One-minute piano mini lessons

If you want some quick primers on basic music theory and piano playing, head over to the one-minute mini-lessons where you’ll find quick guides on:

• Key of the song
• Blues Form
• Classical vs Pop piano lessons
• Practice regimen
• Playing chords
• Blues scale
• Tuning
• Chord inversions
• Christmas songs
• Playing by ear

They’re not exhaustive guides but quite useful springboards for developing your own piano playing.

Using the Moog synthesizer

University of California’s Division of the Arts has published a modestly-titled article Using the Moog Synthesizer.

In fact, it looks like a pretty comprehensive guide to the UCSC Modular Moog, that is ‘representative of most studio machines’.

It opens:

Moog synthesizers were custom assembled for each order. There were two types of case, a nice looking wooden console, and a portable box covered in black crinkly paper. There were some standard setups, but most studios chose their modules a la carte. Prices in 1969 ranged from $125 for an envelope generator through 395 for an oscillator to 1,225 for a sequencer. (At that time a hamburger cost fifteen cents.) The order form included a map so you could specify where you wanted your modules, but they could easily be moved around. Almost all of us bought only a few modules at a time, and many systems still have empty space.

and covers:

• 901 Voltage Controlled Oscillator
• 901A,901B VCO
• 902 Voltage Controlled Amplifier
• 911 Envelope Generator
• 904A Voltage Controlled Low Pass Filter
• 904B Voltage Controlled High Pass Filter
• 904C Filter Coupler 907
• 907 Fixed Filter Bank
• 960 Sequencer

Plenty of circuit diagrams, descriptions and information.

My favourite line?

GETTING AN OSCILLATOR TO PLAY IN TUNE WITH THE KEYBOARD

You can’t.

Actually, it goes on to say:

For best results (Funky but usable) set the fixed control voltage and control voltage vernier at 0 and the Frequency range at 8 or 4. Patch from the voltage out of the keyboard to the control input of the oscillator. Hit the lowest key repeatedly as you adjust the Range control of the keyboard so that the oscillator pitch is not changed. (Pull the patch cord to check.) Now play octaves and adjust the keyboard Scale knob until things sound right.

Into classic Moog? Well worth a read.

MIDI and sound synthesis tutorial

Here’s a fairly compact tutorial about MIDI and sound synthesis, covering the basics of MIDI, MIDI messages, MIDI sequencers and standard MIDI files (SMF), Synthesizer basics, the General MIDI (GM) system, synthesis technology: FM and Wavetable, PC to MIDI connections, Multimedia PC systems, and Microsoft Windows configuration.

As you may see from the contents, it’s fairly heavily focussed on Windows-based systems, however the first sections on MIDI and synthesis theory are relevant to any system.

Link

WP-20 Mini-Synth Sound Effects Synthesizer Project

Many moons ago Ray Wilson and Ron Romeo created a small company that sold PC boards and kits. We called it “Waveform Processing” The WP-20 Mini-Synth was our premier product. As I look back at it now I see many things I would do differently today but I wanted to leave it as it was 25 years ago. It’s a great project and it makes some very cool sounds. I hope you have fun if you decide to build it. This would make a great junior-high or high-school electronics project.

Link

13 steps to playing jazz piano

How to play jazz piano in thirteen steps. Ahh it sounds so easy…

Pet Shop Boys synthesizer history

Gareth Edwards has written a good article on the Pet Shop Boys synthesizer history, charting the many pieces of musical equipment they have used over the years to get their distinctive sounds.

It includes the Fairlight CMI, EMU Emulator, Akai samplers, PPG Wave, various Yamaha’s (including the TG500 module which I have used extensively), Roland TR808, and many more (not surprisingly) They’ve also recently adopted soft-synths to a large degree.

I thought it was interesting that the PSB programmer Pete Gleadall seemed almost embarrassed to admit that he’d used a Yamaha TG33, as this module was considered to be a ‘home’ device. Hey, if the sound works, use it!

Interesting journey if you’re interested in the Pet Shop Boys music and synths from the 1980s and 1990s.

Yamaha CS80 detailed info website

A really useful site covering the Yamaha CS80 synthesizer, with information on panel controls, presets, and performance controls.

Found via DVDBorn

Yves Usson’s Synth DIY pages

I just found this cool site by Yves Usson called My Synth DIY pages which contains information about many years of synth-making, collecting, and an ongoing modular synth project.

Yves’ introduction begins:

When I was a teenager, back in the seventies I became fascinated by those weird sounding machines with those huge panels full of blinking light bulbs and knobs. My first encounter with music produced by Moog synthesizers where two radically different pieces: Popcorn (by Gershon Kinsley) and the original soundtrack of Clockwork Orange (by Wendy Carlos). This was really weird at this time but I sure knew that I liked that very much! The music I was listening to was that of bands like ELP, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Yes and so on… Then the Germans came ! Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, Popol Vuh, Kraftwerk, Ash Ra Tempel : fascinating, hypnotic and repetitive. In parallel, some other really interesting musicians extended the realm of synth creativity : Tim Blake, Brian Eno, Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis and others.

Take a look.

Piano history and cultural relevance

An interesting little article: The History and Role of the Piano in the Modern World, covering the origin and ongoing cultural relevance of the piano.

Piano keyboard musical frequency chart and explanation

Vibrationdata.com has a useful article which shows the fundamental and overtone frequencies for all the notes on a standard tuned piano, and describes the relationship between notes.

If you’re interested in the physics behind your piano playing, take a look at their
piano page.

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