Retro Thing

Murky Depeche Mode Classics Covered By Chirpy Children

It is really, really rare that I laugh till I get tears in the corners of my eyes, but these videos have done it.

I'm a longtime fan of the unrelenting gloominess and early synth work of Depeche Mode. In the 80s I'd never heard sounds and beats like that before, and it opened up a whole world of electronic music to me. The band did a lot to introduce and popularize entirely synthesized music (to more than just me, of course). Their radio and music video hit "Everything Counts" made a huge impact on ears that had never heard such an extraordinary collection of noises, which makes it even more hysterical when children do a pretty authentic cover of it with stuff from around the toy room.

Clearly this family knows how to make good use of Quality Time. My God, they even do "Strangelove"...

I know I'm courting controversy here, but I haven't been nearly as enthusiastic about DM since they moved away from their signature synth sound to a more rock band oriented thing in the 90s. I know plenty of people who (and I'll never understand this) got into the band precisely for that epic rock sound and not the crucial synth stuff that came before. I like to joke that DM has been around long enough to have fans of just their much crappier career phase.

I'm being dramatic, of course. There's plenty to like of their recent work (they have a recent live DVD that's pretty amazing), but those early unrelentingly electronic albums will always be very special in my heart. Those are very hardy songs that can even survive being covered by the mewling of adorable little moppets. Maybe we're down to projects like these to keep those early days of musical Depeche melancholia alive.

links:

One more DM cover from the Schrader family... this time it's "Shake The Disease"
The live Depeche Mode DVD I mentioned is on Amazon

Alesis MMT-8 MIDI Sequencer - Bringing The Beats Since '87

I found this sequencer among some of my older music gear in storage (i.e. the closet of broken dreams). The Alesis MMT-8 was born in 1987,when it's features and low price combined to make it a wildly popular piece of gear. Surprisingly, this is a piece of retro gear that still gets interest. Even with all of today's cool laptop music, there's still room in the studio for the old MMT-8.
The spec sheet may not exactly impress today. The unit can hold 100 songs - as long as you don't go over 10,000 notes. There's internal storage in the form of a built-in battery. You can also export data either via MIDI or by recording sequence data out to audio cassette (and I can tell you firsthand what a hateful and tense way that was to save your precious songs.)

One aspect keeping interest in the MMT-8 alive is that this unit is an interesting link between MIDI and older devices that came before - you can use the "click out" jack to drive ancient drum machines. Despite these limitations, the MMT-8 still fascinates musicians and retains a cult following, more than 20 years after its release - there's even an online fansite at MMT8.com.

The MMT-8 has an interesting pedigree. It was designed by Marcus Ryle (of Line 6 fame) of Fast Forward Design (who also did the even more famous Alesis HR-16 drum machine) around an Intel 80C31 microcontoller. Up 'til that point, Alesis had mostly been an effects company, and the success of this slope-faced pair paved the way for widely diversifying what they offered musicians. Ryle went on to design Alesis' Quadrasynth and their famous ADAT digital recording system.

I have to sheepishly admit that I really never used this. I have much more time logged in as a digital drummer with the HR-16 drum machine mentioned earlier. I kept it around in hopes of messing with its novel approach to creating music (Especially after digging up lots of info online about the sequencer). I guess I'll just leave that up to Orbital, Moby, Jimmy Edgar, Higher Intelligence Agency, Autechre, and Carl Craig who all still use the MMT-8 for live performance.

Build An Organ - Radio Shack Style

It's interesting when you thumb through a family's photos from the 60's and 70's, and find an inordinate number depicting the folks gathered around the organ. That's outside my own family experience, but I've seen it often enough that it's not an uncommon image. I guess before there was a TV in every room, you might spend an evening around the electronic organ having a sing-along.

I'm surprised at how long the organ store stayed open in my local mall. I remember a vast shag carpeted showroom that steadfastly sold organs into the early 80s. Who was buying these relics back then? Of course when much more versatile synthesizers and low-priced Casio type keyboards hit the market, there just wasn't a place anymore for the ol' Kimball Swingster, was there? Maybe that's where the family sing-along went too...

