A repair shop in the Cincinnati area, Foleytronics, shared this Berlin School style synth jam, featuring the rare Steelphon S900 synthesizer and a Mellotron M400 tape playback keyboard.
What they say about the gear:
“This is a demo of Tom’s Steelphon that got whooped by UPS – broken circuit boards, broken MDF case, no output. We took the case to be reproduced by Kent Meloy of Tunguska Guitars and in the meantime went to town on the electronics. There isn’t a schematic available anywhere, but after getting the rails back and the keyboard CV working, there was still no output. I isolated it to the filter board and realized the VCF is a Moog copy, component-for-component, so I used a Minimoog schematic to help troubleshoot the problem.
The Mellotron is mine and has undergone quite a bit of work. New pinch rollers, new motor control board, rebuilt the PSU, and fabbed a new key as one was missing.”
The latest synth jam from synthesist Karol Pokojowczyk (Caught in Joy) is a live performance inspired by the classic sounds of Tangerine Dream.
While the arrangement gives a nod to Tangerine Dream’s Steve Reich-inspired soundtrack for the film Risky Business, listeners may also hear echoes of the ’70s Philip Glass piece, North Star.
Karol Pokojowczyk shared about the technical details:
“Played and performed live with my favorite synthesizers, where I delved deeper into the organic sounds of the Moog One, reunited with my trusty friend, the Jupiter, and experimented with some newfound techniques.
Hope you dig this glimpse into my musical escapades!”
This video, via Bastl Instruments, captures a live performance by Prague-based composer Sara Vondraskova (Never Sol) for Eurorack modular, keyboards and vocals.
As Never Sol, Vondraskova creates melancholic compositions that are based on layered synth soundscapes, dark melodies shrouded in reverb and thick, yet delicate vocals.
In addition to the performance, Vondraskova discusses how she has arranged her studio to be an inspiring and powerful space for making music.
