Even with little P.R. for the event (I only found out a couple hours before the event, grabbed my camera and went!), 2016’s Phoenix Synth Meet would be considered by most to be a success. What once started out a few years ago as a small gathering in Chris Randall’s (Audio Damage) house, was hosted this year at the 7,200 sq. ft. Unexpected Art Gallery. At one point in the early evening I counted about 60 people, and probably well more than that attended throughout Saturday’s event, which also included live performances later in the evening.

Flavio Mireles from Blue Lantern Modules was also on hand with a rack chock-full of his Euro format modules for anyone to tweak, along with his new Assist Percussive Utility module (demo in the video). A huge LED video wall was available behind the stage for the small, but cohesive group of video synthesists and artists.

Most people showed up with their favorite synth(s) and set them up for others to hear and learn about. A few seemed to wander into the building wondering what the bleeps, bloops, and blinkenlights were all about, but after hearing a noodle patch on a big modular they stuck around to experience all the demo floor and stage had to offer. There was a very positive and friendly vibe flowing throughout the building, and to top it off there was no charge to attend or setup your gear.

Check out the video below to see all the glitchy goodness!

Phoenix Synth Facebook Group.

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In the early 2000s I had quite a vintage computer collection. TRS-80 CoCo2, Apple IIe, Amiga 500, Commodore 64, a couple Atari XL series, and a couple others that I can’t recall. Sadly, I had to sell these off quickly (read: cheap) a few years ago. One of my prized possessions in my collection was the Mockingboard  sound card (with the speech synthesizer chip) in my Apple IIe. So when I saw this project, it immediately brought back fond memories of banging out 8-bit sounds (luckily I sampled a bunch of sounds from this collection, so I may release a sample library, eventually).

Drum8, is an 8-bit sample playback drum machine for the Apple II, written by Riccardo Macri.

Features:

• Graphical editing
• Mouse support
• Live playback pattern editing and ability to play live on top of playing patterns
• Patterns up to 256 steps
• 16 8-bit samples pre-loaded
• Ability to load your own samples (up to 40kB total)
• 4 voice polyphony
• Tempo and Pitch changes
• Runs on Apple II+, Apple IIe

Riccardo has more info on his project on his blog.

Here is a video demo of the finished project:

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The updates have been coming fast. Igor Vasiliev has been busy.

What is new in SoundScaper:

• Complete MIDI control for all faders, knobs and other modes
• Possibility to create MIDI control maps for different controllers
• Two different MIDI devices can be used to control
• Quick MIDI learn mode for each fader in advanced control panel
• Change type of faders on the oscillator main panels
• Copy and Paste operations for oscillator parameters through text clipboard
• Copy and Paste operations for scenes through text clipboard
• Possibility to send scene parameters through Email
• New features for automation in advanced control panels
• Additional samples in built-in samples library
• Built-in description updated
• Minor bug fixes

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As we mentioned earlier this month SoundScaper was pending approval at the iTunes app store, and it is now available here for $5.99.

A recap of the description:

SoundScaper is an experimental sound mini lab for creating unusual soundscapes, atmospheric textures, drones, glitches and noises based on circuit bending ideas.

A much more detailed explanation, screen shots, demos and more can now be found at the developer’s website via this new post.

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From their site:

“This collection isn’t just the glitchy lo-fi toy sounds you might expect. Yes, you will find some of those…but also there are instruments inspired by the uniquely digital richness of aliased waveforms, and the unexpected hybrid instruments that are created when the circuit bent brain of an instrument is made to sing.”

Features:

• 428 48kHz/24-bit samples
• 150MB zipped, 237MB uncompressed
• 140 different instruments, including: 8 drum racks, 14 basses, 24 pads/strings, 23 keys, 9 leads, 4 soundscape generators, and many more!
• Most instruments include extensive Macro mapping, for performance control and customizing the sound
• Great for producers of ambient, dubstep, hip hop, IDM, techno, and game music.
• Made using Sampler, but converted to Simpler, so it works for Live Intro users! (just a few instruments include effects for which you’ll need at least Standard Edition)

 The Live Pack is available at their website for $49.99

Here is a very thorough walk-through:

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Read more after the jump:

Hyperbent comes with sounds from these 6 Puremagnetik libraries:

• Artifact – A library of sound palettes created from digital anomalies and malfunctions. It includes 6 kits and a collection of looped clips.
• Hackshop – A versatile collection of sampled blips, beeps, bumps and squeals from the circuit bent arsenal of TVS.
• Bender – Over 100 phrases of looped madness, 5 percussive kit menus and various other squelching, squealing sonic elements guaranteed to satisfy the destructive streak in any producer.
• Skatik – A collection of instruments, sound effects, percussion kits and looped digital freak-outs sourced from a heavily circuit bent Casio SK-5.
• Voltbox – 10 unique and playful Instrument Racks featuring the chaotic tones of several circuit bent toys.
• Realistik – 24 advanced Instrument Racks based on the sounds of a heavily circuit bent Realistic Concertmate 360 keyboard.

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“We won’t pretend the SK-1 is the definitive sound of thousands of club tracks… the SK-1 looks like a toy, feels like a toy and by today’s standards it most definitely is a toy.“

There, now we got that out of the way, you can understand a little more about it making their list. It’s more about the SK-1 providing inspiration to budding bedroom producers. While not on too many chart toppers, the SK-1, Speak & Spell, etc., are sometimes gateways into a much deeper pursuit. Whether it lead to hobby/music electronics, higher level electronics, computer programming, music production, circuit bending these old machines can be a really great launching point. It is pretty cool that the SK-1 made their list.

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