It’s a novel idea and not nearly the coolest thing about [BLOK],.. but a pretty unique and cool looking one. Made a little video of it:

The Stretta Procedure released a clone of the simple Tonematrix Flash synth that he has dubbed ‘obo’, which itself is a clone of hardware devices like the Monome/Tenori-on. It’s a simple matrix sequencer with a built in synthesizer, but Stretta has also added MIDI out/sync/scaling to it. Unfortunately it’s only for Mac/OSX as a standalone app, so limited few of us will get to enjoy it (have to admit to dusting off my macbook just for this app), but regardless of that it’s a fun tool worth pointing out to those who missed it being posted last April. Thanks Stretta! More information and download @ http://stretta.blogspot.com/2009/04/obo.html

Quote:

If you like tonematrix, but would prefer something standalone, with MIDI output, sync and tweakable note assignments, you can download this standalone application for MacOS X. It is free! Enjoy! – Stretta

The upcoming release of Blok Modular has been announced. Blok is a modular plugin for audio hosts (VSTi + Buzz formats with Effect versions planned for near future). It holds similarities to other synth building modulars like SynthEdit, SynthMaker, Reaktor and so on.. but where it breaks from those molds is its primary focus on classic modular synthesis, an intuitive interface, speed and ease of use. Its approach is simplified and more refined soley towards synthesis than the forementioned applications/plugins, but beware of misinterpreting that as meaning it lacks power or flexibility because those are it’s direct aims. There are 4 basic types of Bloks; Generators, Modifiers, Controllers, and Outputs (which also includes global bus effect bloks, signal analysis bloks, and others).

The launch is coming soon, but there is a freeware version of Blok already for Buzz modular (also freeware) and a Save-limited Demo VSTi currently available for any VSTi-compatible host.  It’s going to be crazily affordable already, but apparently smart people will be available to get in on an Early Bird special discount price (35 euros).

Anyways, that’s enough information from me, if you want to learn more visit http://www.blokmodular.com/.

The screen-shot above shows a project I recently made, it’s a setup that uses multiple Keytrack modules to split it’s Note input through different paths and control over the modifiers (a sort of multitimbral + filter tracking combo). Check out the audio below to hear what the example sounds like, everything in the recording is done via the Blok patch shown above plus an additional Drum machine Blok patch I created.

One of the cool things about Blok is that it fully supports copying and pasting of Blok data across multiple instances or from other sources. For example, if you want to try out a Blok from a site or friend, you can literally just copy and paste the XML data into Blok.  Open a Blok window then paste (Shift+V), it’s that simple… TIP: To avoid conflicts with VST loader and Host short-cuts, Blok’s editing shortcuts have been moved from the CTRL key to the SHIFT Key, so to select-all/copy/paste/undo, etc. use SHIFT-C, SHIFT-V, SHIFT-A, SHIFT-Z and so on.

more…

I’ve put together a collection of some PyBuzz scripts I have created over the past few years (most from 2005-2006).  A few others are included as well by Dukajoe (PyDrum) and Kazuya. One or two the scripts might not work in the latest version of PyBuzz, but the code is still relevant so I’ve included everything in this zip I could put together.

lazytrap_pybuzz_scripts.zip

PyBuzz is a native meta-controller of sorts written by Leonard Ritter for the modular audio application Jeskola Buzz. It the Buzz world, these control signal-type modules and their data are commonly referred to as Peer Controllers or Control Machines. PyBuzz is basically an empty shell of a machine that gives a Python scripter access to the Peer interface, making it possible to integrate custom Python scripts in order to control, react, or automate other  machines within a Buzz project.

Below is an example of one of the more complete and useful scripts in the .Zip. It’s called master&servant and the principle is pretty simple. You assign Master and Slave  targets then control it with the Master parameter slider. Anytime the value of  Master goes above the Threshold, the Master parameter slider will begin to also control the Slave target.

more…

Found this on my harddrive recently from an old project, example provided to me by Ed some time ago… Better posted here than lost or squandered. To explain, it’s a relatively simple python script that you can run against your Buzz gear directories and a list of all machines in the directory is given and the type of machine, what flags it uses, the author, etc. is returned. It is more or less a starting example, but you may find it useful for sorting modules as-is:

more…

This isnt a development of my own but its a topic I’ve been watching heavily since the Bliptronic 5000 came out (and I ordered one). Finally someone has done the ground work.. Will Lindsay @ the Stray Technologies website has done a full pin out (see picture below) and testing of the board in order to attach a Arduino, or A_SID, YM, (or whatever else .. you get the point) to it and make it sexy. Check out his site/post for more info. There is also some useful info @ electro-music’s forum, here.

I’ll be updating this post with future links.

Additional info:

blipduino.org, not much there yet but you can download a .pdf of the Bliptronic’s CPU Board Mechanicals.
Hacklab Perth – Projects:Bliptronic Arduinome (WIKI)
Youtube – Bliptronic MIDI Sync circuit – schematics and PIC program posted online.

SynC Modular, the precusory application that lead to Native Instrument’s Reaktor, is now offically free (ahem, finally). Nowadays there are a large collection of modern applications that can do what it does, however.. the aged app presents a somewhat unique tonal quality (thanks to dated dsp no doubt, aimed @ performance marks for early 2000’s pcs) and the standalone, never-going-to-get-an-update factor of it is quite charming. Add into that several Ensembles that you can find littered across the internet and you’ve got yourself one sweet piece of modular freeware, old or not.

The free registration key and more info can be found @ SynC’s website: http://www.syncmodular.com/ A new forum has also been started there for all you trainspotting, retro-softwarizing, modular loving, low-cpu hugging geeks out there… so it appears that some people are trying to stir a community together for this fine piece of software. I’ll definitely be checking in from time to time to see what emsembles ppup-up or if any new hacked-up uses occur.

Here’s a good archive of SynC ensembles: http://sites.google.com/site/syncensembles/

sketching in buzz from stumm on Vimeo.

Recording of my workflow.. sketching out some quick ideas in the latest beta of the modular sequencer, Buzz (Build 1183 01/06/2010).  The interface shown is a wpf/xaml theme I am currently working on and is not available to the public yet (though will be soon).

The final version of the Splat theme for Buzz can be downloaded here. . Previous post/version is here.

Playing with Buzz modular’s ‘new’ xml/XAML driven interface. Splat1.zip – Extract to Themes/ with folders intact. Disable Skins on Machine View’s rightclick -> settings. It’s not skin friendly.

UPDATE: Final version here: http://www.lazytrap.com/files/stumm%20splat2.zip