The headline says it all. Oh, sure, as if it isn’t enough to recreate the legendary EMS Synthi synth – one of the most creative vintage analog instruments ever devised – this artist takes it one step further, controlling parameters with a piece of colored paper tracked by a webcam. It’s an achievement of sheer patching genius, taken one step wackier.

The patch is entitled Le Synthé V5; the creator is Pierre Couprie. And yes, you can download this for Windows and Mac – even Mac PowerPC. Cost: US$15/EUR10, which is, I must say, insanely cheap.

Video in French with English subtitles.

Pierre Couprie | Le Synthé V5 [Description, download]

Thanks to Lee Ray for sending this in.

Online retailer audioMIDI has begun a new sale I really love called the “No Brainer” series. They offer some carefully-selected instruments and effects for prices like $5, $15, or $20. These aren’t clearance bin deals, either; they’re some of the best plug-ins on the market, in either full versions or slightly stripped-down (but fully-functional) editions. audioMIDI has exclusively released details of the deals they’ll offer Monday to CDM, and among them is the wonderful XILS 3 – a virtual instrument with the matrix editing of the classic EMS synthesizers.

Expiring

First, you have until midnight 11/30 to grab AAS’ fantastic modeled virtual analog, Ultra Analog, for $15 (instead of around $200). Ableton has their own version of this instrument called Analog, but if you’re using other hosts (or you don’t have Live Suite and want to save some cash), this is a great option.

AAS Ultra Analog VA-1 for $15

Ongoing

The Overloud Breverb is a multi-function reverb plug, normally going for $369. The audioMIDI edition comes with room and plate reverbs – nicely matching the free TC Electronic hall reverb we got last week – for five bucks.

Breverb audioMIDI Edition

Rhetorical question: could a great Breverb inspire a profound Bromance?

Monday

It’s actually the upcoming deals that go live Monday that have me especially enthusiastic.

Blue Analog Trackbox from NOMAD Factory is a tube-emulating multi-effects unit with loads of timbral options and modules for gate/expander, compressor, and EQ. After a quick play-round, it seems to sound great. It’s normally US$189, but from Monday, it’ll be $15 through AudioMIDI. Expires December 6. 

Trackbox offer link (will go live Monday, won’t work any earlier)

XILS 3 is a virtual modular with matrix editing. The creators don’t mention it by name, but the hardware in question is the legendary VCS 3 – a brilliant analog synth from EMS. The EMS synths are overshadowed somewhat here in the States by the likes of Moog; if you don’t know the VCS 3, go look it up.

Matrices were a great idea back in the day on hardware, and they remain a great idea now. Lovers of the EMS or synth sounds in general won’t want to miss this, especially with sequencer and synth modules and the ability to use the XILS 3 as an audio processor on live input. You’ll get a slightly stripped-down version, but at a steep discount – US$20. Expires end of December.

XILS 3 offer link (will go live Monday, won’t work any earlier)

I’m playing around with all of these, so if I have tips to share, I will. Let us know if you bite on any of these offers.

Tristram is credited by some as the father of tape music, originating tape music techniques in World War II. He’s notorious to the general public and sci fi fans as the composer of the music for the Daleks in Doctor Who (along with other music) — like an evil counterpart to Delia Derbyshire, who built the studio Cary would later use. But he was also a pivotal composer of music for film, electronics, voice, and instrument alike, a well-known Australian music critic, a leading figure in studios and academies, and, oh, yeah, he did the visual design (product design, really) for the legendary portable VCS3 "Putney" synth from EMS, the synth maker of which he was a founding Director.

It’s safe to say that, out of this web of contributions to electronic sound, Tristram Cary is another of those people who charted the course for what music technology is today. From the technology to his extensive music to his work in popularizing musique concrete in England, his impact is felt even by those who don’t know his name.

Christian Haines writes to let us know of Tristram passing, evidently following a long illness.

If you don’t know his work, there’s no time like the present to discover what he’s given us.

