Designing Dinosaur Sounds

As you all know I like to use my own recorded samples in my music. I went out a lot with my portable audio recorder to sample ocean sounds, rain, wind, thunder or dolphins or whatever else I needed. But when you make an album about dinosaurs that is a bit difficult since they are no longer around. So last week I decided to start designing my own dinosaur sound effects. My inspiration was of course Jurassic park because nobody knows how they actually sounded. Of course I could not use the sounds from the movies since, first of all it is not allowed due to copyright and secondly there is usually talking or music or other noises over the sounds. I recorded and collected a lot of animal sounds over the years and I used them for this purpose. Since dinosaurs where very big you can imagine they make big and low sounds. Most of the work was first cleaning up the sounds. Removing background noise and wind noise and after that  stretching the sounds to make them longer en lowering the pitch. After that I layered multiple animal sounds together for the maximum effect. In the picture there is a little give away which sounds I made. There will be tracks about these animals on the album. But there is still a lot of work to be done before you can listen.
 

Deckard's Dream DIY (Part 4)

 The last board I had to do is the Hardware PCB. This is basically the 'human' interface of the synthesizer. It holds all the knobs and sliders and the display. Again the first thing to do is solder all the SMD capacitors. You need to apply flux first if you want the solder to flow under the components connecting surfaces. I have become quite handy by now, but I do need some magnifying glasses to see everything. Age isn't helping me here :) My eyes have been better in the past.

On this board there are also components on both sides. So you have to watch carefully for that. Eventually this board will be hooked up to the Main PCB they will be connected with the two double header connectors you see on the right. I did try if it fitted and it did so I guess that is OK. There are also some resistors and IC Sockets that go on the back side.

And here you see a picture with most of the sliders on there. I was a bit puzzled that some were different values than stated in the parts list, but since they are only voltage dividers it doesn't really matter which value you put in. I'm still looking how the display has to go in. I'm looking for some build pictures of other people for that. But I'm sure I'll figure it out in the end. Next time is actually testing the boards with the lab power supply and see if there are no shorts. First without the ICs and then a second time with ICs and see if everything stars. More about that in a next part.

SchallPlatte 23 Released with Synth.NL Track 'Gemini'

Yesterday the German Music Club Schallwende released their 23rd sampler CD called 'SchallPlatte'. They released this CD only to the member of the club to give them a nice holiday present because all the concerts were canceled due to the Corona crisis. My track is called 'Gemini'. This track was inspired by the Gemini Space program that superseded the Apollo missions to the Moon. The Gemini project ran from 1964 en 1966 and was basically a dress rehearsal for Apollo. I didn't compose much new music since my Apollo album in 2011, so this track felt a bit like a dress rehearsal again for me too. Since the beginning of 2020 I finally have a small studio again in Rotterdam (NL) after having to sell everything because of my divorce. I'm currently working on several new solo projects, but this was the first track produced in my new and very small 'Jurassic' studio. I hope you like it. You can listen to the track on my website on this url: https://www.synth.nl/music/samplers/schallplattexxiii. The CD is not for sale officially, but Groove Unlimited might have a few in their web shop later on. I will let you know if they are available and put the link on the website.

Deckard's Dream DIY (Part 3)

 The next board I made was the IO board. This board takes care of the communication of the Deckard's dream with the outside world. The audio and midi connectors are on here, the power connector and also the USB connector. There is small SMD chip you have to solder on here and I was very confused about the orientation of this IC. So I asked on the Muff Wiggler forum and got some advice, but I'm still not 100% sure it is correct. I also read something about the Capacitors being wrongly oriented on the PCB and in the schematics. I guess I will have to be care full and do some measuring before I hook it up.

Another important board is of course the Power Supply. I still need to fix the cooling blocks but further this is not a very difficult PCB to create. The downside is though that it sticks in the same slot on the main PCB as the voice boards and you definitely do not want to mix them up. There is only one slot where the Power Supply should go. I also got the advise on the forum to test all the boards separately and the same goes for the Power Supply. Better test them all first with as less components inserted as possible. Also first test the PSU on the Lab Power Supply where you can limit the current to make sure you don't have any shorts. 

And here is a picture of the Main PCB where you can see the blue slots that will fit the voice boards and the Power Supply. The SMD components on this board were already preinstalled. I wonder why they didn't do this on the IO board. As you can see the rest is pretty straight forward. The only board left is the control PCB with all the sliders and knobs for the front panel. More about this in the next part.

Wall-E DIY Project with Wifi (Part 4)

 And here is a picture of the final assembly. I put the speaker back in place. I created an USB connection at the bottom of the case so I can power Wall-E that way but also for emergency programming in case the OTA (Over The Air) updates over WiFi should go wrong somehow. Then I won't have to open it up again for reprogramming. For the power I'm using a Raspberry Pi USB Power Supply with provides 5V at 2,5 Amp. I guess that should be more than enough. In the picture you can now also see the red LED I installed next to the Oled Display. That led is connected directly to an GPIO pin of the ESP12 only with a simple 220 ohm resistor in series you can see in the top right corner of the PCB. You can see the motor controller left on that and there is also a transistor on the PCB that takes care of powering the lights in the eyes of Wall-E connected to another GPIO pin of the ESP12.  

