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.

Random Video: Jamming on Doepfer A-100 Modular

Found on YouTube:
A short jam showing the possibilities of a Doepfer A-178 Theremin Controller and an A-198 Ribbon Controller combination.

Video: Jamming on Doepfer A100 Modular

" Edwin (Duo Blank) jamming on Doepfer A-100 modular synth triggering sounds notes through theremin and ribbon controllers."

Uploaded by duoblank

Theremin: Magic Ceramic Custom Synth

Happy New-Year everybody!
I hope you all had a great holiday season...
I found this one on the web, but it's not really new...

Video: Magic Ceramic Theremin Lamp Doepfer A-178

" The first test of the Magic Ceramic Theremin lamp. 

It was developed as a peculiar piece for the opening of the Exhibition of several ceramists in Gallery Artibrak. from November until 28th of December 2011.

A Theremin is normally step-less, but in this case an A-156 is used as a quantizer..

Small explanation for those who are not familiar:
In this magic piece of ceramic two antenna's are integrated. 

One antenna for the volume and one for the pitch. 

The instrument does not have to be touched. 

The volume can be controlled by your left hand (when approaching it the volume increases), the pitch can be controlled by your right hand (when approaching it, the pitch of the sound goes up). 

 By approaching the antenna's you are influencing the potential difference. 

Just like the antenna of your transistor radio which functions well or not when approaching it.

(Ceramic Art by Mance)

The Magic Ceramic is based on the original Theremin invented by Léon Theremin in 1919. 

That electronic instrument is step-less variable and very expressive. 

It sounds like an opera voice or violin.

This ceramic version of the instrument has a much more variety than it's original. 

You can make the sound stepless or let it be quantized, so that you hear a real tonescale/musical scale. 

The sinus-tone of the Magic Ceramic is quantized (chopped in pieces), and in the way it is presented now only the Minor notes are heard. (like the black keys on a piano) 

In this way the steps between the notes are bigger and easier to distinguish. 

Other possibilities are just Major notes or the complete tonescale, quantized or not. 

There is also a small sampler added, so when you reach the highest note a spoken voice can be heard."
More info HERE

Video uploaded by creativegallerysynth

PatchPierre Wishes you Happy Holidays!

From the bottom of my heart, i would like to wish all frequent and/or accidental readers of PatchPierre.Net very Happy Holidays!

Thank you for all your support throughout the last year.

I will take a break until the 1st of January 2013, and hope to return with my regular 1-post-every-3-days schedule.

Is Christmas the season of sharing for you?

Feel free to donate any amount to PatchPierre by clicking HERE

and/or visit http://patchpierre.blogspot.nl/p/patchpierre-donors.html for info.

Thank you very much in advance!

Doepfer's Christmas wishes from their website

Doepfer A-167 Comparator Tutorials by Raul Pena

Time for a new Raul Pena tutorial video series.

This time all about the A-167 Analog Comparator module.

Here are the first 3 episodes... i will add new ones every Thursday.

Video 1: Doepfer A-167 Basics

" Description of the Basic Features of the Doepfer A167 Comparator. Sound and Audio by Raul Pena. Sound Demonstration begins in next segment."

Video 2: Doepfer A-167 Offset and Outputs Part One

" A closer look at the output and offset options on the Doepfer A-167 Comparator. Part One of two. Sound and Video by Raul Pena."

Video 3: Doepfer A-167 Offset and Outputs Part Two

" A closer look at the output and offset options on the Doepfer A167 Comparator. This is Part Two of Two. Includes Oscillocope views of waveforms using the Dave Jones Design O'Tool. Sound and Video by Raul Pena."

Video 4: Doepfer A-167 Offset and Free ADSR Part One

" A continued exploration of the Doepfer A167 Comparator. Includes sound examples of Offset and Oscilloscope views. Free Running ADSR example found in next video."

Video 5: Doepfer A-167 Offset and Free ADSR Part Two.

