eBay item #7386464853 is a fantastic-looking Ondioline - the French-made early synthesizer. It was powered by valves, with switches to modify the sound, a knee pedal to control volume and a strange touch wire system. This one isn't working 100%, but it does look incredible. Bidding is currently at €400 with five days to go. More on the Ondioline at 120 Years. (via Squeezytunes, a wonderful new blog about elderly electromechanical keyboard instruments)
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 8 comments Post a Comment 
Just because it's Tuesday and this picture makes me smile. (via Analog Industries via Dougt)
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 5 comments Post a Comment
Why don't we all go to the Frankfurt MusikMesse? It's the closest thing Europe has to NAMM - a big trade show full of geeks and music gear (including many accordions, presumably) which runs from 29 March - 1 April. I'd like to organise some kind of Music Thing reader trip/event, even if it's just some beer and sausages somewhere on the Friday or Saturday night. Please post in the comments if you've ever been to MusikMesse, or Frankfurt for that matter, and have hotel tips/warnings/names of decent restaurants/suggestions of the best day to go.
Faderfox, who make great little MIDI controllers for Ableton Live and Traktor, have just redesigned their range, with white (or maybe silver...) faces and loads of LEDs, giving them a whiff of the Buchla 200e (like this module), which can only be a good thing. No word yet on prices, but the previous generation were around £180 each. (via Moogulator Maschinensound Blog)
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 4 comments Post a Comment
This is the GypsyMIDI motion capture MIDI controller, from Brighton startup Sonalog. One arm costs £480, both arms with wireless control cost £1240. The videos on the site are super funny, like an 'i've been to drama school' version of this previous cheapo midi glove. What is interesting is that this isn't an art project or a half-assed pitch for venture capital. This is a real product, produced by Animazoo, who produce high-end motion capture gear for animation companies. (via Ektopia)
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 12 comments Post a Comment
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)
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 5 comments Post a Comment
Back last summer, we had a spate of synth-shaped cakes - here, here, here and, wonderfully, here. Now Tim write with news that a Japanese Radiohead fan has been presented with this tasty treat, based on an Ondes Martenot - the (roughly) keyboard Theremin, used by Johnny Greenwood, who last year told the Guardian: "I first heard the ondes martenot when a teacher at school played us Messiaen's Turangalila Symphony, and I heard it swooping along with the strings. But I had no idea what it looked like, and then finally, about four or five years ago, when we were doing Kid A, I found one in Paris." Greenwood is now a one-man PR campaign for the ondes martenot. He taught himself how to play it, mastering its keyboard and electronic ribbon, which produces the dizzying whoops and whistles. And he met the instrument's most famous virtuoso, Jeanne Loriod, who was Messiaen's sister-in-law. "Just before she died, I interviewed her, and I was telling her how rubbish I thought synthesizers and keyboards were compared to the ondes martenot, but she was saying, no, synthesizers are great as well: she was in her 70s and she was more broad-minded than me. But I think the ondes martenot is wonderful. It puts you in total control of the pitch and expression, and it's as close to singing as I can get. It's a living thing."
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 1 comments Post a Comment
Give him $75, and Kevin Siebold will build you a Punk Rod guitar with two strings and hand-wound pickups. The two strings are tuned a fifth apart, for ease of playing. "Our instruments are built for frugal people who aren't very concerned with regard to quality, construction, materials, or safety." $75 gets you a basic model (Les Paul, SG, Flying V, Explorer etc). "More complex models such as the Swiss Army Rod have a $25.00 upcharge for additional intricacy. For example, the Swiss Army model has special attachments. These allow the user to activate a swing out beer holder and ashtray." He's also invented the Flipitar - guitar on one side, bass on the other.
(via Guitarz Blog)
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 12 comments Post a Comment
Every year, Barry Wood visits NAMM. Rather than saying 'Hey wow look there's a new synth look!', he writes a brilliant NAMM Oddities page, finding all the cool stuff that you'd really want to see. This year, the highlights include Double Neck acoustic guitars (one on the front, one on the back), eleven string basses and the four keyboard virtual church organ, with touch screens for stops, which runs on 8 dual-processor 3.6ghz machines with 8gb of RAM in each one. Thanks, Barry!
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 1 comments Post a Comment
Hidden inside Brandon's collection of NAMM photos is this - a new and fantastically cool and complicated looking four-track looper pedal from Electro Harmonix, which can store your loops on CF card and pan four of them across stereo. Price is $698 + $186 for a foot controller, both available late feb, according to this post at AH. Great if you love loops.
