“It comes from tomorrow …but it’s here today.”

Well, now it is tomorrow. And yesterday’s tomorrow still looks futuristic. Try this test: show someone the video above for the Millioniser 2000, a MIDI harmonica designed by Ronald Schlimmer. Tell them this is a 2009 video designed to go viral, a fakery of 80s cheese. After all, the instrument itself looks impossibly futuristic. Surely this wasn’t really designed in 1979. Surely the close up thigh shots of the backup singer girls in the back are tongue-in-cheek parody.

Your friends will believe you. Of course, you’ll be lying.

It did indeed come from tomorrow – and speaking from tomorrow, I’d like my instrument back. The MIDI harmonica has sophisticated breath control, a compact form factor, clever controls for adjusting pitch, and — well, you know, all the goodness of the harmonica but with an easier pitch layout to figure out. From comments, we see that it does go well with our futuristic instruments, meaning you don’t have to get retro-sounding synths – you could get something more 2009-appropriate.

Rock Erickson -The first American called to Europe to play and record with Walter Mueller’s Millioniser 2000. Harmonica like in principal giving the end user complete control over synthesizer and midi functions with the sensitivity of your own breath. This instrument is a one of a kind powerhouse. The video starts off by showing the functions of Millioniser 2000 and then merges into the on stage video which was shot in London. Rick Fenn of “Lie For A Lie” Sony Music was the music director and lead guitarist along with Charlie Barret from The FIXX on bass. The Millioniser Breath Controller units that I’m currently using in the studio are breathing new life (literally) thru their capability to dynamically control some of the most popular software and rack synths ( Garritan Personal Orchestra, Roland Sound Canvas, Yamaha VL70 ect ) and samplers like SampleTank & Tascam Giga Studio ) in both the mono and polyphonic arena. If you have comments or questions please post here or email rock@millioniser.com

Oh yeah – and this all looks strikingly similar to the (less sophisticated) iPhone apps from Smule, featured in today’s interview.

All I know is, I desperately want one. And you might even be able to build one — the microcontroller inside, a Moto 68705, is the equivalent of what you can get very cheaply now.

Who were these forward-looking folk? According to Wim Dijkgraaf’s history of the instrument, you can thank Swiss harmonica player Walter Muller (“Walt Miller”), Ronald Schlimmer of SM Elektronik (that name should be familiar – think a lot of the sensors used in music projects now), and the good folks of Acorn Computers for assembly, who in turn had their own ahead-of-its-time products like the BBC Micro and the self-named Acorn. (The Acorn drove the original version of the Sibelius notation product now owned by Digidesign/Avid. Sibelius engineers swore they never got the performance out of Windows and Mac OS that they once had on the Acorn.)

Via our friend Elijah B. Torn and Matrixsynth.

Anyone out there who knows how to get this, yes, I want one. I’ll start working out and seeing if I can make my physique transparent, as that’ll help.

Lesson learned: tomorrow is yesterday.

Via comments: RA has more links, plus promising news that there may be indeed be a modern update of this instrument.

http://www.musicweb.ch/millioniser_2000.asp (long demo)
http://www.musicweb.ch/millioniser_geschichte.asp (sound demos and great pics)

Octopus transmute!

I can’t in good conscience fail to mention the JUNO-60 video uploaded to the Roland How Do You Juno contest. The work of UTM, you have love that (a) it’s a video of the legendary JUNO-60, the original, analog JUNO, and (b) all those gorgeous flying imaginary graphics. Clarification: I should say that the JUNO has an all-analog signal chain. That is, the oscillators are digitally-clocked DCOs and get digital patch storage, but everything else is analog. So it’s more analog than the JUNOs sold by Roland now. And by “original,” yes, the 60 was an update of the JUNO-6.

Yeah, that’s what we’d label the parameters, too, given complete freedom.

From YouTube:

This is my entry in the How Do You JUNO? YouTube™ Video Contest. All audio was created and performed on my quarter-century-old, pre-MIDI, analog Juno-60 synth. Computer Museum Photo: Scott Beale/Laughing Squid

UTM says he’s a CDM reader, as well, so additional bonus points for that.

Deep thought: who wants to build a CV to OSC converter, and we can really pretend like MIDI never happened? (Apologies, Dave Smith.)

See also Robbie Ryan’s JUNO song. Like, with lyrics.