"Part Two of the Doepfer A167 Offset and Free ADSR segment. A continued exploration of the Doepfer A167 Comparator. Includes sound examples of Offset and Oscilloscope views. Free Running ADSR example found in next video. Sound and Video by Raul Pena."

Check out Raul's latest survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/K3Z9PVF

Other places to find Raul's World of Synths on the Web

raulsworldofsynths on YouTube

raulsworldofsynths on Vimeo

raulsworldofsynths on SoundCloud

raulsworldofsynths at iTunes

raulsworldofsynths at CDBABY

Doepfer A-197-2 / Velleman VPS10 Oscilloscope Kit

In the early days of the A-100, Doepfer also sold the A-197-2 LCD Oscilloscope Front Panel Kit.

This kit is no longer available, and was not a module manufactured by Doepfer but only a 34HP wide front panel kit to mount the one-channel Velleman Panelscope VPS10 LCD Oscilloscope into an A-100 frame.

The kit consisted of the plain front panel (punched for VPS10, without printing), an A-180 Multiples PC board (mounted crosswise below the scope) and all wires necessary to connect the VPS10 to the A-100 bus (power supply) and the A-180 board (signal input). 

A-197-2 Kit with Velleman VPS10 Oscilloscope
installed plus manual and mounting screws

The connecting lines between the sockets were made with black, waterproof felt pen. 

A little bit of mechanical skills and soldering was necessary to put this all together. 

Three wires had to be soldered to the VPS10 (GND, +12V, signal). 

One hole had to be drilled into the plastic case of the VPS10 for the passage of the wires, and the VPS10 had to be mounted to the front panel with 4 screws and nuts. 

A detailed mounting and soldering description was added to the panel kit. 

A-197-2 Kit with Velleman VPS10
Oscilloscope installed

No special measuring cable (BNC - 3.5 mm jack) was necessary as the four right sockets were internally connected to the VPS BNC input (the BNC input was connected to the right four sockets of the A-180 board) . 

The four left sockets built a second multiple without connection to the VPS10 (same as A-180).

It was also possible to run the VPS10 with an external power supply to save the "high quality" current/voltage of the A-100 bus. 

The VPS10 did not require an exactly adjusted and highly stabilized supply voltage.

Back-side of the A-197-2 Kit with Velleman VPS10
Oscilloscope installed

So... Why did Doepfer offer only the front panel kit ?
Doepfer mentioned on their website: " We do not get a better price for the VPS10 than a normal end user but have to take on the warranty and to calculate the dealers rebate into the final price.
I.e. we have to add at least the dealers rebate and the handling charges to the VPS10 price to obtain a zero profit !
This would extremely increase the price of the module and we think that this is not in the sense of the customers."

You can find the full description and support files for the Vellemann VPS10 HERE
The assembly and wiring manual is available for download from the Doepfer website: A197_2_man.pdf

The price of the A-197-2 was 40 Euro (only for the front panel kit, the VPS10 had to be ordered seperately by the customer e.g. from an electronic shop for almost 200 Euros)

Remark: We are not responsible for the features of the VPS10. 

Mounting/wiring the VPS10 may affect the warranty. 

Pictures via MATRIXSYNTH

RMS No.2 - A Simple Self Generating Patch

I'm usually not a big fan of self generating patches, but here's a nice one.
Plain and simple, slightly dark...

Uploaded by Simon Pott, who says he is new to the world of the modular synthesizer, opened a Vimeo channel yesterday and already uploaded two fine modular videos.
(subscribe at http://vimeo.com/randommodularsnippets)

RMS No.2 - A Simple Self Generating Patch from Random Modular Snippets on Vimeo.
" Featuring:- Doepfer A-110, A-114, A-124, A-143-1, A-143-4 a few utility modules and a Strymon El-Capistan."

Follow Simon Pott on Twitter @SpoiltVictorian