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 25 comments Post a Comment
On the subject of nice-looking MIDI knob boxes, the Reflex Audio Sonia Xi has been properly launched at NAMM. It's $135 for 12 knobs and 5 buttons. The man behind Sonia is James from Retro Thing (forgive his occasional lapses in taste). Reflex also sell the very cool HardSID - a PCI card based on the C64 SID chip, and the Analog Collection - a sample CD featuring pretty much every (mainstream) cool analog synth. It's normally $29, but you can get $20 off if you buy one before NAMM closes on Sunday night - use the code "musicthing" (lower case) in the coupon code box on the order page.
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 8 comments Post a Comment
Do you think, when Native Instruments write stuff like this: "...turns a computer-based set-up into a powerful tactile instrument" or "KORE will revolutionize how performers and producers work" or "...a universal sound format that shifts the focus from individual instruments toward the sound itself", that they really think we're all going to look round and say "Wow! Incredible! My life really is going to be changed for ever!" I wonder if they suspect that their new Kore knob-box-and-preset-manager-combo will get a positive but non-ecstatic response of "Ooh! Cool looking knob box!"
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 17 comments Post a Comment
If all these new product releases are getting to much, take 8 minutes to relax with this live video of Pink Floyd playing in 1973, with a big ol' stack of cool gear. (Thanks, Dave)
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 8 comments Post a Comment
Can you remember the last time anyone tried to sell a blue synthesizer*? This is the Openlabs Miko, a synth built around a PC. There are lots of customisation options, so don't expect the $1,999 version to include a screen or speedy processor. Openlabs' ad campaign is: "Time to eBay all your crap". *Duh!
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 21 comments Post a Comment
This is the Korg Radias, a new analog-style synth from Korg. While Roland are stuck in retro hell, Korg seem to have got some crazy new product designers in. The Radias is supposedly the first spin off from the Oasys technology. It looks to me like a replacement for the long-in-the-tooth MS2000. Do you think it's a rackmount that somehow screws into that keyboard? There's also a RadiasR version which is just the rack. (via IT Review)
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 14 comments Post a Comment
Last year Behringer amused everyone at NAMM by releasing a huge range of guitar pedals that were comically similar to Boss and Electro Harmonix pedals. Boss sued, and Behringer redesigned the pedals to look less like the 'originals'. Electro Harmonix don't have such effective lawyers, so the models inspired by them stayed the same. This year, Behringer have introduced a huge new range of mixers called XENYX, which feature "The new XENYX Mic Preamp", digital i/o (USB) and "neo-classic British EQ". I'm sure there's no connection with Mackie's range of mixers called ONYX, which feature "our new flagship Onyx mic preamps", digital i/o (Firewire) and "a 'neo classic' 3- and 4-band design based on classic "British EQ" circuitry". Of course, Behringer and Mackie have history.
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 14 comments Post a Comment
Roland have three big new products at NAMM. This is the Juno G, which is a nondescript sample playback keyboard (albeit with a built in 4-track audio recorder and a USB port). I'm sure it's a good keyboard if you like that sort of thing. Bafflingly, Roland have chosen to dress it up to look like a Juno 6/60/106 keyboard from the early '80s, apparently trying to make it appeal to the kind of people who read Music Thing. Who would - in the main - hate this kind of keyboard. In a similar vein, they've launched the MC-808, a groovebox with motorised faders, and the abomindable looking SH-201, a hideous combination of black plastic, awful typography, and silver knobs. Yes, it might sound wonderful, I have no idea. I just wouldn't want it in my house.
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 21 comments Post a Comment
Also hidden away in CME's big NAMM announcement is the U-Key Mobiltone. The press release is far from clear, but says: "It will fill the gap of the particular hardware for composing cell phone ring, which has the market of billions of dollar... U-Key has build in high 64-polyphony high quality mobile phone sound module, and internal high fidelity speaker... U-Key also builds in many MIDI songs and accompaniment in different styles...which are elaborate made by professional musicians and can be sprung by U-Key's unique 'PadStyle'...has build in muiti ethical scales of the world, and it will surprise you, no matter you want to play Arabian music of Asian music." I'm not sure if it's for people composing phone ringtones, or for kids so obsessed with them that they want to play along themselves.
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 3 comments Post a Comment
CME, who make big, ugly and fantastically cheap MIDI keyboards, have just announced a load of new stuff. The VX Intelligent Keyboards have motorised faders, drum pads, a ribbon controller and audio in/out, all wrapped in exceptionally red aluminium. The Bitstream 3X is a midi controller with 8 sliders and 35 knobs. And G-Fire claims to be a firewire interface which will fit inside and guitar - although the pictures don't make much sense.