Official Tristram Cary Site

Wikipedia article, with lots of references and an extensive composition list

Resources at the Australian Music Centre

EMS, the "Moog Music of England", lives on (apologies to our UK readers, but Americans are just discovering EMS); see also the Synthi blog

And for a little Tristram Cary listening:

Trios LP by Tristram Cary (EMS) is a trio of EMS synth plus turntables; full tracks on the Synthi blog courtesy the composer. Really brilliant sounds:

And, you know, looking at all of this I’m reminded of why things like the Dalek connection are important. For whatever reason, mysterious science fiction worlds have been the entry point for listeners around the world into the sometimes alien and frightening new timbres of electronic music. We’re all lucky enough to have grown up in a time in which we’re challenged to create music that evokes other parts of the universe, real and imaginary.

Christian sends along a complete obituary provided by the Director of the Elder Conservatorium, David Lockett:

Tristram was born in Oxford on 14th May 1925. He served in the Royal Navy from 1943-6, specialising in radar and thereby receiving training in electronics. During his war service he independently developed the idea of what was to become tape music, and began experimenting as soon as he was released from the Navy in late 1946. From 1954 he found himself able to live by score commissions, and from that time produced a large variety of concert works and scores for theatre, radio, film, TV, public exhibitions etc.

He was founder (in 1967) of the electronic music studio at the Royal College of Music, and designed and built his own electronic music facility, one of the longest established private studios in the world. The equipment from this studio was brought to Australia, and most of it was incorporated into the expanding teaching studio at the University of Adelaide. He was also a founder Director of EMS (London) Ltd, and co-designer of the VCS3 (Putney) Synthesiser and other EMS products. He called upon a wide range of resources for generating film, TV, theatre, radio or concert music, special dialogue treatments, or anything in the area of specialised sound. His wide experience as a composer included all aspects of instrumental and vocal ensemble, any facet of electronic music, or combinations of several types.

Tristram played a pivotal role within the Elder Conservatorium until 1986, when he left the University to resume self-employment. During 1988-90, he was largely occupied with writing a major book on music technology which was published in London as The Illustrated Compendium of Musical Technology in May 1992 (Faber & Faber). The American version – substituting Dictionary for Compendium – is distributed by Greenwood Press, Connecticut.

In 1995 and 96 there were performances in London and Adelaide to mark his 70th birthday, and a new suite based on his music for the Ealing film The Ladykillers won The Gramophone Award for best film music CD in 1998.

Apart from composition activity, Tristram was a respected music critic for The Australian newspaper. In recent years he held the position of Honorary Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Adelaide, in which capacity he continued his computer music research. In 2001 the University also conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Music. In 1991 he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for services to Australian music. In 1999 he received the SA Great Music Award for the year, and Symphony Australia commissioned a new work – Scenes from a Life – to mark his 75th birthday in 2000. He received the Adelaide Critics Circle 2005 Lifetime Achievement Award on December 5, 2005.

This one actually just popped up for auction with a buy it now of $13,800. The 2500 was ARP’s first modular flagship and consisted of the 2003 synthesizer and 3003 keyboard controller. As mentioned in last week’s post, the ARP 2500 was also the synth played by ARP engineer Philip Dodds in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. You can actually see him play it in the film. You can find a demo of the 2500 in last week’s post as well. Some details from the auction:
“This is a very rare and early version of the ARP 2500 Modular Synthesizer. It has a larger cabinet with 3 x 5 Modules (instead of 2 x 6 Modules on standard ARP 2500s) and the switch matrix in the top section has 10 positions (instead of the 20 positions on later ARP 2500s).

The ARP 2500 for sale here has the serial number 014 (model 2003, serial 70 – 014).

I have been told that these very early 2500s were hand-built by the ARP/Tonus crew to the most exacting standards, they are probably better than later models (which of course are excellent as well).