If you want to recapture that retro organ spirit, but don't want to give up the floor space or your back muscles, maybe you can find one of these old Radio Shack Electronic Organ Kits. It's from their Science Fair Line from the 70s or so, so this organ is a sort of cousin to the 150-in-1 kits so many of us grew up with. Sharp eyed Retro Thingers may notice that the "keys" in this kit are the same morse code levers that Radio Shack has been packing into kits since forever. A dedicated evening of squinting at instructions and looping some wiring will get you a weedy sounding monophonic organ with built-in speaker.

I hope you're not interested in playing any sharps or flats - unless you're a Radio Shack Science Fair modder! I also hope you don't expect much more than a vague buzzing sound - though with all the circuitry right there out in the open, maybe you can add in a few bits and bobs of your own to get the much favored Hammond B3 sound. Uh huh... Or get really crazy and add MIDI - use it as a controller for your MeeBLIP synth! Don't forget that the kit builds into a nice wooden case that you can stain and finish to add that classy touch. Imagine this organ kit as the centerpiece of your living room when your family crowds around the little guy to sing hits like "Camptown Races" and "On Top Of Old Smokey" from the included booklet.

related:
Those 60's living rooms had chord organs too
An organ made of clear Lucite
Another Radio Shack classic - the Minimus speaker

It Goes To 11... And Beyond...

It’s 11/11/11, and like so many other quasi-journalists, I’ve found it irresistible to think about the classic film Spinal Tap today. I was never part of that rock scene, but the earnest wrongheadedness of what constantly happens to the band is something we can all identify with. It’s still a comedy staple decades later with innumerable quotable moments, but is any part of the film more "celebrated" than Nigel Tuffnel’s amp that goes to 11?

Shortly after the movie came out, I saw other rockers chasing the dream by scrawling “11” onto their amp’s volume controls too, but it didn’t stop there. This “goes to 11” thing has been a meme for such a long time, it’s easy to gloss over mainstream appearances of the gag. Here are a few examples off the top of my head: the amazing MeeBlip synthesizer’s volume goes up to 11, the BBC’s online video player goes to 11, Guitar Hero’s sound effects settings top off at 11, in Doctor Who we see the sonic screwdriver used to crank a church organ “up to 11”… Though the best might be from the early 90’s. Marshall released an amp featuring a photo of Nigel pointing to the volume knob saying “now it goes to 20!” 

You don’t have to be a musician to join in the fun. There’s a special release of the movie on Blu-Ray in the UK that includes a mini replica Marshall amplifier stack. You can use it with your iPod, and yes… the volume does go there. If you haven’t seen the film in a while, it’s still awesome. I’ve got a DVD release of the film that includes more than an hour of improvised material that didn’t make it into the movie. It’s fun if you’re a fan, but it’s also easy to see why the material was left on the cutting room floor.

The many artists in the film have gone on to make more mockumentary style films, but I haven’t liked any of them a fraction as much as Spinal Tap. I think that Tap really was a singular comedy moment whith everyone's talent was cranked up to just the right level. It remains one of the few comedy movies that I love watching again and again – turned up to 11 of course.

Links:

Help out Retro Thing when you pick up Spinal Tap on Blu-Ray
The Criterion DVD has some exclusive features not on the Blu-Ray

Atari Punk Console - VCS Tribute Edition

Oddly enough, the Atari Punk Console (APC) isn't a video game system. It's actually an electronic noisemaking circuit from Forrest Mims' Engineer's Notebook: Integrated Circuit Applications (Radio Shack, 1980).

Originally known as the Stepped Tone Generator, this quirky little circuit gained notoriety after being renamed by Kaustic Machines. And, yes, its output is reminiscent of the sound an Atari VCS might make while slam-dancing with an army of angry Roman Centurions.