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 5 comments Post a Comment
Audio Damage's long-awaited Phase Two plugin is out. $49 gets you a Mutron Biphase wrapped up in the best looking VST/AU interface I've ever seen. It's nice to watch the process on the Analog Industries blog (Chris from AI is half of Audio Damage), from this post plaintively asking if anyone has a cheap Mutron Biphase for sale to this post announcing thier Mutron Biphase clone is available to buy.
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 1 comments Post a Comment
Way back in June 2005, I asked the question What's Meg White Playing?, got loads and loads of comments and an answer. I was looking at her multicoloured desk bell set, which you can just see in this picture. Today, eagle-eyed reader Rob writes with an even more intriguing question. He thinks he spotted a Clavia Ddrum trigger bolted onto Meg's floor tom in this shot from Glastonbury. Can it be true? Is the most lo-fi drummer in the most analog band in the world using... Syndrums?
1) Here is a video from a Swedish guitar shop in 1977, where a dude in platform shoes is demonstrating the Hagstrom Patch 2000 guitar synth (powering an Oberheim SEM module). (Thanks, Jeff)
Michel writes from Amsterdam about his wonderful looking custom made wooden MIDI controller, which he calls The Hands. He's the guy who invented the Cracklebox (more) noise synth, and he's been building Hands since 1984 - they're a range of switches and sensors which he originally used to trigger three DX7s. The pic above is the latest version. He's never documented his work before, so keep checking back at this page if you want to know more.
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 3 comments Post a Comment
Here's an intriguing early NAMM release: Modern Guitars Magazine reports on Hot Hand, a $299 effects box which is controlled by a finger-mounted sensor. Wiggle your finger in different directions, and the effects change. Initially, the effects are various wah/filter effects. As it's designed for guitarists, I guess the idea is to have it on your right hand, strike a chord and wiggle a bit. It's produced by a new company called Source Audio (not an easy name to Google), which is a spin off from Analog Devices, who make the chips inside lots of synths. They're planning more products and the Hot Hand itself will be upgraded to do more than just wah effects. (Thanks to Keith from EmulatorXone)
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 15 comments Post a Comment
1) Clint Black's bizarre, funny, dorktastic public service ad for Nasa: "Controlling your sound is just as important to rocket scientists as it is to musicians" QT Video. (via Everything Isn't Under Control)
This thread by 'bieke' on Harmony Central's guitar effects forum is possibly the greatest repository of gearporn you will ever see. There's page after page of weird home-built stuff, vast Zimmer-esque rooms of modular synths and unexplained images like the one above. (Yes, Photoshop...)
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 8 comments Post a Comment
Jason writes from Japan to
Victor from OpenLabs writes with an update about their MiKo PC in a 37-key synth box with a crossfader, written about previously. Seems it will have (optional) MPC-style drum pads, eight of them, with knobs and scene switches. Which is nice...
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 4 comments Post a Comment
Joshua writes: "My buddy Scott found this advertisement in the attic of his suburban Detroit home. How many ads these days feature Elton John in a cowboy/clown suit?" Rumours about Moog launching a new 'affordable' synth are getting stronger, with the Moog staffer responsible for the leak saying he 'got carried away' when the MEK was launched. So, Joshua is right on time to remind us about the cheapest Moog ever - the MG-1, which was licensed to Tandy/Radio Shack in 1979, and sold for $449. Wonder who they'll get to endorse their new thing... (Click on the image for a bigger shot)
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 6 comments Post a Comment
Dan writes: "Here is an advertisement I found in a magazine from June 1981. Sharper Image sold the VL Tone for $69.95." Got to love the nasty brown plastic and little square buttons with everything. Click the image for a bigger shot.
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 7 comments Post a Comment
Wow, my inbox really was bursting at the seams...
This is the Atari Hotz Box, designed by Jimmy Hotz. If you're thinking he sounds like some crazy '80s dude with terrible hair, who used to hang out with Fleetwood Mac, Chicago, Yes and Kim Basinger, then you're right right right. The Hotz Box was a big box (about the size of a 5 octave keyboard) covered in touch pads which triggered sequences and arpeggios from an Atari computer, or could be played like a normal keyboard. It looks awesome, and the software seems fantastically elaborate. Best of all, it's got a huge Atari logo on the back. I want one! There's a lengthy retro review here.
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 5 comments Post a Comment
More dusty treasures from the inbox:
On the left, the Wersi OAS German organ thingy. On the right, a Korg OASys. Snap! (via KSS Forum)
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 13 comments Post a Comment
With NAMM on the way (no, I'm not going), I thought it was time to empty my backlog of great ideas people have sent in. More all this week...
Digital Music Mag is another new music blog. It's only been going a couple of days, but they've already got two stories that I'd like to steal. Above is a $159,000 mobile recording truck complete with SSL desk, which has just appeared on eBay (9 days to go!).
