waldorf microwave
- waldorf - music machines - the lab mw editors	- overview. the original microwave (not to be confused with the more recent microwave ii and xt) is a digital/analog hybrid of the same heritage as the ppg wave and waldorf wave. it features digital wavetable oscillators, analog filters, and lots of modulation options. - sound. the digital wavetables feature 8-bit single-cycle waves. wavetable position can be modulated. user waves can be loaded into internal wavetables (though it's not like using a sampler). between the grungy digital sound and the harsh, metallic, and disharmonious wavetables, the microwave is a very dissonant sounding machine. it sounds in some ways like a ppg, but is distinctively different. the internal pre-filter mixer is also easily overdriven, making for additional harsh sounds. - ui. the ui is unfortunately a bit of a pain. an editing matrix, a few buttons, and a big data wheel. it's not too bad once you learn it, but it's not that good either. i also have the access programmer for the microwave. it's nice for tweaking some parameters, but there's so much more to the microwave than is available in the programmer, that you'll inevitably end up back at the microwave's front panel. - examples. knob boffin (with rob williams) features the microwave as the main (weird) synth sound, driven from a doepfer maq. submerge has the microwave coming in at about 3:30, again driven by the maq. capsule has the microwave coming in at 4:00, in what (to me) is a very characteristic microwave sound. both kyra and bellei feature the microwave from the beginning, running through a lexicon vortex. the sound at about 5:00 in one breath is the microwave (driven by the maq again) running through a doepfer a112. the sound at the start of the abandoned city of the droids is also the microwave.
doepfer maq
- doepfer - music machines	- overview. the maq is an analog-style sequencer that sends both midi and cv/gate data. it consists of three rows of 16 knobs; each row can be set to send note data, controllers, velocity, etc. rows can interact in ways that get very complex. - ui. the analog-style sequencer portion is dead easy to use: lots of knobs to turn. the programming can be esoteric however, especially with the underinformative 3-digit led display. - examples. knob boffin (with rob williams) features the maq driving a microwave, sending it notes, controllers, and program changes to produce something genuinely manic. one breath features the microwave and a doepfer a100 being driven by the maq. the abandoned city of the droids has the maq effecting both the microwave and an sh101. the maq is programmed with rows semi-randomly effecting each other's timing, with the result that the 101 especially comes and goes as a sort of random noise (for example, at around 5:25).
doepfer a100
- doepfer - music machines - modular planner	- overview. the a100 is a modular synthesizer system. there are now several modular systems on the market, of which the doepfer is probably the most extensive and least expensive. it's certainly not the most durable of the choices, but offers an amazing palette of options. doepfer offers a couple of standard systems, but half the fun of buying a modular is picking out your own modules. - sound. a modular by its nature is capable of a huge variety of sounds. i find the doepfer to have a sort of precise, harsh sound that i think of as "german". it's definitely not the warm analog sound of a moog, but it's not thin and digital either. the variety of filter s and other processing modules is great. the a112 sampler/delay is great for grungy low-bit digital sounds, including wavetable synthesis (not unlike the waldorf microwave, but sounding different). - ui. compared to other modulars, the doepfer can be somewhat cramped. the modules are relatively small and the faceplate real-estate is very efficiently used. on the other hand, a very extensive system can be fit into a single studio rack. - examples. teacup is mostly a100, driven by a doepfer maq. you can hear a fair amount of the a121 multimode filter and cross-modulation between a110 oscillators. one breath features the a100 driven by the maq. the a112 is processing a microwave. the bleeps heard at around 2:00 are a sine wave and square wave driven by the maq, going through the a134 panner to crossfade between the two. the atari-like noise at around 6:15 is from the a117 digital noise module. the noises at around 13:00 are an a111 oscillator being swept by lfo and gated with a vca. in anyone, the high-pass filter sound at around 3:00 is the a121 multimode filter. both termite and somec use the a100 and a mam vf11 vocoder both for synth elements and to process drums.
alesis quadraverb 2
- manual	- overview. the q2 is a "modular" multi-effects processor. a lot of processors claim to be modular, but the q2 actually comes pretty close. it has eight slots, each of which can be filled with any of its algorithms. audio can be routed from slot to slot any way you want, including feedback paths. modulation options include midi, internal lfos, and envelope followers. the effects include reverb, delay, flanger, chorus, eq, distortion, etc. the only limitation is dsp power. it's usually not very limiting, except that some of the reverbs are real dsp hogs - one of the plate algorithms uses something like 60% of dsp. - sound. the q2 does great basic effects, with a lot of control over the way your reverbs and delays sound. it's very easy to make basic effects much deeper by adding extra effects and feedback paths. incredibly deep and sophisticated effects can be built up as well. some of the effects are kind of weak. for example, the phaser is next to useless and neither the low-pass or high-pass filter is resonant. the unit can be a bit noisy, especially if there's a distortion/overdrive in the signal path. - ui. it does pretty well cramming a lot of information into a small space. the display of the modules and routing is fairly informative, and it's not too difficult to move around and adjust parameters and routings. programming does involve a lot of paging back and forth though. - examples. the atmospheric sound at the beginning of one breath is a simple microwave sequence feeding a q2 patch. the patch uses delays and reverbs feeding back into each other to produce a delay where the sound is smeared out into a wall of sound instead of individual taps.
akai s3000xl
- akai - akai samplers - millenium	- overview. one in akai's long line of samplers, now a generation or two old. compared to current generations (including akai's s5000/s6000), the s3000xl is lacking things like a zillion different filter types, max memory (32M), and polyphony. but it also has some benefits: relatively inexpensive these days, ten outputs out of the box, and two serial filters. - sound. the akai sound, in my opinion, is clean and precise. it's not the best sampler for really hard drums or analog-ish basslines, but it sounds very good in a mix and layers well. the double filter (if you add the filter expansion card) is, i believe, unique in samplers. the newer akais, like the emus, have a single filter with many options. the akai filters are a single 2-pole low-pass and a 2-pole multimode/eq. the two separate filters allow effects you can't get with one filter, and i use them a lot. the effects card is also worth getting. the reverbs are very usable, the delay is handy, and the eq can be helpful. - ui. it's not bad. it takes some getting used to, and there is a fair amount of button-pushing, but it's fairly untuitive. this is partly because the akai is a relatively simple machine. usability is greatly enhanced with a copy of millenium, which lets you drag-n-drop wav files from your computer. - examples. apple pi, a squared + b squared, and root five plus one over two are all mostly s3000xl (plus a vocoder), using a tr808 sample kit and korg wavestation samples. tricyclic, dysthemia, and inhibitor are also mostly s3000xl, using almost entirely 808, 909, and other drum machine samples and the internal effects.
mam vf11
- mam germany - mam usa	- overview. nice 11-band analog vocoder, with a level control for each band. it can also be used as a fixed filter bank. - sound. i haven't been able to compare it to any of the classic vocoders side-by-side, but it sounds better than most of the more affordable alternatives. it's great on drums, and the control over each band makes for a lot of flexibility. on speech, i sometimes have trouble getting the speech to be as clear as i'd like. - ui. plenty of knobs, what more can you ask? the built-in oscillator is hand for trying things out; it's overridden when you plug into the carrier ("synthese") input. - examples. both termite and somec use the vf11 vocoding a synth line with drums.
future stuff
	- 808 - 909 - mks50
	- back to music - perkowitz.net