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MEET THE KNOBBERS – Italian synth meeting

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On 21-5-2011 “MEET THE KNOBBERS” has been the first synth meeting in Tuscany, Italy.

The meeting has been conceived as the first of a serie of musical events regarding synths and the application of electronic music in different enviroments, from interactions between art and music to live performances.
The location was the ” SOUNDY Musical Center ” , a recording studio with live hall and various live rooms, settled near Siena, in the beautiful country hills of the Chianti shire.
The meeting was a “One day only” event, with an afternoon in “total addiction” tweaking feast and a night of electronic music live.

The afternoon was spent with two “live rooms” full of machines and “knobbers” who played them but with a lot of curious people too!
Knobbers came from nord and south of Italy, everyone with his “toy”, as special guest Enrico Cosimi , the famous italian synth guru.
One room was dedicated to vintage stuff and DIY Modulars and synths, the other was based on Eurorack modular systems and pedals effects.
The afternoon led to interewsting electronic jam sessions with acoustic and electric instruments too such as guitars and bass.

The after dinner live sets was focused on various type of electronic music played by different artists, ambient electronica with GATTOBUS and his group, glitch/IDM with MICROSWITCH , electro with YES EXPRESS and deep house with ANDREA PEDRA.

MEET THE KNOBBERS are :

Andrea Pedrazzoli (producer, dj, live performer as Andrea Pedra/Whitesushi)

Francesco Poggianti (producer, live performer as Microswitch/Xtal/Notchsider)

a little list of the “knobbers” who made this meeting such a succesful event:

  • Maurizio Falconi with his DIY analog modular synth and lots of DIY material
  • Ludus Pinski with his awesome  Formant DIY modular
  • Niccolò “Cardinen” Caldini with his Cardinen DIY modular synth
  • Daniele Borri with his glitch mutant sound generator
  • Noctivaga with his eurorack “trolley travel”
  • Hatefish with his eurorack modular
  • Giacomo Frati  & Paolo Zemauno with their custom pedalboards
  • Gianni Proietti with his Minimoog model D

and last but not least Mimmo Nocera for his kindness and friendship, helping us to make this event come true giving the availability of the Soundy.

synthetizers

Roland JD-990 review

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Today the interest is focused on ground-breaking  technology or in knob laden keyboards, but what about the sound??

The Roland JD-800 was in the early ’90s the first synth with user interface full of sliders and buttons , in its way it is the predecessor of what came after it until todays…

the heart of the JD is a “sample & synthesis” generator, a 4 layer for patch synth with wave oscilators, multimode filters andextensive modulations and effects.
The JD800 was the D-50 done right!
Compared to the D-50 the jd lost the wave-synthesis (a sort of fm generator that emulates the analog generation of saw and square waves) but gained a lot of features , first of all the beautiful programming interface.
A year later Roland came out with their flagship JD in rack version, the JD-990!

The JD990 is based heavily on the JD-800 but has some intersting adds.
At first we could think that loosing the big programming interface will lead the JD990 to become the classic “sound-module” to be used with presets… but this is wrong!
The JD990 has in its way a wonderful and clear programming interface, a big LCD display that shows every parameter in a graphic way in order to make programming easy.
Together with the good display Roland addeed the ability to load expansion cards from the Roland  JV serie, the SR-JV, that could improve the waveform palette, as type and number of waves but also with full quality.

The structure is the same of the JD-800: every Patch is composed of 4 layer, every layer has 1 wave generator, a multimode filter, 2 LFO, 3 ENV (1 for pitch, 1 for the filter and 1 for the AMP).
Every patch has the ability to configure the 4 layer in different chains/”structures”, in order to create more complex sounds and simple FM synthesis called FXM.
At the and of the patch chain we have a multieffects processor with modulation effects and ambient effects.

Speaking in terms of sounds , the JD-990 can produce a really vast range of sounds, from classic “analog- like” sound to complex evolving textures.
But the most important aspect is the “sound” itself.
The JD-990 is claimed to be the best sounding digital synth Roland produced till today.
It uses really hi-quality DAC , 44.1 KHz audio playback , against the 37KHz of the JV serie.
The really good audio converters and the warm sounding filters made this synth a classic!

