There's something wonderful about a new, knob-covered mono synth, and the first big leak from NAMM is this (from the Harmony Central forums), the DSI Mono Evolver keyboard. $1199 gets you an Evolver in a steel box, 37 keys, 58 knobs, lots and lots of blue LEDs and, most important of all, wooden end panels. It's very expensive, but... Damn! Dave Bryce, who works for DSI, posted the pictures on the forum, and said they really wanted to sell the synth for under $1,000, but couldn't make the sums add up. Watch the DSI Website for updates.
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I don't normally post 'x is upgraded to version y' type stories, so this is a bit self-indulgent. But if you own a Dave Smith Evolver, you'll be delighted to hear that V3.0 has just been released here. It adds 43 new midi CCs - so it will be much easier to control with a controller or sequencer. Unfortunately, the upgrade costs $25, and involves a new chip inside the box. But while you're waiting for that to arrive, there's a really good new soundbank, which seems much more logically arranged. And if you haven't got a DSI Evolver, why the hell not? What kind of house can you buy for $499? (thanks for the pic, Corky)
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Dave Bryce is a DSI staffer who regularly pops up on the Vintage Synth forum to drop rumours about new products (just like he did for the launch of the Mono Evolver Keyboard). At the moment he's holding court with an announcement sure to bring a tear to eye of the most hard-hearted synth geek. DSI is about to release the Prophet 8 - a 30th anniversary re-release/remix of the Prophet 5. Of course, Matrix Synth has a good summary of what we know so far: 8 voice, all analog, patch memory, sequencer, arpeggiator, none of the digital stuff from the Evolver, street price of $1,999. Exciting stuff. There are sound samples from Stefan Trippler here and a teasing video here.
At the moment it's just a render on a poster on the Dave Smith Instruments stand at NAMM, but this could be the new drum machine from Dave Smith (of Sequential Circuits, man behind the Prophet 5, Pro-One and Evolver range) and Roger Linn (of the Linn drum machine and Akai MPC range). It's a new analogue/digital drum machine, obviously inspired by the Evolver, but with the 4x4 pads of the MPC range. No details, and a chance the whole thing is a hoax, but it's wonderful to see such a cool boutique thing being talked about all over the forums, with the most sensible analysis at the MPC forums: "Cant they just make it a black case? Whats with the gay 80's rocker pants design?" Quite.
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Here are a small handful of synth-related videos. If you have more links, post them in the comments and I'll do a round-up in a few days.
Inspired by this post and an enthusiasm for gadgets, I just got an Efergy electricity meter. Among other things, I can find out how much my energy my 'studio' uses.
'Studio' clear out time...
As the nights draw in, it's time for some idle speculation (and poor-quality photoshop work) about new product launches at NAMM in two months' time. I doubt we'll see it this year, but my hunch (and it is just a hunch) is that Moog are developing a polyphonic synth based on the technology in the Little Phatty. Why? Shortly after the Voyager was released, Bob Moog said 'We could build one...But we're not going to'. Back then, he was working with the Voyager - a fantastically expensive hand-built machine. Now, with the Little Phatty, I think everything is in place for a realistically-priced poly synth.
Every few weeks, I get an email from someone saying "You should post something about Bhajis Loops. It's amazing!" It's a studio-in-a-box which runs on Palm handhelds. I've written about it a couple of times . So, finally inspired by this thread full of more happy users, I emailed Olivier, who told me (roughly) "Get a Tungsten T3. They've got a clever memory thing, they're cheap, and they're cool". So I did. Mine came with a Wifi card for £85, some go for £60. The software is $27, and you can buy 1gb SD cards for £10 on the 'bay.
I mentioned Welcome To Mars, Ken Hollings and Simon James' funny and wonderful radio/podcast series about science and science fiction in the 1950s and '60s way back when it launched. The series finished last week, so you can now download all 12 half-hour shows from here. The shows are really worth listening to, if you're at all interested in science, science fiction, weird history (UFO sightings, CIA drug experiments, the birth of Scientology, Wilhelm Reich, Aleister Crowley), or electronic music, with Simon rocking the Dotcom Modular, Moog Voyager, DSI Evolver and Ableton Live. Also, here you can download Simon's interview with Basil Kirchin the eccentric English composer/experimenter who died last year.
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Simon writes: "I just thought I’d let you know about a radio show that I am producing over the next 12 weeks. The soundtrack is all new material specifically produced for the show. It is mostly electronic (Minimoog Voyager/Evolver/Dot Com Modular/Theremin) but also features Dimension Pro sampler and Ableton live software. The show is live and I will be using Ableton's fine software to create a lot of the sound on the fly. It's presented by Ken Hollings, whose reading is not only live but also unscripted - he's just talking about topics he knows inside out." It's a series about the history of science fiction from 1947-59, which I'll be listening to on the bus to work tomorrow... Links to the podcasts are here, or you can hear the show live on wednesdays on Resonance FM in London and on the web.
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This is the Minod Vorga, a new boutique analog mono synth with a built-in 8 step sequencer, an analog joystick and a funky double-peak filter. €640 (£440) is hardly cheap, but it does look fantastic - a white face in a hardwood box, a bit like a pocket-sized VCS3. I wish my DSI Evolver looked more like this... (via Matrix Synth)
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Slightly tragically, I've managed to forget my own first birthday. The first ever MT post was on August 24th 2004. Since then, there have been 814 posts, 1.6 million page views and 2465 comments. Thanks to Mikey and Tommy all the other inspiring people who've sent ideas, and apologies for those I never got round to posting. Sorry it's been quiet over the last few weeks - I've been very distracted by work, a new baby, builders all over my house (oh, and that Evolver 3.0 Upgrade). Normal service will hopefully be resumed soon. Thanks also to all the other music-gear bloggers. I started MT because there was nothing I wanted to read, and now there's plenty.
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Say what you like about Behringer and their super cheap music gear. This video [wmv] of a Behringer BCR2000 knob box dancing to acid house from a DSI Evolver is pure geek heaven. Stefan Trippler, we salute you! (Thanks, Jim)
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