Deviant Synth » Alternate Controllers

Sonodrome – small, twisted and elegant DIY

admin — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 09:08:45 +0000

You won’t find more simpler obscure gadgets than the ones sold by Sonodrome. They even have PC software to go with their little bits of hardware. PC boards come in four colors. (And MAKE magazine’s market is selling the amplifier kit, along with the Atari Punk Console.) Enclosures are up to the builder. YouTube videos here.

For you guitarists who feel left out: a deviant controller

admin — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 01:48:03 +0000

The Misa digital guitar.

Great idea, and the controller is based on Linux, allowing you to mess with its operation. Mentioned on Slashdot.

(Why does it make me think of the Korg Kaoscillator? Isn’t that odd.)

Obscure keyboard of the month

admin — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 10:34:26 +0000

—if not the decade.

Lambdoma Keyboard

Is it still being made? I can’t tell, the order form was on an AOL homepage, which has since been pulled down.

A cornucopia of crazy for the holidays

admin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:38:15 +0000

First, did you know that RCA made a vacuum tube that was usable as a phonograph pickup?

Second, Feena Electronics. They introduced an interesting DJ MIDI controller in 2006. Since then, nothing. The last post to their forum was September 21.

Finally, this guy is building a duplicate of the old Metasonix Hellfire Modulator. He’s making a chassis for it out of plain sheet metal, and he apparently mated two toaster ovens together in order to bake powder-coating onto it. DIY FTW!!!

What is the Mot-Box?

admin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:56:26 +0000

It’s an analogue drone-box with a much vaster range of sound effects than single-box devices can usually do. Simple yet complex.

(It’s strange that this Italian company has no contact info on their site except email.)

(via Matrix)

How to play stuff found in thrift shops.

admin — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:00:40 +0000

NYC artist Terry Dame and her “Electric Junkyard Gamelan”. Except for the contact mics, I don’t see anything electric in her shows, but this is a good example of what anyone can do with the most basic (cheap) tools.

New controllers

admin — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 05:03:34 +0000

There’s been a big stink about the British-made Eigenharp controller, with mention from Engadget, Synthtopia, the BBC, and bloggers like CDM and Matrix. It requires a Mac, however. Hope they sell some and are encouraged to port the software to Windows. Given its complexity, ~$7000 isn’t a terribly high price.

(Just remember that people nowadays routinely pay $50,000 or more for a grand piano.)

Almost forgotten in all this hype was a different controller, the Madrona Soundplane. Looks as though it’s not finished yet.

I bet you didn’t know about this accordion MIDI controller

admin — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 21:40:33 +0000

The Cool Chromaticover. You can’t really tell from these terrible product pages, but this is a standalone MIDI controller with velocity and several slightly different key arrangements available, that just happens to be made to fit over the keyboard on a Yamaha combo instrument. Unlike the Yamaha (or most other MIDI controllers) the Chromaticover appears to be really well-made, mostly metal with metal buttons.
The only dealer selling it (piens.be) is also the owner of the company making it (cool.be). Also strange is that very few people in the accordion world, or elsewhere, even know this product exists. I’ve found very few Google mentions of it.

(This was discovered by the diykeyboard group, who now have their own wiki.)

A gourd. With a synth.

admin — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 02:54:56 +0000

IT’S A GOURD!!

My favorite part: look at the “Related Videos’ section. It includes a mishmash of weirdness, including a promo video for “Kokopelli Rising” by “Bing Futch”, a bland New Age album. The exact opposite of what Dave Wright does with his gourd.

And now, he’s put it on eBay for sale……..

Mechanical sequencer…………made of junk

admin — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 02:25:20 +0000

The work of mad Swedish artists Erik Nilsson and Peter Kädergård. Video here.