Most Atari Punk Consoles are a rats nest of wires and circuitry, but this version by Jim Harris is a thing of beauty. He explains:

"The work featured here is a DIY build of an Atari Punk Console inspired analogue synthesiser known as the Dub-Step-Arcade designed by Matthew Newlove. As a tribute to it's origins in the dusty circuits of the 1980s, the build is housed in a heavily modified Atari VCS enclosure.

Materials used include hand machined matte black acrylic control panel and Atari VCS enclosure, laser engraved gloss black acrylic fascia, salvaged mains power supply, reconditioned stock Atari VCS DPDT switches, stock arcade machine parts and miscellaneous fixtures, fittings and electronic components."

Atari Punk Console - VCS Tribute

Korg Introduces An Analog Synth & Drum Box

Japanese music equipment maker Korg has been around for 49 years, which is impressive for a high tech company in a niche marketplace. Their first product was a rhythm machine, so it's fitting that they've just announced the Monotribe Analog beatbox.

It features three analog drum sounds, an 8-step sequencer and a monophonic analog synthesizer voice with resonant filter. There's even a battery compartment on the bottom, allowing you to make analog noise almost anywhere on dry land.

Weirdly, the synth voice is played using the elfin ribbon controller that first appeared on their pocket-sized Monotron microsynth last year. It seems out of place here, since it's just too small for anything but hunt-and-peck playing.

It's interesting to see the company return to analog technology after producing dozens of successful digital synthesizers in recent decades. The Monotribe doesn't even have MIDI ports, opting instead for an archaic pulse sync system to link multiple units. Several commenters on the web have suggested that the absence of MIDI is because the instrument uses analog sound generation circuitry, but yet it has a digital step sequencer built in. Most likely it was all about keeping costs low.

The price and release date are TBA, but I suspect it'll drop in the $150 to $200 range. Whether that's cheap enough to tempt a generation of synth-heads away from their iPads and digital plug-ins remains to be seen.

Korg Monotribe Analog Ribbon Station

Fairlight's First New Instrument In Over 20 Years

The Fairlight CMI was a groundbreaking digital sampler from the 1980s. Last made in 1989, an updated 30th Anniversary CMI-30A will be presented at the massive NAMM music show in Anaheim this weekend.

The CMI-30A shares two things with its vintage bretheren. The first is the iconic Fairlight sound library, and the second is a stratospheric price tag ($17,000). Apart from that, the new Fairlight is leaps and bounds beyond the original. It's built around Fairlight's Crystal Core Media Processor, allowing it to reproduce the nuances of the original CMI Series II and III instruments without having to deal with the unpredictable nature of vintage electronics.

The CMI-30A ships with a 76-key Fatar keyboard (with an iPod taking the place of the original numeric keypad), 17" LCD monitor with lightpen, qwerty keyboard (with "clicky keys"), and a system unit housing a modern motherboard with 500 GB hard drive, DVD and USB, 12 channels of balanced TRS analog output and stereo balanced inputs. The machine supports 44.1kHz, 48 kHz and 192 kHz sampling and even includes old school MIDI jacks.

While the CMI-30A is priced out of reach for all but the most well-heeled musicians, the Fairlight team might release a far less expensive version that included just the Crystal Core card, software and sound library in the sub-$10,000 range.

Oh, and if ten grand is still a little steep, a little bird tells me that there are iPhone and iPad software versions in the works that includes a library of sounds from the original systems.

Fairlight Instruments - The Next Generation

Sir Sampleton - Your iPhone Can Sing Like A Casio SK-1

I don't usually sling around the word “genius”, but I'm pretty sure that Paul Slocum is one. You might remember his name from the brilliant Atari cartridge he created called Synthcart. Pop this in your 2600 and your 70's game console becomes a playable analog synth. 

His newest project is Sir Sampleton, a project to bring back the fun of sampling random audio to play on a mini keyboard. Paul is an old friend, so I can speak with confidence about his love for the old Casio SK-1. His Sir Sampleton app has that fun lo-fi Casio spirit, and yet it fits in your pocket. It's a very unadorned interface, but the simplicity belies how much cool stuff you can do with it. 

