Lord Kelvin’s Harmonic Synthesizer 1873

This device was designed and built in the laboratory and instrument shop of the Physics Dept. of the Case School of Applied Sciences.  It is built from Lord Kelvin’s harmonic synthesizer design of 1873.  This may be the world’s first additive synthesizer.  More information about the project is here:

 Physics Dept. of the Case School of Applied Sciences

The Harmonic Synthesizer was used was used by Dayton Miller to check the results produced by the harmonic analyzer against the original phonodeik curves.

The phonodeik is an instrument designed by Dayton Miller. It allows one  to photographically record the shape of complex sound waves more precisely than previously possible.

Phonodeik

This all started with Lord Kelvin inventing an analog computer to predict tides.

Patchwork: Modular Sound Synthesis in Flash

Press Here To Enter The Site: PatchWork

Patchwork is a Flash application for realtime modular sound synthesis. You can connect basic sound generation or modification modules to create either music, effects or utter noisy crap. Although at the moment it has an interface for creating a so-called patch, you will in the future be able to run your creations standalone, which means: in your own site or game.

SunVox – Multiplatform Modular Music Creation Studio-All Platforms

Interesting New Synthesizer

Press Here To Enter The Site: SunVox


Key features
  • Modular interface.
  • Highly optimized synth algorithms.
  • Flexible architecture: SunVox can working on variuos devices. For example: PDA with slow CPU – 16bit sound (fixed point arithmetic); or big PC with powerfull CPU: 32bit sound (floating point arithmetic).
  • Built-in synthesizers:
    • FM synthesizer;
    • Generator (saw,triangle,square,noise waveforms);
    • Kicker;
    • Sampler (supported formats: WAV, XI, AIFF);
    • SpectraVoice (FFT-based synthesizer for analog-like pads);
    • DC Blocking Filter;
    • Delay;
    • Distortion;
    • Echo;
    • EQ;
    • Filter (Low-pass, High-pass, Band-pass, Notch);
    • Flanger;
    • LFO;
    • Loop;
    • Reverb (with DC Blocking Filter);
    • Vocal Filter;
    • Vibrato.
  • Supported systems: Windows, Linux (x86/x86_64), Mac OS X, PalmOS, WindowsCE (Windows Mobile), iPhone/iPad.
  • Export to WAV.

 


Roland MC-202 MicroComposer Original Data Tape Download

If you own or have access to a Roland MC-202 Synth here is the original data cassette that came with the machine.  I have not tested this but it should work fine.




Download the Data Here (122Mb) : MC-202 Data Project Corrected

Review of MC-202 From Electronic Musician Magazine:
“Long before Roland reinvented itself as a purveyor of DJ-friendly groove gear, the MC-202 was the original groove box. Despite being almost 20 years older than the Roland MC-303 and MC-505, the MC-202 fits snugly into the hip, knobby, bass-heavy world of dance music.

Introduced in 1983 — the same year as the first MIDI instruments — the MC-202 lacked MIDI capabilities. You could scarcely give one away. Roland Corporation‘s chairman Ikutaro Kakehashi once told me it was the company’s worst-selling keyboard product. That may be an exaggeration; now Roland says the fabled TB-303 sold even fewer.

The “MC” in MC-202 stands for MicroComposer, which is Roland’s fancy name for a sequencer. The MicroComposer has been a Roland specialty since the MC-8 and MC-4 were unveiled in 1978. As an all-in-one sequencer and sound source, the MC-202 is a direct descendent of the MC-4 and Roland’s SH-101 monophonic synthesizer. It was designed to be a host for the SH-101, the TR-606 Drumatix drum machine, and the TB-303 Bassline. If only Roland’s marketing department had thought to call the MC-202 a workstation, or even a “walkstation” (you can run it on six C batteries and monitor it with headphones), its sales might have turned out differently.

The MC-202 is small but chunky with a 32-pad keyboard for entering notes rather than playing, an LCD (a rarity at the time), and sliders and buttons for controlling the synth section. Saying that the MC-202 is reminiscent of the SH-101 puts it mildly; aside from the absence of a noise generator and a slight reworking of the low-frequency oscillator (LFO; fewer waveforms, but with a delay parameter), the sound engine is an SH-101.

Like the SH-101, the MC-202’s design features an oscillator and a suboscillator; nonetheless, you can build up a fairly substantial sound because the pulse wave, sawtooth wave, and suboscillator have volume-control sliders. Pulse width can be set manually or modulated by the LFO or the ADSR envelope generator (EG). The LFO, which generates a sine wave, has simple rate and delay controls. The resonant 24 dB — per — octave lowpass filter can be modulated by the LFO or EG, but it must conform to the amplifier’s EG unless the amp is in its Gate position. A free-flowing slider controls keyboard tracking.