Getting DIY ads out of YouTube is all the rage these days, but when it comes to certain time-tested synth names, let’s just say the audience is a little different. You love the gear, you make music with the gear, you praise everything that’s brilliant and you’re unafraid of criticizing what’s not. We covered the Roland “How Do You JUNO” contest launch back in April with a look back at the JUNO line through the years. Check out comments for some frank, nostalgia-immune commentary from synth geeks about the high points and low points of the various models. And so, we wind up, oddly enough, with high-production-value ads for even vintage Rolands like this Alpha Juno 2. (Hmmmm… maybe Roland should have set up an eBay affiliate account).

If anyone doubted it, there’s no question: even in the age of computer soft synths, keyboards are beloved items. The video at top is — well, pretty crazy, as you can see for yourself. Check out the crew they put together to make it after the jump.

You still have time to submit your own video to the contest, JUNO owners, if you haven’t already. The entries end tonight, Tuesday, at midnight.

Roland How Do You JUNO Contest Page
YouTube video group with the competition

Voting starts tomorrow (Wednesday) on that same contest page.

If any CDM readers have submitted videos you want to point our way, we can help you rig the contest because we love you um, get the word out.

Disclosure: Roland has generously sponsored CDM for this contest. That allows us to keep the servers humming and to have the unique pleasure of shamelessly pimping discontinued Roland keyboards from the 1980s. (I still want to see what some of you are doing with the V-Synth, which is my favorite current Roland model, but that’ll have to be a separate contest.)

This is my entry to the “This is How I Juno” contest where I explain the many unique features of my Roland Alpha Juno-2.

Producer, Editor, Sound Designer/Editor, Co-Writer, Lead Actor: Henry Borchers
Director, VFX Supervisor, Co-Writer, Actor, Associate Fight Coordinator, Stunt Double: Erik Kjonaas

Extra Special thanks to Alex Champion and the rest of the crew.

Alex Champion: Boom Operator, Voice Actor, Grip

Alex Rott: Fight Coordinator, Stunt Double, Voice Actor, Grip, Sound FX Assistant:

Ben Mayer: Key Grip

Brett Schilke: Sound FX Assistant

Thanks for the helpful participation of Jonathan Fung

For more music by Henry Borchers, please check out www.myspace.com/henryborchers

Previously:
Roland Wants Videos of Junos New and Old; A Look Back at the Juno Line
Keyboard Geeking Day: Roland Answers JUNO Questions, plus 2.0 Sampling on JUNO-G

It’s campy horror sounds, remixed into digital music — the perfect way to celebrate the holiday! From our friend TRASH_AUDIO’s Surachai, who’s on the compilation:

We have teamed up with Cock Rock Disco to compile a horrific compilation of the very best campy 80′s horror movies ever made, remixed by some of the greatest digital grind, metal, breakcore, and electro artists from around the world. Artists including Silon Fist, Terminal 11, Vytear , The Teknoist, Sgure, Toecutter, Duran Duran Duran, Eustachian, Bong-Ra, Captain Ahab, Surachai, Dead Noise, DJ Floorclearer, Droon.
Enjoy the ride into hell, because this will be your last!

Happy Halloween – Free Compilation [TRASH_AUDIO]

Here’s another mix — thanks, Kempton!
http://kemptonmooney.com/audio.html

There’s also this charming 1980 appearance on "This Week" on Australian TV.

What about making music with computers?

"No, no — you don’t feel like a technician."

Curious that we still have to answer that question today.

Dig the groovy imagery at the end. (around 5:00 in).

The Apple IIGS Anachronistic Application Ring: Creative Aural Applications

There are some real gems in there, primarily from software innovator Electronic Arts (now the leading game maker). And if you happen to have a IIGS lying around, there are downloads of many of these abandoned applications. In fact, an Apple IIGS is a very capable computer, which makes me wonder if, instead of designing new $100 computers “for the developing world” what we should really do is try to save these old machines from becoming toxic pollution in landfills.

Also worth noting:

These are apps with one developer: There was a time when you ran a piece of software that had been written by one solitary dude or dudette.

Fresh interfaces: It’s funny, unburdened by the history of interfaces early music developers were often more creative with how their apps worked. It’s a spirit we could stand getting back again (the original launch of Ableton Live 1.0 a few years ago being a notable exception).

Funky covers: Uh, yes, this was the late 80s.

Except for the funky covers, these are all trends that could come full circle. With powerful new versions of software like Reaktor, Max/MSP, SynthEdit, and others, Flash-enabled mobile devices, homebrewed games, the single, idiosyncratic music app developed by one person is making a genuine comeback. Heck, maybe I’ll even try to incorporate the funky picture of the guy with his QWERTY in my next Reaktor app, and then we’ll come full circle on all three.