A child will like monkeying with it, just as much as a musician will find it gratifying. At only $3US, it's also quite a bit cheaper than a real Casio these days. Just search for “Sampleton” in the App Store.

Link: 

Softoft Techech homepage

Related: 

Casio SK- in pink
Casio SK-1 in Muppet

Introducing MeeBlip, The Hackable Digital Synthesizer

I've been busy lately working on the launch of MeeBlip, a hackable music synthesizer that has lots in common with vintage monosynths from the 1970s. The front panel is full of knobs and switches, and there's only a single status LED.

Under the hood, MeeBlip is powered by an 8-bit Atmel AVR microcontroller that comes programmed as a virtual analog synthesizer, but we provide the source code so you can remap the controls and redefine the instrument's architecture. It's an open source design and I'm hoping that a community of inquisitive and creative MeeBlippers adopts it as their own.

Visit the MeeBlip site on Noisepages for all the details.

Korg Releases Monotron Synth Schematic

We first wrote about the tiny Monotron analog synthesizer back in March. Now Korg has posted full schematics [pdf] for the benefit of those who like to hack and bend their devices beyond all recognition.

The Montron circuit board was already somewhat DIY friendly - several useful contact points are labeled on the underside of the circuit board. Still, it's pretty cool to see a major manufacturer acknowledge their customers' natural desire to investigate how things work under the hood.

Powered by 2 x AAA batteries, this little music machine incorporates the same filter circuit found in their classic MS-20 semi-modular synthesizer from the 1970s. The front panel includes just five knobs and a single switch, along with a monophonic ribbon keyboard. There's an audio input jack on the back panel, along with an internal speaker and headphone jack to jack your little musical bleep box into the outside world.

The Korg Monotron is $59.99 at Think Geek. For an even better deal, use our RETROSTUFF50 coupon to save $10. [schematic news via Adafruit Industries]

Stretta: Analog Synthesis For The 21st Century

Long-time RT reader Stretta writes, "I recently released a new album rendered entirely with a modular synthesizer. While modular synths are undergoing something of a renaissance these days with dozens of manufacturers producing interesting new modules, there aren't a lot of examples of pure modular synth music made today that transcend the banal.

'A Funneled Stone' is a pure modular synth release, tracked in the old-shool, 1970's way: one monophonic line at a time. Every sound you hear was created, patched and recorded for that moment in time. When a new sound is needed, the patch is torn down and a new one is built. Polyphony is achieved by tracking each voice individually.

A modular album is, by definition, unapologetically synthetic. I also tried to take a more minimalist approach to orchestration, so the individual sounds can be more fully isolated and appreciated. I spent much of the final month of production taking elements out, and editing for length. Sometimes this results in the remaining elements merely hinting at the underlying harmonic movement.

As you can imagine, this process is very time-consuming, but fun. I hope you enjoy the results as much as I enjoyed creating it."

It's easy to get stuck in the past with vintage technology, but Stretta manages to push the boundaries of analog sound in a decidedly modern direction. Aided by a modern digital recording setup, his multilayered compositions range from moody soundscapes like the sharpest function to the rushing glitch-inspired rhythms of the future never spoke that make me wish for a long, aimless drive along a lonely stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway with the stereo cranked.

You can download A Funneled Stone in exchange for a tweet, or buy the album from Amazon, iTunes or Bandcamp. Stretta has also launched a kickstarter campaign to see if it's possible to collect enough pre-orders to fund a limited edition 180g vinyl release.

Listen to A Funneled Stone on Soundcloud
Pre-order the album on vinyl

Vintage Guitar Amp Mystery

James Pikulinski writes, "I recently bought a vintage tube guitar amplifier at a garage sale and I can't seem to find anything about it on the internet. The brand is Horugel and the model number is HG-102A. Oh and it's blue!

The only thing Googling has told me it that Horugel was a German piano manufacturer in the 60s-70s and they eventually had an Asian company make guitar amps for them.