It has 4 oscillators (2 of them with invertible waveforms), 3 excellent 24dB Filters with resonance and built-in mixers for up to 4 audio and 2 CV signals (5 CV inputs per Filter total), 3 VCAs with built-in mixer for 2 CV signals (plus another 3 fixed voltage CV inputs), 6 Envelope Generators (4 of them with Gate Delays and normal & inverted outputs. All 6 Envelope Generators have a switch for single or multiple triggering), a fixed voltage source (i.e. to shift all Oscillators at once) and a pink/white noise source with built-in filters.

There is also the rather lovely model 1027 analog sequencer with 3×10 steps and individual trigger outs for each step. Voltage controllable pulse width. The internal clock is very fast and can be driven into the audio range. You can modulate it from any source and use it as a signal generator/VCO with a user definable waveshape (by setting the 10 steps of the sequencer to different voltages).”

You can find more details including the full module list and shots at the auction while it is up, followed by this post on Matrixsynth.

Wiard 300 Series

What you are looking at is a Wiard 300 Series modular system owned by gary. Click here to see the image in all of it’s glory. Wiard produced the 300 series several years ago only to put them on hiatus, while Grant Richter of Wiard moved the line exclusively to the 1200 series. Grant has just recently re-introduced production of the 300 series. Update: I just got the list of modules in this shot. Rather than throw the formatting of this post off, you can check out the list here.

The Patch

Stephen Jones of synthwood, sevcom and of course the Prophet 5 forum recently discovered an issue of Sequential Circuits “The Patch.” He scanned the full issue and posted it here. Definitely check it out for a bit of synth history, including the “Digital Interface for the Pro-One” article, a must have for any Pro-One DIYers. BTW, if you know of where to find any other issues, please post a comment. Stephen is looking for them, and I can make sure it gets to him.

via Stephen Jones:

“I asked Dave Smith and John Bowen about ‘The Patch’ and it seems that only 3 or 4 issues were published between 1981 and 1982. I have volume 02 issue 01 (February 1982). Its got some really great information, patches and advertisements. This issue has a cool picture of a plexiglas Pro-One too.”

The EMS VCS1

What you are looking at is the prototype of what would eventually become the classic EMS VC3S Putney, followed by the EMS Synthi used by such classic acts as Brian Eno and of course Pink Floyd for the bass sequence of Dark Side of The Moon. Click here for a full sized shot. The image comes from this excellent historical article on the VCS1 and VCS3 on Switched on.

“In 1983 the Powerhouse museum purchased the music and recording instruments that comprised the Australian composer Don Banks’ electronic music studio. The contents of this studio include the EMS VCS 1 (Electronic Music Studios Voltage Controlled Synthesiser attempt #1), a prototype for the VCS 3 – the first portable synthesiser.”

And I’ll leave you with a little Roxy Music with Brian Eno on the VCS3.

Roxy Music – Virginia Plain

Have a great weekend folks! BTW, I will most likely be skipping next week’s This Week In Synths post as I have some family commitments that will leave me very tight for time. However, I will be putting up my daily posts on Matrixsynth as they are pretty quick and dirty – I try to up the bar just a little for Peter on CDM. : )

As always, for more daily synth-related content check out Matrixsynth.

Want signs the music tech blogosphere is happening? How about a blog devoted to nothing other than the EMS Synthi, the classic, portable analog modular synth from the 70s used by the likes of Eno and Fripp? Pin writes to tell us of his new creation, which already has patches, specs, and sounds for the current or would-be EMS user.

By the way, let’s just reflect on that for a moment: portable. Modular. Analog. I’m still waiting for a new modular electronic tool — that is, other than a laptop running Max or Reaktor. For those of you running the software, this could help inspire an integrated design.

Good luck with the new blog, Pin, and keep us posted!

For more Synthi adverts, see Every Advert Needs a Synthi. I’d like to picnic with synths. Maybe this summer out on Jones Beach?

EMS SYNTHI: The Blog