With the ability to load SR-JV80 expansions the JD990 can be not just the box with its factory waves but can be expanded with many type of sound expansions from classic or acustic intruments to electronic o etchnic instruments.
As the JD is a master of pads and textured sounds , using the expansions can lead to interesting experimentation as layering strange asian sounds with electronic backgrounds.

The main carachter of the sound engine is however given by the “warm” dac , that tend to sound really “hi-fi” with a great definition on high frequencies and a tight but extended low-end.
Compared to the JV-1080 / 2080 the jd sounds smoother and rounder, while the jv is more edgy on high frequencies and more “loudness” but with less definition.
The result is a warmer and clearer sound.

retrò & vintage, roland, synthetizers

Roland MKS-50 (AlphaJuno) review

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Roland MKS-50

Roland MKS-50

The Roland Alpha Junos was born as a mix between the old junos synth engine and layout and the dominating look of the Yamaha DX7, with touch membranes an push buttons and the infamous Alpha Dial (here comes the name Alpha Juno).
The absence of knobs or sliders at the time was considered sleek and futuristic (and even cheaper!) that’s way the alphas are quite overlooked today, but they are so much more than an old dark synth with an alpha dial..

The alpha juno (juno1, juno2 and mks50) is still a completely analog synth , with a really powerful and complex sounding DCO , a 24dB lopass filter, a multistage envelope, and the classic non resonant hpf, lfo and chorus common to the other juno family.

The DCO is  quite different from the prvious Junos, it has a various waveform to chose  from for the saw and the pulse wave.
In effect even the saw can be “PWMed” making it a really wide sounding dco.
If you need an extra bass response turn up the sub osc and you’ll get a really punch in the bass range!

The filter is a little different from the previous junos, first it’s resonant but does not reach self-oscillation (like the one on the Roland JX10P), it sounds a little harder and darker and creates really powerful sub bass frequencies.
Apart from the lack of self oscillation this is a really good filter, it sounds liquid and can cut the sound with great precision but it’s not clinical or sterile.

Roland Alphajuno 2

Roland Alphajuno 2

The ENV is part that makes the ALPHA serie stand up with the other Roland of the time.
The env is an advanced ADSR with time and level, so it delivers really fast attack sounds using the T1 at zero and L1 at max, and T2 L2 as decay.
For bass and percussive sounds is great because it can shape various attack and decay or sustain curves, being snappy or angular, at your will.
For pads has a good “long time” for musical pads but even for drones.

The LFO is quite basic , with the classic triangle wave only,with RATE and DELAY (reallly useful for leads or drones/pads).

The interesting point is that the PWM wave has its own rate and does not use the lfo for the modulation of the width , so you canm have a very low sweep  on filter and a fast mod on the PW.

The CHORUS is, as on the other junos a trademark, and having a rate control instead of the previous models that had only 3 preset chorus (off-slow-fast) can create interesting sounds interacting with the rate of the pwm and of the sweeps or vibratos.

The last TOP FEATURES , not present on the previous models are the “dynamics” control and the AFTERTOUCH over the filter cutoff control, VCA and the pitch control.
This is a great addiction making the Alpha a more expressive synthetizer even with classic keyboards technics, but also a easier  techno synth to be controlled by a sequequencer/daw, without using sysex if a filter motion is needed.

All in all a great synth that can sound a little harder than the 60&106, but that retain all the warmth and power of the others juno with added features.

roland, videos

Roland Alphajuno and Behringer BCR2000

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Roland Alphajunos are overlooked today because of their lack of slider and knobs and their controller PG300 is hard to find and not cheap.
The Behringer BCR2000 is the easy way out, the perfect substitute to the PG300, take a look at this video…

Video not available

The Behringer is a midi controller that can send even sysex messages, the old Roland Alphas work  only with sysex messages so you have to map the BCR2000 with the learn function and a virtual pg300 programmer.

photo gallery

Roland TR 909 photo gallery

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Here are some close up shots of my Roland TR 909 Rhythm Composer …

