Booktip VII - Keyfax Omnibus Edition by Julian Colbeck

The Keyfax Omnibus Edition, written in 1996 by Julian Colbeck, is a pretty interesting 192-page book about synths and synthesizer history. It is the sixth volume of a series by the author, his first one appeared in 1985 although he already writes about synthesizers since 1976.

The book is divided into 2 main parts, The Hot 100 and the Product Directory.
The first and largest part of the book delves into the 100 most important synthesizers in history, alphabetically ordered by manufacturers name. Together with the company profiles this book gives a nice overview on the global history of synthesizers. I like the style that it is written in, very informative...

The second part, The Product Directory exists out of an extensive list of almost every synthesizer on the planet. The directory also provides production data like production year, release-prices, the instrument's value in 1996, and often a short extra description. Very useful if you are looking into buying a second-hand ( pre-1996 ) synthesizer.

The book reads like a synthesizer history book. It is a nice resource for anyone interested in older synths and synth history. PatchPierre rates it at 8 out of 10 stars

More PatchPierre Booktips

Published by Mixbooks,
later editions published by Hal Leonard Corporation
ISBN: 0-1918371-08-2

Filters II : A-121 VCF2 Multimode Filter

The first Doepfer filter that i ever bought was the A-121 Multimode Filter. It is a 12 dB/Octave filter, and has multiple simultaneous outputs available; a Low-Pass, Band-Pass, High-Pass and Notch (or Band Reject).
It also has 4 CV inputs, 2 for adjusting the cutoff frequency and 2 for resonance.

This is still one of my favorite filter modules, the multiple outputs are very useful, and i  like all the CV inputs. It just gives you so much more control over the filter, and that's what i like most in a module; maximum control.

Although it is 'only' a 12 dB filter it sounds very nice, from very smooth and warm up to quite rough, especially with the resonance turned up ( ...up to self-oscillation ).
Most of the times i patch an A-174-2 Wheels CV into FCV1, and a simple envelope CV to the (adjustable) FCV2. Works fine in most situations.
With some analog or digital noise added to QCV2 to give it a touch of unpredictable resonance you will quickly get a convincing fat bassline.

Together with an A-138 B (exp) Mixer you can easily make some pretty impressive stacked bass-sounds, all with just a single filter-module.

Find A-121 sound examples at Andreas Krebs Blog : HERE

As the special circuit CEM3320 used in this module is no longer available the module is discontinued. I believe there are still a few available, but they don't make new ones anymore. Doepfer advices modules like the A-106-6 ( with eight simultaneous outputs! ) or A-107 Multi-Type Morphing Filter as a replacement.

SiteTip IV : MIT OpenCourseware Music and Technology: Contemporary History and Aesthetics

A great resource for beginners and all other synthesizer-enthusiasts is the OpenCourseWare site from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

This course, as given by professor Christopher Ariza in the fall of 1997 is highly informative and perhaps a must-read to all of you new to analog sound or music in general.

'This course is an investigation into the history and aesthetics of music and technology as deployed in experimental and popular musics from the 19th century to the present. Through original research, creative hands-on projects, readings, and lectures, the following topics will be explored. The history of radio, audio recording, and the recording studio, as well as the development of musique concrète and early electronic instruments. The creation and extension of musical interfaces by composers such as Harry Partch, John Cage, Conlon Nancarrow, and others. The exploration of electromagnetic technologies in pickups, and the development of dub, hip-hop, and turntablism. The history and application of the analog synthesizer, from the Moog modular to the Roland TR-808. The history of computer music, including music synthesis and representation languages. Contemporary practices in circuit bending, live electronics, and electro-acoustic music, as well as issues in copyright and intellectual property, will also be examined'

Surfing through these pages you will find a lot of interesting information on (analog) sound, music history and much more, accompanied by many links to other interesting reads and audio-examples.

Video: Lecture 13 | MIT 21M.380 Music and Technology (Contemporary History and Aesthetics)


Preview Lecture 13 / Modular synthesizers
See the complete course HERE

Check the massive PDF (37 Mb / right-click and save as) for the complete set of notes and all other information on this course and enjoy!

Licence info:
Ariza, Christopher. 21M.380 Music and Technology (Contemporary History and Aesthetics), Fall 2009. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT OpenCourseWare), http://ocw.mit.edu (Accessed 16 Oct, 2011). License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA

CD-Tip IV : Clara Rockmore - The Art of the Theremin (1977)

Okay... Either you love the sound of the Theremin, or you don't. If you count yourself to the last category, feel free to skip this post and return to this blog in 3 or 4 days.

