Integrating “That Switch” mod for easier activation of the Reface CP’s hidden Grand Piano patch:
No worries, I’ll go into more of the details as we proceed.
The Waldorf Iridium is, amongst many other things, a sampler. And so many instruments have already been sampled – you will just have to load the samples to the Iridium, and place them in a patch.
This post will try to create a patch with the sounds of a Yamaha CP70 electro-acoustic piano, and have a small script do most of the work. If you are kind of lost here, read the “Not-so-grand-piano” post first.
Looking at the analytics, I have noted that my reminiscence to/analysis of the Keytek CTS-2000 synth has been found by a number of people that surprises me, given that it is an article about a truly horrible, obscure late-80s hybrid synth in a rather niche blog. Given that, I would like to share some proof that I actually played that thing, and on stage, too. And though it is hard to date the old photographs, I would estimate that I held onto it for quite some time.
So I guess at least the CTS-2000’s keyboard was really decent.
The band, by the way, was named “Voice of the Alien”. You won’t find anything Googling it.
I added another photo to the original article.
Getting hold of a piece of synth history, and a piece of my own history as well. And fixing it is just like everybody tells you it is.
That you can change a three-position switch into one with up to eleven positions?
I didn’t. Continue reading
Isn’t it GORGEOUS? Classic Minimoog – less of a control panel, more of an erogenous zone for synth nerds. Tell me you don’t want to feel up these knobs! The pure beauty of a one-of-a-kind electronic instrument. The design and the sounds are still in highest demand more than 50 years after its design – and I was pretty sure I’d never, never even be tempted to buy one.
Let’s be honest: Moogs are ludicrously overpriced, and overhyped. Not a single classic Moog ladder filter sound you couldn’t do just as well with a modern plugin, or almost any modern hardware. Hey, even the R3 – my most underdog synth – can do pretty decent Moog impressions. And if you are with the “Digital-will-never-sound-like-true-analog” esoterics, there is still the option of Neo Old School: Using the old design with the upsides of modern analog technology. Get yourself a Boog, for fuck’s sake. (And a life.)
Still… as we know, it’s all about the workflow – and about that unique combination of how an instrument looks, feels, and sounds. So when I saw a Moog enclosure and front panel on eBay for a couple of Euros, I could not resist and had to buy it.
A short Christmas meditation on yellowed keys and plastics, with some empirically sound facts at last, and with a slightly tainted good message.
Continue reading
I’ve won a Dreadbox Typhon in a sweepstake, and it’s bloody brilliant. Like, really, really brilliant! A fun machine with a monster sound and a great concept for real-time sound manipulation and editing. If there wasn’t that nasty problem with digital noise.
Just listen to it! It’s wonderful – but you will have noticed the nasty sound on switching it on, and the permanent high-frequency noise. (Oddly enough, it’s no longer in the recording as soon as the sequencer starts, but believe me – it’s there, all of the time.)
Digital noise, for sure.
Okay, it’s dodgy, but aren’t keytars just?
Continue readingStephan (aka umusic6) did some nice work:
Thanks to his efforts, there is now a Bit Edition of Stereoping’s Synth Controller, for Crumar Bit-01/One/99 with the Tauntek firmware. You can read up on the firmware, or order it, here.
(No, this is not an affiliate link, I have no share in this. But I think it’s a great project.)