I bought it for pennies at a garage sale from a guy who didn't seem to know much about it. The sound is pretty clean, but it's no Fender Super Reverb! It just has that great 1960s look about it. The speaker brand is Westone, but I have no idea if it's original. The power cord seems to be a cheap replacement. I will be grateful for any information retrothing readers can provide. And it's not for sale. Unless it's worth a million dollars to somebody!"

So there you have it. Does anyone know anything about this mysterious blue amp?

Emulating The Commodore 64's Sound Chip

The Commodore SID -- a 3 voice music synthesizer on a chip -- is probably the most famous computer sound generator of the early 1980s. Many of the kids who grew up listening to its distinctive sound never lost their taste for raw analog music, and it still enjoys a cult following.

SIDizer is a software emulation that mimics the sound and flaws of several versions of the SID chip with startling realism. The program simulates the half wave filter distortion of earlier 6581 versions of the chip, along with other famous glitches such as oscillator leakage, input noise and switchable 6581/8580 D/A converter distortion.

To streamline the creative process, the GUI offers hands-on tweaking of every parameter on a single page along with an 8 step arpeggiator, pitch and mod wheel support, portamento, stereo spread and a bit cruncher module with pre and post filter routing. SIDizer lists for $64, although the first 64 customers can pick up a copy for only $49.

HyperSynth SIDizer Software Based SID Synth

New Life For A 30 Year Old Music Computer

The Fairlight Computer Music Instrument is one of the most distinctive digital samplers ever made. Back in 1982, it cost a stratospheric $32,000. In return, you got eight voices of 8-bit lo-fi audio sampling (each voice card had only 16K of memory), along with a musical keyboard and a futuristic terminal with a lightpen.

Only a few hundred Fairlight Series II machines were manufactured, and factory support has been non-existent for decades. Repair technicians have been forced to strip dead machines to keep others running. However, some parts are impossible to come by.The lightpen was a clever way to navigate screens in the pre-mouse era, but many lived hard lives in the studio and no longer function. The manufacturer is long gone, and there's no plug-in replacement. Until now, the only solution has been to memorize keyboard shortcuts.

One of the members of the Fairlight-CMI Yahoo! group decided to design a replacement for his dead light pen. After countless hours, Joe Britt's Fairlight CMI lightpen/mouse interface was announced to the Fairlight community last year. Dozens of users expressed immediate interest, because in addition to supporting your favorite USB mouse, the little box outputs PAL video to generate B&W video on a modern LCD screen. It even allows you to use the lightpen alongsite a mouse.

Only 20 converter boxes were manufactured in the first run (with potential for more), allowing several dozen vintage samplers to continue making music will into the 21st century.

Join the Yahoo! Fairlight-CMI Group

Moog Revisits the Seventies With A $4,995 Synth

The first thing that struck me about Moog's new flagship synthesizer was the price. After all, five grand is the sort of money that well-healed musicians forked out for a capable monosynth in the mid 1970s. But will it fly in 2010, when you can purchase a home studio full of computerized gear for the same money?

Nevertheless, the Minimoog Voyager XL is an impressive beast. At heart, it's an updated Minimoog Model D with an all-analog signal path, modular patch bay and a few modern bells and whistles such as MIDI and patch memories.

The new instrument is all about hands-on control. Up front is a respectable 61 note velocity sensitive keyboard with after-pressure. There's a ribbon controller running along the top of the keyboard and a panel-mounted touch surface controller for even more real-time tweaking.

The front panel is a thing of glory -- 52 knobs, along with enough buttons and switches to make an Apollo astronaut feel at home. There are three oscillators, two filters, a couple of amplitude envelopes and a bewildering array of control voltage inputs and outputs that can be routed through 2 modulation busses.

To top it off, the Monstermoog is mounted in an impressive solid oak cabinet with Moog's signature tilting control panel. One thing's for sure -- you get what you pay for. The only question is how many will want what Moog is selling.

Moog Minimoog Voyager XL Synth [via Create Digital Music]