From Alex Ball. A video that I’ve been wanting to make for a long time demonstrating how to create short snippets of music that you can then sample and remix using hardware and/or software. 0:00 Intro 1:13 Demo: Disco Macabre 2:36 Talk: Breakdown 7:40 Talk: Remixing Setup 9:49 Demo: Disco Macabre Remix 11:30 Demo: 60s…

From Alex Ball. A look at the first drum synthesizer made by Pearl, the Syncussion SY-1 from 1979. Get the sample pack, music and stems from this video and help me make more stuff like this via my new Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AlexBallMusic Thank you for the support! 0:00 Intro Jam 0:53 The Pearl Syncussion 1:26 Demo…

From Alex Ball. A look at the Black Corporation ISE-NIN which is an 8-voice analogue synthesizer based on the Roland Jupiter-8 from 1981. https://black-corporation.com/product/ise-nin/ 0:00 Intro Jam 1:07 Ise-Nin 1:41 Demo 1: Synth & Drums 2:26 What’s Old? 3:44 Demo 2: Whimsy 4:52 What’s New? Pt 1 5:42 Demo 3: Touche 6:11 What’s New? Pt…

From Alex Ball. Following on from my Roland System 100 feature video, here’s a full cover of the Human League’s first single, "Being Boiled" from 1978. Breakdown: I was very fortunate to receive a copy of the original beat patch from Martyn Ware via Robbie Puricelli. Martyn had passed on that it might need to…

From Alex Ball. A look at Roland’s System 100 from 1975, their first foray in (semi) modular synthesis. 0:00 Intro Jam 0:57 The System 100 1:59 Demo 1: Falcon 3:02 Talk: The Basic Unit et al 4:28 Demo 2: Proto Acid 5:33 Talk: 101 & 102 7:57 Demo 3: Ring in Spring 9:04 Talk: 103…

From Alex Ball. A look at the 3rd Wave from Groove Synthesis. https://www.groovesynthesis.com/ 0:00 Intro Jam 1:20 The 3rd Wave 1:47 Demo 1: Flight Risk 2:51 Wavetable Principle 4:17 Demo 2: Atlas 5:20 Oscillators 6:15 Demo 3: Horizon 7:23 The Rest of the Synth 8:41 Demo 4: Funk Sandwich 9:27 Multi-Part 10:12 Demo: Multi-Part 11:15…

From Alex Ball. Following on from my video with the original Syntrx, I thought it would be fun to do another imaginary score with its successor, Syntrx II. 0:00 Intro 1:07 Future Ninjas 1:38 Creating the Sound FX 4:45 Creating the Theme Tune 7:12 The End Result 9:35 Summary 11:13 Outro Jam My thoughts: The…

From Alex Ball. A look at the famous ARP Quadra from 1978. Huge thank you to Andrew "The Quadra" Ward for the loan! https://www.instagram.com/arpquadra Download the song (all proceeds to the Alan R Pearlman Foundation): https://alexball.bandcamp.com/track/arp-quadra-make-it-happen https://alanrpearlmanfoundation.org/ ARP Quadra Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLS-pN_Fz3OFcqlzSmZKp-0xgF7bF29EhY 0:00 Intro Jam 1:17 Talk: The Quadra 1:37 Demo 1: Skeleton Dance 2:47 The…

From Alex Ball. A look at the new SH-4d synthesizer from Roland. The SH-4d is a multi-timbral synthesizer with four parts, plus drums. At the time of uploading, there are 11 different synthesis engines onboard, as well as a multi-track sequencer, arpeggiator, MIDI and USB audio. The unit also includes lots of FX, a deep…

From Alex Ball. A look at the Mutronics Mutator released in 1996. As discussed in the video, this unit was used by many famous artists, producers and engineers in the late 90s and early 00s across a broad range of styles. The Mutator is a stereo pair of analogue, resonant low pass filters (SSM 2045s)…

From Alex Ball. A look at the E-mu Systems Emulator II from 1984, famously used by a certain Mr Bueller. 0:00 Day Off 0:40 The Emulator 1:30 Interlude 1: Some Sounds 1:59 The Emulator II 2:27 Interlude 2: 80s TV Score 3:03 Sampling Explanation 4:34 Sampling Demonstration 7:48 Multi-track Sequencing 9:34 What could you use…

From Alex Ball. A look at the Oberheim Synthesizer Expander Module (1974) and Two Voice (1975), which were Oberheim’s first two synthesizer products respectively. 0:00 Intro Jam 1:00 The Synthesizer Expander Module 2:04 Demo 1: State Sync 2:49 E-mu Systems 3:32 Demo 2: Two Voice 4:38 Dennis P Colin 5:49 Demo 3: Pull Seq Wonk…

From Alex Ball. As we come to the end of Roland’s 50th anniversary year, I thought it would be fun to look at their anniversary golden Jupiter-X, the "Inspire The Music" book and to also tell you some stories of my own. I’d love to hear your stories in the comments section. https://www.roland.com/uk/roland-50th-anniversary/ https://bjooks.com/ 0:00…

From Alex Ball. A look at the only fully-modular synthesizer Korg have ever made, the MS-50 Expander Module from 1978. Here’s the nerdy page mentioned in the video with all the dirty details: https://www.alexballmusic.com/korg-ms-series Also make sure to follow the Nakatsugawa Korg Museum, it’s rather wonderful. https://www.instagram.com/korg_museum/?hl=en 0:00 Intro Jam 1:00 Talk: The MS-50 1:30…

From Alex Ball. Oberheim are back with a very serious synthesizer indeed; the OB-X8. In this video we take a quick look at what it does and what it sounds like. Huge thanks and congratulations to Oberheim and Sequential. https://oberheim.com/ https://www.sequential.com/ 0:00 INTRO JAM 0:58 THE OB-X8 1:15 DEMO 1 2:13 THE HEADLINES 2:38 DEMO…

From Alex Ball. A look at the Space Station SST-282 and Stargate 323 units designed by Ursa Major, a company founded by Christopher Moore that operated from 1977 until 1985. 0:00 Intro 0:23 Demo 1: Space Repeats 1:16 Talk 1: Who were Ursa Major? 1:54 Demo 2: Delay Clusters 2:34 Talk 2: What is the…

From Alex Ball. A look at the Oberheim Xpander from 1984. This analogue synthesizer employs what was then cutting edge, digital control allowing for advanced patch creation. It was designed by Marcus Ryle and Michel Doidic with input from Doug Curtis and it boasts some surprising features for the time. In this video we take…

From Alex Ball. In 1963 two young men stepped into a factory next to the Keio railway line in Shinjuku, Japan. Their ambition was to make a new autorhythm machine, but over the next six decades their company would become one of the biggest players in music technology and would help define the sound of…