TheSynergyStudios A Look Into The World Of Electronic Music

Well if you remember my beloved Roland D-70 was giving me big problems, (I guess after 19 years of service thats ok. ) I called the service guys at Roland and took the unit in. Now she’s back better than ever. In fact I’d forgotten what a great unit the D-70 is, because while it was sort of working it was limping along. I’d like to say thanks the guys in the service department for all the help. It’s like I have a new toy again. Roland you guys rock!

I’d also like to point you other D-70 owners to Ebay, Greytsounds is now selling their 5 disk D-70 collection for a song (sorry) 20.00 for 5 disks full of patches and performances.

Seeya
MC

Popularity: 7%

Grand Prize Winner
Receives Fully Loaded JUNO-STAGE

Los
Angeles, CA, April 7, 2009 — Roland U.S. has launched a new contest
where owners of any JUNO^®-Series synthesizer have a chance
to win one of three

JUNO-STAGE™ keyboards by answering one simple question,
“How do you JUNO?”

To enter the contest, JUNO synth owners
are asked to record a short video showing how they use their JUNO-Series
keyboard. This can be any Roland JUNO-Series keyboard, from the
original JUNO-6, to the newest member of the JUNO family, the JUNO-STAGE.
Participants can share anything about or with their JUNO—musical performances,
favorite features or settings, or how the JUNO is part of their musical
experience.

Contestants are encouraged to be as innovative
and entertaining as possible, as videos with the most views will be
selected for the final round. Finalists’ videos will be selected
for open voting starting July 1, 2009. Winners will be selected
by the highest number of votes, and the top three winners will receive
a JUNO-STAGE keyboard. The top winner will also receive two SRX
expansion boards of their choice.

“The sounds in the JUNO keyboards have
been inspiring musicians since 1982,” says Vince LaDuca, Product Marketing
Manager. “The JUNO has defined the sound of entire pop genres, and
can be heard on tons of classic recordings. We want to hear from
the rest of the world about how the JUNO-Series synthesizers have impacted
their lives.”

Entries for the “How Do You JUNO?”
contests will be taken from April 1^st
- June 30^th.

Popularity: 8%

I’ve been working in the studio over the last few weeks getting this tuned up and writing some new music.  I have been noticing my Roland D70 that has been my controller keyboard for years as been acting strange.  But yesterday she finally gave up the ghost.  The unit has totally locked up after a battery replacement and a memory reset.  So it looks like it’s a trip to Roland to have the guys there get her back into top form.  I’m also going to see if they have a system upgrade for it while it’s there.  In the mean time I’ve moved the Kawai K5000s into controller duties.  I love the feel of this synths keys but I do wish it had a joystick for pitch bends..

Well I’ll keep you posted as to the progress of the repairs and what transpires.

Seeya
Mark 

Popularity: 11%

I’ve been selling off some gear on ebay to purchase some equipment.  I after much thought started doing research into VA’s (Virtual Analog) synthesizers.  I heard a demo on YouTube that totally sold me on the Roland JP-8080.

Yeah I know I’m 10 years late to the party, the JP-8080 was released in 1998, but better late that never.  As much as an equipment junkie as I am I don’t know how I overlooked this monster..  I was very fortunate to find one in almost perfect shape and at a price that was well within my budget.

So tonight I’m waiting outside like a kid for the nice man in the brown truck to show up, It seemed like an eternity for him to get here.  But after he handed me the package I made a dash for the studio and opened up the box.  Ahhh there you are, so I unwrapped it and powered it up.  So far so good. Lights all parts are where they are supposed to be, so lets try the demo.  I grab my headphones and plug them in.  Hit the DEMO buttons and OMG!  The sound on this thing is unreal.  Roland why did you stop making this???  I can’t wait to get this thing into a rack and hooked up and strat getting creative again.  Yeah I know it’s not the latest and greatest but that’s not where music is made.  It comes from inspiration, and that can come in the form of a 10 year old synth as well as that new latest and greatest stuff.  Well I’m off to get this into the racks and hooked into the system.  Next I want to get the MS2000r I’ve always wanted..

Seeya
MC

jp8080 demo like jean michel jarre

Popularity: 20%

Well I was working in the studio last night and I noticed I kept hearing an odd instrument playing and I couldn't quite figure out where it was coming from.  So after shutting down synth equipment one by one I finally narrowed the problem down to my Roland R8m Drum Module.  This has been a real work horse for me and I still use it on projects.  Upon further inspection I noticed something else strange, I couldn't seem to get the unit to read any internal sound banks.