Yesterday was what would have been theremin virtuosa and electronic music pioneer, Clara Rockmore's 100th Birthday.
Clara Rockmore ( born as Clara Reisenberg ) studied violin in Leningrad, Russia, but she had to stop her career because of bone-problems due to malnutrition in her youth.
After she moved to the USA she started to work with Léon Theremin, who had recently invented the Theremin, and very quickly she mastered the instrument and became a virtuoso Theremin player.

In all the years performing with USA's finest orchestras and touring she developed a distinguished technique for playing the instrument and she proved that the Theremin really was a serious instrument, and not just an instrument to make 'eerie' sound effects for scary movies.

Although she also did these sound effects on commission, her true love was for the real classical compositions.

This 12-track CD has special arrangements of great classic composers like Saint-Saens, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Ravel, Stravinsky and a few others.

Rockmore plays the Theremin beautifully, accompanied by her sister Nadia Reisenberg on piano. Pure and simple. If you are into classical music you will probably appreciate these wonderful recordings.

I have to admit that the tracks do sound a bit sad or moody, but that might just be the power of Clara's playing-style. With this recording and performances she definitely proved that you can really touch someone's soul with this instrument, and that is a great accomplishment with such a difficult to play instrument.

Video: Clara Rockmore - The Swan from Saint Saëns


CD catalog nr: Delos DE1014

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_the_Theremin

A few more recordings that were made during these sessions later appeared on the 'Lost Theremin Album' (1989), together with other old recordings.

Also worth watching: Theremin, an Electronic Odyssey, a 1997 documentary about Léon Theremin, his instrument and life, including various interviews and performances by Clara Rockmore.
Trialer: HERE

New PatchPierre Mobile App Advertising Templates

Nice...
Nokia / OVI-publishing recently provided me with new advertising-templates for my PatchPierre Mobile Nokia-app. Very kind of them, this looks much better as the old banners IMO.

If you have a Nokia mobile phone, you can still find the app HERE.

The ultimate way to watch PatchPierre's content on your Nokia device. The app enables easy browsing through the posts, feedback and twitter-feed and also links to the original articles and my NetPierreTV YouTube Channel

Works on all Symbian and selected S40 devices.

PS. if you are an Android, IOS, WM7 or Blackberry developer and you have a little bit of spare time... feel free to contact me. It would be nice to have this app available on multiple platforms. 

Users' Favorite Modules

A recent Poll at the Doepfer Yahoo Usergroup, in the beginning of this year gave a nice insight of what modules are the users' favorites. The (informal) poll resulted in a lot of nice top-5 lists, with a great diversity in modules.
I took some time to count the votes that i could find and made this overall -list. /*the differences between the top-three most-mentioned modules were minimal;

The A-149 Quantized/Stored Random Voltages module(s) were definitely the most popular ones.
These modules, based on Buchla's 'Sound of Uncertaincy' Model nrs. 265/266, process random or stored random voltages to contol your other modules. Very interesting modules, that are high on my personal wishlist as well.

Three modules ended in second place;
The A-101-2 Low Pass Gate, The A-155 Analog Trigger Sequencer / A-154 Sequencer controller combination and the A-156 Dual Quantizer
Third place was for the A-160 Clock Divider/ A-161 Clock Sequencer -combination, the A-151 Sequential Switch, the A-137 Wave Multiplier and the A-198 Ribbon Controller ( R2M included)

I was not really surprised by the list, a lot of them are high in my personal favorites list too. Not sure about the Vactrol LPG module though... i prefer other filters, like the A-121 Multimode Filter and the A-127 Triple Resonance Filter, simply because of their multiple outputs and extended control possibilities... and the A-124 WASP Filter because of its unique sound.

The Ribbon Controller (A-198) is also high on my list, and i also love other 'alternative' controllers like the A-198 Theremin Controller and the A-174 Joystick and A-174-2 Wheels modules.
These last two controller modules were so under-rated in the poll IMO,but sooo useful in live-situations.
My personal number one module is, without a doubt, the A-156 Dual Quantizer Module, but you have probably noticed that already by my earlier posts about this module and it's recent modification.

Feel free to leave your personal list with favorite modules in the feedback section...

Are you curious about what else is going in the Doepfer Yahoo Usergroup?

Click to join Doepfer_a100
Signing up is easy... and free!

Quotes VI : Brian Eno

" As soon as I hear a sound, it always suggests a mood to me."

Brian Eno / Producer, musician, songwriter, artist

A-101-2 Vactrol Low Pass Gate

I must say i am very happy with my latest module, the A-101-2 Vactrol Low Pass Gate.
This module is a combination of a 12dB Low-Pass Filter and a Voltage Controlled Amplifier (VCA), with 2 vactrols as controlling elements with very unique characteristics and is very popular amongst the members of the Doepfer A-100 Yahoo Users Group.