Openlabs (the people who build really expensive, fireproof PCs into keyboard-shaped boxes) have a teaser on their website for Miko, which looks like being a PC with built in DJ controls (crossfader & triggers), plus video outputs for VJs. Seems like the kind of thing that will make someone rich very happy to retire their laptop & bundle of controllers. The sound card is obviously a Presonus Firebox with the logo rubbed off. I wonder if they're planning to put a Trigger Finger in there and call it an M-PC?
"Hey Tom, don't you ever get bored of posting eBay auctions of old and ludicrously expensive EMS gear?" Nope. Item #7380071548 is a great looking Synthi E - the slightly cruddy cut-down version of the Synthi A. This one is already $1,174 with five days to go... (Thanks, ScotStorch)
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 3 comments Post a Comment
This thread on Harmony Central keeps on giving. Above is the nice-looking Novation ReMOTE 61 - a big, white keyboard with two huge backlit LCDs and a 61-note semi-weighted keyboard. It's real enough to be already on sale for $599 at 123 Music.
Remember way back in August I posted about the Thummer - a mysterious Australian instrument surrounded by hype saying it would change the world of music as much as the piano? Well, they've finally got some photos and details of the thing at thummer.com. As we suspected, it's a kind of Janko keyboard. US$365 will get you two cool-looking orange boxes covered in touch-sensitive (poly aftertouch) buttons with little joysticks on the back. Pick through all the waffle and hype (there are over 4,300 words on the homepage alone, including a claim that it will "benefit all Australians") and it seems like an interesting, cool-looking little gadget. I hope Jim, the inventor, does well with it, and he's keen to get feedback through his forums.
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 16 comments Post a Comment
eBay article #7379222081 is an impossibly cool Webcor Music Machine, not unreasonably billed as the first ever analogue workstation. It's a Japanese-made organ with a drum machine, built-in tape deck, mixer, VU meters, FM/AM tuner (insert geek joke about FM capabilities). Best of all, it has a microphone hidden in the tip of the aerial (like the listing says: "a super SPY accessorius") The Webcor brand has an interesting history, having been used on the first American wire recorders after WWII. This marvel has six days to go, and just $41... More pics of another Webcor at CDM, and previous keyboard hybrid delights here and here.
(Thanks, Thomas)
And, on the subject of ludicrous guitars made by Hamer, Distortion That Rocks (a new guitar gear blog by Vince from Gizmodo) post about the Hamer Virtuoso. Twenty were produced between 1987 and 1991, and it has 36 frets (they normally have 22-24, keyboard players). No word on whether it came with it's own set of custom toothpics for reaching those high notes. One recently appeared on eBay (#7376189183) with a starting bid of $4,650, although the auction was pulled by it's zero-feedback vendor 'because the item was lost or broken'...
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 0 comments Post a Comment
Axel writes: "I just found this picture, no story.". So I did a bit of research and found that aside from this
It's strictly a rumour - nobody's leaking images - and it's an old rumour, but a really good one. People on message boards are saying that Moog are about to announce an 'affordable' analog synth at NAMM. Matrix Synth links to one thread, inspired by 'Amos' who may or may not work for Moog Music. Bob Moog's follow-up to the Minimoog was the Micromoog, a one-oscillator, plastic-cased synth which cost $895 in 1979, compared with the wood-cased, 3 osc Minimoog at $1995. Assuming synth economics haven't changed in 30 years, that would mean a cut down Voyager at $1,320 (later Rogue, Prodigy and MG-1 synths were cheaper). Of course, 30 years ago, you couldn't get surface-mount components stamped onto circuit boards by the trillion in China for next to nothing. A cheap, powerful, decent-sounding all-analog Moog made in China? That would really be something. More uninformed speculation here at the Moog website.
Jay writes to seek publicity for his musical endeavours, catalogued at Jay's Museum ("Not so slick, or easy to navigate"). He's invented two great instruments. The Swiss Army Bass is a bass, which he plays one handed, slightly like Bill Clements. He uses the other hand to play big chords on a Yamaha KX5 (as used by Belinda Bedekovic), to great effect - as can be seen in these videos. His other innovation is the Egotar, which is another one-hand bass, this time paired with a slide guitar, which is also very cool.
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 9 comments Post a Comment
If you're sick of vast, bloated sequencers (even Tracktion is a 20mb download), and you're using a PC, you might want to look into Reaper, a multitrack studio designed by Justin Frankel, creator of Winamp. He's spent his millions charmingly over the last couple of years, developing the Jesusonic guitar effects system and Ninjam online jamming system. Reaper looks interesting. It's currently in Beta, with no MIDI support or VST plugins, just audio recording with a few built-in effects and DirectX. (Thanks, Jordan)
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 5 comments Post a Comment