So after removing the unit from my racks (no easy task) and popping open the top (note this will void your warranty!  Oh wait never mind it's to old for that ) I thought I'd better check the battery even though the unit was not displaying any "Low Battery" message, So I removed the battery and checked it anyway.  Low and behold the battery was dead and leaking.  Make sure you make note of how the old battery was installed, On this type battery the positive is the flat side, not the smaller inner connection.  As you can see in the picture Roland has clearly marked the positive connection on the battery holder.  Not all battery holders are this nice in other gear.  The R8m uses a standard CR2032 Lithium Battery that can be had found just about everywhere for around 7.00 for two.  But if you happen to be a pack rat like me, you'll have a saved stash of them from some old computer motherboards that died an untimely death.  So after checking the battery with my meter for the proper voltage (3 volts) I installed the battery into the R8m, powered up and all those strange problems were gone!  Bottom line if your gear is giving you some strange behavior check the memory battery's first.  You may end up saving yourself a lot of money in the long run.  

Regards
Synthmusician

PS Please note that not all Lithium batteries are easy to remove and it can be down right dangerous if you try.  If your battery happens to be the soldered in type and your not proficient with electronics DO NOT TRY THIS YOURSELF!  Lithium Batteries can explode if exposed to the heat from a soldering iron.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Popularity: 100%

Well since I've added all this cool stuff to my studio my trusty Mackie LM3204 is just out of input channels, and since the expander module for the Mackie is no longer in production and I can't seem to find one anywhere.  I began to look at all the various mixer companies to find a solution.  While I was looking around online I decided to take a quick look at the Behringer website.  Why, because I already have some of there stuff that has served me well over the years and they are well known for quality products at a reasonable price. 

Enter the Eurorack Pro RX1602.  I took a quick look at the unit online and made it a point to visit them at the NAMM show.  After chatting with the Behringer folks at the show and getting a first hand look at the unit I was more determined than ever to get a listen of this unit.  (ya just can't do that easily at NAMM)  I found one at the local music store and after doing some quick tests decided to give it a try.  Here are the Specs for the Behringer Eurorack Pro RX1602

Behringer Eurorack Pro RX1602 Line Mixer Features:

• 8 channels
• Flexible mixer or submixer
• 16 balanced line inputs
• Ultralow-noise design
• Dedicated balance and level controls
• Monitor/FX send control with global send
• Monitor/FX signal assignable to phones output
• Individual illuminated channel mute button with clip indication
• 2 x 7-digit LED level meters
• Level controls for left and right signals
• 1/4" TRS I/O
• Inputs electronically balanced
• Outputs unbalanced
• Front panel headphone jack with level control
• ALPS detented rotary controls
• Shielded toroidal power transformer

Behringer Eurorack Pro RX1602 Line Mixer Specifications:

• Input impedance: 20kOhms balanced, 10kOhms unbalanced
• Output impedance: 120ohms
• 20Hz-200kHz frequency response
• <-97dB signal-to-noise ratio
• 0.0025% THD
• 19"W x 1-3/4"H x 8-1/2"D
• 5 lbs.

After installing the unit into the first thing I noticed is just how quiet the unit is, it was hard to tell it was even on.  Now there are a few things to note about the mixer.  First there is no EQ on the unit, so everything is going to come through just as it goes in.  This is not a big deal to me as I never use EQ until final mix.  There is an effects buss where you could insert an EQ but I'd bet you'd want to save that for an effects processor.   There is also a mute button per channel (a very nice feature to help you tame some of your vintage gear that is a little on the noisy side).

Testing the unit was a real joy, the headroom on the thing is awesome!  I have a lot of synthesizers that have very hi output levels and this thing never missed a beat.  It's output was clean and clear, and from what I can tell it's almost colorless when it comes to sound.  What I put in is exactly what came out.  I have a Roland M-120 that I love and this is as close to that as I you can get, and it has more channels to boot.  Besides that the Roland M-120's are going for more used than this unit does new!

In conclusion this thing is a keeper, in fact I'm already looking for another one. So if your a gear head like me and are in need of more channels or just a small line mixer for your studio check out the Behringer Eurorack Pro RX1602 you'll be very glad you did.

Regards

Synthmusician

UPDATE:
Since my last post I've been able to a procure a second Eurorack Pro RX1602 from a seller on ebay.  

Popularity: 25%

Well work on the studio is going well, so I decided I wanted to get rid of all my 17 inch monitors and replace them with flat panel LCD's.  So while I was at the local PC Club I noticed that they had a 19 inch 16 x 9 format monitor on sale from a company called SVA and it was  under that magic 200.00 price range plus it was 19 inches!  The picture looked really good and while the refresh rate wasn't the fastest on the planet, I wasn't going to use it for playing games anyway.  So after making my bank account 200.00 lighter I took my new monitor to it's new home and installed it in the studio.  Now comes the fun part, after testing it with my PC's which worked perfectly with it.  I thought to myself I wonder if I can get it to work on my Atari Mega4 STe!  So after finding a pinout for a homemade Atari ST to VGA adaptor and after about an hour of build time I tried plugging the Atari Mega4 STe into the KVM switch which all the other machines were hooked to and BINGO!  Up comes the Atari boot screen!  I now hove a 16 x 9 format high rez monochrome monitor.  I was totally blown away, not only did my good old Atari work with the new monitor, it almost filled the screen!  Of course the text and graphics suffered a little going from a 13 inch monitor to such a huge screen but it is totally usable and readable.