Understandably, the MC-202 specializes in bass and lead synth sounds. From thick, rich pulse-wave spreads to precision sawtooth sounds spiked with resonance, the MC-202 belies its size and price when it comes to low-end power.

Even with the ahead-of-its-time LCD of notes and Gate times, the MC-202 is hardly user-friendly. You can store sequences internally if batteries are installed, but for permanent storage, you should offload data to cassette tape; a jack is provided for that purpose.

The MC-202’s sequencer can store 2,600 notes on two tracks. Input methods are quirky by modern standards. In real time, you play along with the metronome using the little keyboard pads, but that isn’t as easy as it sounds. You can also enter data in “tap” mode, tapping in the notes first and the rhythm afterward, or use step-time input, complete with dotted rhythms and rests. You can add expression with Portamento and Accent; Accent controls the filter cutoff or the amplifier level. With enough practice, an expert user can enter just about any monophonic line, style, or rhythm into the MC-202’s sequencer.

Its dual-channel sequencer is configured to trigger the internal sound on one track and an external sound source — such as the SH-101, the TB-303, or even another MC-202 — on the other using the Control Voltage (CV) and Gate jacks. Both tracks can control external instruments, but only one can trigger the internal synth engine.

Theoretically, the MC-202 is equipped for the outside world. It can sync up a host of rhythm-based instruments, including the TR-606 and TB-303, and its sequencer can control almost any synth that has 1V-per-octave CV and Gate inputs. The MC-202’s CV and Gate outputs are not completely satisfactory in speed and range, though, because an incoming signal lags unacceptably as it journeys through the internal circuitry before triggering a note.

However, DIN Sync (aka Sync24) is available and provides more reliable results. You can sync the MC-202 to MIDI if you have a MIDI converter that features DIN Sync. Some users have successfully experimented with synchronization using FSK sync straight into the MC-202’s Tape Sync In jack, which fools the MC-202 into thinking it’s receiving the data from tape.

A small subculture of modifications, and even a few computer applications, have sprung up for the MC-202; one of the more fascinating is 202 Hack, a shareware Java application that converts Standard MIDI Files into MC-202 sequence data. You can purchase the application from Defective Records (www.defectiverecords.com), the dance-music label co-owned by 202 Hack’s author, Dan Nigrin.

Although the MC-202 is now a sought-after throwback, it has not attained the status of the Roland TB-303, and it probably never will. When you compare both instruments sound for sound, though, it’s a close call. Current prices, which are generally less than half of those for a TB-303, make the MC-202 a comparative bargain.”

Julian Colbeck has toured everywhere from Tokyo to São Paulo with artists as varied as Yes, Steve Hackett, John Miles, and Charlie.

WiiToMidi: Use A Nintendo Wii To Control MIDI Equipment (OSX)

Press Here To Enter The Site: WiiToMIDI

WiiToMidi allows you to convert signals from a Nintendo Wii controller to MIDI signals. It is a Cocoa application for Mac OS X and uses the DarwiinRemote WiiRemote framework to decode Wii controller signals. It also supports the Nunchuk controller.

Hypercyclic: An LFO-Driven MIDI Arpeggiator for Mangling MIDI

Press Here To Enter The Site

“hypercyclic is an LFO-driven MIDI arpeggiator, gate effect and step sequencer for mangling MIDI input chords. It won 2nd place in the KVRAudio.com Developer Challenge ’07.Two tempo-synced LFOs can be used to modulate various parameters to create interesting rhythmic effects and chord variations. A unique feature is the possiblity to modulate the sequencer step size itself, which is useful for creating glitchy stuttering effects.

The sweetspot for hypercyclic is the narrow border between chaos and regularity. Or, in other words, how to induce a certain pleasant randomness, yet forcing everything to align again on the bar or beat boundaries.

The product is further complemented by a groove function for playing slightly off the beat. The groove parameters can also be modulated over time by the LFOs, adding to the rhythmic variation.

iNudge: On-Line Music Sequencer

Press Here To Enter The Site

  • Select 1 of 8 different Sound Patterns from the small Matrixes icons on the right.
  • Use your mouse to draw notes on each 16 Step Matrix.
  • Adjust the volume of the iNudge.
  • Click MORE for advanced adjustment abilities.
  • Get & Share allows you to Send Mail, Get Link, Get Embed code or Spread in communities.
  • Use the Feedback Forum to tell us what you think, leave your comments or make suggestions.
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