TR 909

3/4 left side shot kick and snare and the TR 909 logo…

tr909_2

..now the right side  with rimshot, handclap hi-hats and cymbals…

tr909_3

…the awesome 16 step buttom rig with C64-like buttons…

tr909_6

…close up shot of percussions and hi-hats section..

tr909_7

…pattern selection and programming buttons…

tr909_8

…the start and stop buttons…

tr909_9

…Rhythm Composer…

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Roland TR-606 review

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Roland TR 606 Drumatix

Roland TR 606 Drumatix

The Roland TR-606 was the cute sister of the great TB-303.
Roland intended to sell this pair of silver boxes to guitar players or organ players as  substitutes to a bassist and a drummer.
But in the early 80s , when the popularity of sample based drum machines was growing up with the Linn drum, Oberheim DMX, Emu Drumulator, the TR-TB combo sounded really poor and unnatural to rock players who were astonished by the fidelity of the sampled sounds.
So the poor silver boxes were sold just for practicing musicians on a budget.

During the 80s many electronic bands with low budget started using both the 606 and the 303 till , in 87/88 DJ Phuture enstablished the sound of the TB-303 as a new mainstay in the dance culture.

The TR606 , often used in early new wave electro-bands became famous as a great techno drum machine, along with its bigger sisters the TR 808, TR909.
So, despite its limitation the TR606 has gained its place in electronic music appearing in many awesome records by Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, Autechre, Kid 606, 808 STATE and many more…

The TR606 is a fully analog drumsynth with a digital sequencer.
The machine has seven sounds plus accent.

  • Accent
  • Bass drum
  • Snare drum
  • Lo tom
  • Hi tom
  • Cymbal
  • Open hat
  • Closed hat

The sequencer is really pretty easy to use.
It can be programmed in Step or Realtime, and is the classic 16 step TR sequencer.
You select the instrument and press the step that corrispond to the trig you want.
Really easy and user friendly!
The sequencer can also be used trig synth arpeggiators or other old machines with sync in.
The two toms have two triggers out to do it.
The 606 has a din port to sync (in or out ) with other machines that use the Roland sync 24.

The sounds are typical electronic analog sounds very close to the TR808, but with their own carachter.
The TR606 has a more aggressive and less smooth tone compared to the 808, it could be the 808 on acid!
The bassdrum kicks in a medium range, the snare is hard and snappy the hats and cymbal are really tinny, while the toms are great for that tribal electro rhythm.

This is a great analog drum machinee that’ is growing in price and popularity, I love mine and I think any electro/techno producer should own one!

drum machines, retrò & vintage

BOSS DR-110 review

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Boss DR 110

This little cute box is a fully analog drumachine with a graphic sequencer.
The unit is really tiny and portable and offers six sounds plus accent.
The sounds are:

  • Accent
  • Bass drum
  • Snare drum
  • Open hihat
  • Closed hihat
  • Cymbal
  • Hand clap

There are four knobs :

  • Tempo (fast-slow)
  • Balance
  • Accent
  • Volume

The tempo is controlled by the knob but the machine does not display the value of the BPM.
The balance act as a mix between the drum & snare and hats & cymbal.
Accent controls the “accented”sound , in fact it does not only affect the volume of the percussion accented but also the timbre.
Volume is the Master Volume.

The sounds are the classic analog drum sounds of Roland CR/TR series.

The kick is really similar to the one of the TR808  and of the CR8000 ,  fat and punchy, much deeper and full compared to the TR-606.
The snare is really snappy and can be a cross between a TR808 and a TR606.
Hats and cymbal resembles the TR606, while the clap is a classic tr808 one.

Programming is similar to the CR series with the pause/trig style , but is far easier than on CR78 or CR8000 because here we have a disply with the programming grid!
The display is really similar to the one on the TR707 or  TR727 , all the elements are displayed and is like programming on cubase or any other software sequencer.
The START acts as  TRIG and the STOP as PAUSE.
The Accent acts also as TRIG OUT INST.

The downside of this machine is the absence of a clock in , but many modifications are available to install a sync in or even midify the machine.

All in all an awesome little beast that comes really cheap!

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