Now I know your thinking why bother, there are so many programs out there for the PC and Mac why stick with that antique.  Well first off I think the Atari Mega4 and other ST series computers can and does out perform some of the newer machines when it comes to straight MIDI.  I'm also very comfortable with Cubase 2.1 on the ST and have written hundreds of hours of stuff on the machine, and the best part during those heavy production deadlines it's never given me any trouble.   Now how many of you PC guys can say that hmmm?  Granted I do have several PC's in the studio but I may have to take a second look now at doing my new sequencing on the Atari.  Also there are tons editors and librarian's for all my vintage gear, some are even in the public domain now.  The other thing is some of these editor programs don't have counter parts in the PC world, either for lack of interest or just being to old.  But most importantly I have a TON of sequences stored in ST format that I may go though and revisit and release on CD soon after going in and rewriting them to use some of the newer equipment I've installed.  I also have another problem,  the PC version of Cubase cannot import older multi port sequences from the Atari, so the only way to re-record those tracks is to use the original sequencer.  Well back to work, Long Live Atari!

Regards

Synthmusician

Popularity: 24%

I have sitting in storage here at the studio an Opcode Studio 64X, it's in perfect working order except I can't seem to find a real driver for Windows XP!  Now you would think that such a great piece would have more support but alas I can't seem to find a full fledged Windows driver anywhere.  There are a few that partially work but where is Gibson in all of this?  They bought up Opcode (and Oberheim if I'm not mistaken) only to allow them to die on the vine.  Shame on you Gibson!  Anyway IF anyone knows of a working driver for the Opcode Studio 64X please let me know and where I can get it.

Regards
Synthmusician

Popularity: 23%

Well after the sever crash and software upgrade gone horribly wrong I lost several of my product reviews that I had posted, one of which was my review of Roland's little red box called the VariOs.  Well I've decided to rewrite the review and this time it's going to have even more info on this little red box.  A big TSS thanks goes out to Tara Callahan and the good folks at Roland because they were able to come up with a VC-1 Card for me to use in this review.  Just in case you don't remember, Roland's  VC-1 card will convert the already powerful  VariOS into a Roland D-50 synthesizer!  How cool is that!  So watch for my new review of Roland's VariOS, very soon! 

Regards

Synthmusician

Popularity: 23%

Call them geeks, eccentric, Noise Artists or just people with to much time on there hands, the art of circuit bending has it's roots in the earliest forms of synthesis.  In fact most of the gear we herald as ground breaking at one point started out as someone sitting a garage somewhere tweaking away at a oscillator with a box full of electronic parts.  If your not familiar with the term Circuit Bending it's is the practice of taking a piece of electronic gear or toy (for example a Speak N Spell) and by adding jumpers wires, switches and other various electronic components to parts of the circuitry causing the unit to react differently than it's original design thus allowing it to create sounds that are totally unique to the unit.

In fact the circuit bending craze has really seemed to have caught on driving the prices of some normally cheap kids toys through the roof on ebay. Circut Bending has even spawned some cottage industries for after market add on components for these pieces of equipment like MIDI interfaces and patch bays that allow for easy interconnecting of circuits .  I think some of the stuff that these guys have come up with is really very cool, and some of it is just noise.  It's all very reminiscent of the early days of synthesis.  While I was doing some research on Circuit Bending, I found out that my old Casio SK1 that was collecting dust in my storage area seems to be one of the better units to Circuit Bend, in fact a good one can fetch a whopping 60.00 on ebay with some circuit bent ones pulling in 300.00!  After doing all this research I stumbled across a Speak N Spell at a yard sale for .25 cents, (score!)  this seems to be another unit the CBers like to play with for it's speech synthesis and very unique sounds.  Both units  the SK1 and Speak N Spell can be bent quite easily and there are many websites on the subject on the internet.  There are also a few videos on You Tube and others showing what can be done with these bent units. 

I'm not ready to get rid of my expensive synthesizers for a circuit bent SK-1, but some night, I might just have to break out the old soldering iron and see what I can come up with.  If your interested in finding out more on Circuit Bending there are plenty of web sites and books that can introduce you to the subject. Check it out you might find that certain sound you've been looking for.

Below is a picture of just what a little (ok a lot) of time and effort could produce, this is an ultra bent Casio SK1, very cool indeed! 

Regards

Synthmusician 

Popularity: 26%