interested in this kind of stuff, of course...

Info: http://books.google.nl/books/about/Analog_Days.html?id=3hjvWzkMK-sC …
Harvard University Press, 15 nov. 2004 - 368 pages
ISBN-13: 978-0674016170

Find my earlier BookTips HERE
My next BookTip will be published somewhere next month.

RIP Joop Stokkermans

The Magic Of The ARP-Synthesizer (1970)
Orchestra conducted by Bert Paige.

Last week on the 25th of October, Dutch composer, piano player and (ARP) synth-pioneer Joop Stokkermans died at the age of 75

Stokkermans was an extremely important contributor to Dutch TV music, radio music and commercials from the early 60s into the late 90s.
Although he is mainly known as a pianist, but he also had a great interest for synthesizers since they first appeared.

In 1970 he recorded a full album on the only working ARP available in Europe at the time, together with help from technician Roddy de Hillster who programmed most of the sounds.

The album contains re-arrangements of standards from classical Bach (Air) and Tchaikovsky (The Swan) compositions, re-arrangement from Bacherach, Paige and Becaud and some compositions of his own.
Together with a full orchestra conducted by Bert Paige this turned out to be a very interesting and maybe even groundbreaking album in Dutch synthesizer-music.

Video: Joop Stokkermans - Blij zijn zolang het nog kan (B.Paige)

Wikipedia in Dutch: http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joop_Stokkermans
Fragments of tracks at Fonos
http://www.fonos.nl/winkel/product/joop-stokkermans-magic-arp-synthesizer

Quotes V : Alan Pearlman

"The electronic instrument's value is chiefly as a novelty. With greater attention on the part of the engineer to the needs of the musician, the day may not be too remote when the electronic instrument may take its place ... as a versatile, powerful, and expressive instrument."

Alan Pearlman wrote this in 1948... 21 years later he founded ARP Instruments Inc.