The module is based on the Buchla Model 292 Quad Voltage-Controlled Lopass Gate module. '
The term "Low Pass Gate" was first used by Don Buchla for a module that can be switched between Low-Pass and VCA.
Buchla's current (2004) update is the Model 292e Quad Dynamics Manager ,that is functionally identical to the older model, but includes some extra functions like velocity inputs, allowing controllers to control note volumes with performance gestures and preset storage.

Doepfer's LPG module can handle 2 different incoming control voltages that can be used to control the Low-Pass filter, or to open or close the VCA.
Additionally a combined mode LP + VCA is available which makes the sound more dull as the loudness decreases. This is characteristic of all acoustic instruments (the harder you strike, pluck, or bow, the richer the overtone structure), but had been lacking in electronic instrumentation before..

In contrast to the Buchla design the A-101-2 offers attenuators for both CV and audio input, a manual resonance control and two gate inputs to control the function of the module in addition to the manual toggle switch.
The filter is hard to describe, but vactrols are known for their smooth sound behavior. Compared to a 'normal' 12 dB filter like the Low-Pass filter from the A-121, they sound quite the same, but the Vactrol inside the A-101-2 does give it a smoother edge that can perhaps best be compared with a very subtle 'slew' effect. The VCA has that same 'slewy' characteristic, but doesn't sound dramatically different than a regular VCA to my ears.

The combination of the LPG and VCA, is (obviously) my favorite setting and with the resonance up this module really starts to shine. ( Resonance is adjustable all the way up to self-oscillation )

A nice extra are the 2 Gate inputs, that can make you ( rhythmically ) switch between the two functions of the module with an external sequencer or other triggers. I'm not sure if 2 Gate inputs was necessary though.., personally i had rather seen an extra CV input for the Resonance (QCV) for example.
(Perhaps this can be modified?)

Overall this is a very nice-sounding module, that i will use a lot in the near future. I'm not sure if i put it in my top-5 list of favorite modules, but it will at least be in my top 10 for the next few months.

- Check my earlier Vactrol Basics post for more general details about vactrols,
or take a  look at Doepfer's Vactrol Basics page.
More about the A-101-2 LPG  including an audio example at Andreas Krebs blog

Analogue-Systems-to-Doepfer Adaptors

Ever thought of installing Analogue Systems modules in your Doepfer Eurorack (or the other way around) without much trouble?

Tony from Synovatron came up with a few nifty solutions for that;
His latest 'inventions' are small adapters that allow you to simply plug directly into your  AS or Doepfer module, or that fit the connector on the module's PCB.

Installing is as easy as it looks;
 Note the red stripe - just line up the Doepfer cable's red stripe with it.
 The adaptors are also marked with pin 1 and have an orientation mark so pin 1 goes to the top (in fact to pin 1) and the red stripe goes at the bottom.

The order code for the socket-to-socket version (left) will be ASM2DB Adaptor (or Analogue Systems Module to Doepfer Bus Adaptor). The code for the plug-to-plug version (at the right) will be DM2ASB Adaptor (or Doepfer Module to Analogue Systems Bus Adaptor).

More info at http://synovatron.blogspot.com

Vactrol Basics

A Vactol is an opto-isolator device that is often used for channel-switching in many modern amplifiers, but these electronic parts can be used in various other ways too, for example in synth-modules like Doepfer's A-101 Series and the A-102 Low Pass Gate module.
There are many kinds of optical isolators, but the most common is the LED/photo-transistor type.

A vactrol is a combination of a light depending resistor (LDR) and light source (LED) both put into a small 100% light-proof case.

The principle of a Vactrol is very simple.
When an input current is applied to the LED, the output phototransistor turns on.
The only connection between the LED and phototransistor is through light -not electricity, thus the term optical isolator. 

These optical isolators are primarily digital in nature with fast response times suitable for interfacing with logic gates. Rise and fall times of a few microseconds, faster for some isolators, are typical.

So together, the coupled pair act as an electrically variable potentiometer.
Since the output element of the AOI is a resistor, the voltage applied to this output resistor may be DC and/or AC and the magnitude may be as low as zero or as high as the maximum voltage rating.
Because the input will control the magnitude of a complex waveform in a proportional manner, this type of isolator can be used as an analog control element in all kind of ways in analog synthesizers.

Find a review of my A-101-2 Vactol Low Pass Gate module  HERE

More info on Vactrols:   Doepfer Vactrol Basics page

                                      Vactrols on Wikipedia

                                      PDF via DatasheetCatalog.com