Pinkie and Ensoniq VFX

Pinkie the cat and Ensoniq VFX

Pinkie has just written a new sound patch on the Ensoniq VFX and she is very proud of it 😺. Submitted by Edda Jayne Hill via our Facebook page.

She will probably switch on the Atari ST and get a sequence going next 👍

Sounds like a great combination. The VFX was the successor to the Ensoniq SQ-80, a flexible wavetable synthesizer that could achieve complex timbres by shifting through different waveforms, a technique pioneered by the PPG Wave. It was released at about the same time as I got my Ensoniq EPS (as I was very focused on sampling at the time). But the VFX is particularly intriguing now as we are in the midst of a proliferation of wavetable-based instruments.

The Atari ST is another interesting electronic-music artifact from the late 1980s, but that’s a story for another time.

KATOD – Haunted (official video)

Szarik that cat returns in this video from From KATOD’s upcoming album. via our Facebook page.

HQ audio: https://katodmusic.bandcamp.com/track/haunted-single
Track from new, upcoming album (2018)
used instruments:
– Yamaha DX7
– Ambika synth
– electric guitar Jackson DK2S
– drums played on pads and written
– Atari 1040ST (as MIDI sequencer)

Written & directed by Mariusz Wasilewski
Cast:
Girl #1 – Daria Cieniak
Girl #2 – Iwona Szylin
Boy #1 – Konrad Domaszewski
Boy #2 – Jakub Gryzowski
Cyborg cat #1 – Kamila Górka-Czarska
Cyborg cat #2 – Ilona Baran
Cat – Szarik cat
Camera operators: Stanisław Patejko, Mariusz Wasilewski, Marcin Czerwienny, Tomasz Kowal, Artur Tymański
Edited by Mariusz Wasilewski
Music performed by KATOD(Mariusz Wasilewski) – “Haunted” track from upcoming album (2018)
Make up & stylist, Catering & drinks – Sylvia Katarzyna, Kamila Górka-Czarska
Special thanks:
Mateusz Raginia (Fiat 125p owner), Sebastian Tawgien (VW Golf 1 owner), Krzysztof Grudziński (Taxi driver & help)
Produced by Mariusz Wasilewski

There is definitely a 1980s theme in the aesthetic as well as the instrumentation 😺

CatSynth Video: Enter The Dragon theme cover by KATOD – live on C64 :)

Szarik that cat returns in this video featuring a variety of synths and vintage 1980s computers. By KATOD_music on YouTube. Submitted by KATOD via our Facebook page.

In the memory of Bruce Lee… greatest dragon!
My version on amazing “Enter The Dragon” theme music by Lalo Schifrin.
Lead and solo parts live played on Commodore 64. The rest of tracks sequentially recorded.
instruments:
– modified C64 + Mssiah cartridge synth software
– bass guitar
– Waldorf Blofeld synthesizer module
– Korg R3 synthesizer
– Dreamblaster tiny module (drums)
– Atari 1040 STE (MIDI sequencer)
Arranged, recorded, mixed and mastered by KATOD
Video-clip recorded and assembled by Katod.
Track: Enter The Dragon theme cover
My fanpage: http://www.fb.com/KATODmusic
My album you can find here:
SPOTIFY:
https://play.spotify.com/album/0mi4SY…
GOOGLE PLAY:
https://play.google.com/store/music/a…
EMPIK:
http://www.empik.com/7-cats,p11136393…
and also many other online music providers…
CD you can buy here:
http://www.generator.pl/p,katod-7cats…

NAMM: MIDI at 30

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface), the protocol that we use to connect musical instruments together, has officially been around for 30 years now, and the occasion was being marked with an exhibit at NAMM:

There were some of the earliest instruments as well as those demonstrating how it is being used today. The Yamaha Disklavier series was quite prominent, as an instrument that is both acoustic and a MIDI device at the same time. There was also the Prophet 600, a forerunner to the Prophet 12 we reviewed yesterday and the first commercially available instrument to implement MIDI.

In the middle, between “1983” and “2013”, were a few of the devices I remember from the mid-1980s.

I had a Yamaha box (a sequencer) with the same beveled shape as the TX7 pictured here. And I was quite interested in the Atari ST computer, though was never able to get one. Both devices seem quite primitive today. Unlike the analog synthesizers that we have been reviewing, earlier digital devices don’t seem to hold up as well. Nonetheless, the MIDI protocol itself is still vital for much electronic music-making, despite its well-documented limitations in speed and resolution.