And here is a picture of the complete assembled Wall-E. I'm not 100% happy with the placement of the display but this is really the best I could get. The glue on the double sided tape was very strong and I didn't want risking damaging another display since they are quite expensive. But overall I'm happy with the outcome. After all it is just a gadget for ourselves in our gadget cabinet. It has been quite a project. I have been busy with it for almost a month. Not every day of course, but including waiting for parts. You can control it by pressing the button that I forgot to mention previously. That is also attached to a GPIO of the ESP12. That is why I ran low on GPIO ports. They display already takes up 5 as well. OK I will conclude this series with some video's showing what it can do. And by now I can also control these scenes over voice commands and triggered by home automation scenes over WiFi. I hope you enjoyed this series.

Deckard's Dream DIY (Part 2)

After soldering all the capacitors on only one thing is left and that are all the IC sockets. After that I did a careful inspection for the orientation and checked for missing components. As you can see if you inspect the picture closesly there are some resistors not in place. So I started reading on that and it turns out this is meant to be this way. They were put in by the designer to have the possibility to do some changes to the filter afterwards in case that was necessary without having to design a new PCB. I didn't put in the IC's yet. I read on the Muff Wiggler Forum that it is better to test the PCB for shorts first and then put the IC's in later. So I decided to do that as well. It is always a good feeling when you finish a PCB like this, but then also the worrying starts if you made no mistakes. But we'll see about that later. I followed the instructions closely so at this point I can't see what could have gone wrong.

And then 7 more of these boards to go. Here is a picture when I finished three of them. After the first one it usually goes faster. I could finish a complete voice board one day actually. Creating all the voice boards took me about 10 working days where I also did some other work in between. My girlfriend also helped comparing the boards to see if they were all identical. And so far we could not find any differences between them. So so far everything looked great.

And here is a another picture I took during the building of the voice boards. I actually didn't make a picture yet with all the voice boards, but that will come later when I start testing and assembling. Now I need to look at the rest of the PCBs because there is a lot more. I also acquired the case by now and started looking for assembly pictures, because there is only a build document for the voice PCBs not for the rest. So you are kind of on your own there. Even though there are some nice people that really provide excellent information and help on the Muff Wiggler Forum. If you plan to build one yourself you should really create an account there and read up on the whole thread about the Deckard's Dream. By now I have all the 8 voice PCB's done. More in the next part.

Wall-E DIY Project with Wifi (Part 3)

After getting the display to work I started with the motors. In the left upper corner of the bread board you can see the motor controller I used. It is an L293D chip. It is basically a switch but you can control motor speed for a DC motor by using Pulse With Modulation (PWM). Basically switching on and off very fast. But I didn't use that at all. Only full on and off, but I had to move in two directions. The manufacturer of this Wall-E toy did something mechanically interesting. When the motor moves forward the head moves and when the motor runs backwards the arms move. With the L293D you can do this easily. You have a signal for direction and then it switches polarity for the power of the motor. I hooked the LD293 up with as less pins as possible since as you can see now I had to switch back to an ESP12 because I couldn't get the display driver stable on the ESP32 and I didn't want to spend a lot of time on figuring out why. So now I had the display working, the audio. Only thing left was the eyes and a led where I decided to go for single color in stead of  an RGB led. 

Then came the most complicated part. And I didn't really see that one coming. The display I bought was mounted on a small PCB. Between the display and the PCB is a very thing flat cable. I cut a small piece from the case so that I could stick the flat cable through that hole and stick the the display on the outside with thin double sided tape. But I couldn't reach in with my hand to attach the flat cable again and it was all very tight. After a couple of tries I got it, but then the display didn't work anymore :( I had put too much stress on the cable. So I killed the display :( I had to order a new one and bought a small flat cable extender in the process. After a week of waiting I could try again. This time I asked my girlfriend to help. And this time it worked :) So it did cost me an expensive display but I found a method to get it right.

After testing I concluded everything was OK for assembly. All electronics and software were tested. So I took a piece of universal development PCB with lots of holes and started soldering wires to it. This is a way to create a prototype PCB without actually designing and manufacturing a real PCB. I usually do this when I make something once. It is reliable and when you make a mistake it is easy to correct. So after assembling the PCB I tested everything again and it still worked. So time to assemble everything. More about that in the next part.

 

BorkHavn Review by Schallwende

Now that the BorkHavn CDs are in also the first reactions are coming in. This is always the nicest part about releasing an album. As you might know producing this kind of music you don't do for the money, but it is nice if you can make people happy with your music. So far reactions have been very positive and BorkHavn also got some radio airplay already. But also the first reviews are coming in. I wanted to share this very nice review by the German Electronic Music club Schallwende with you. It was written by the CEO herself. It was originally in German, but it was translated to English here. The link to the original German version is here: https://www.synth.nl/reviews/borkhavn/1213-borkhavn-schallwende

Ron Boots & Synth.nl: - BorkHavn
 
It has taken eight long years and now she is finally here! "BorkHavn", the second collaboration of Ron Boots and Michel van Osenbruggen, better known in the EM-Scene as Synth.NL. This great record was created as a rough version during a relaxed family holiday of the Boots' and van Osenbruggens. During the day they enjoyed the beach life and the beautiful nature in Borkhavn, Denmark, and in the evening Ron & Michel "buried" themselves in the small improvised studio, which they had equipped with their brought along mini-equipment. Already the two thoroughbred musicians started to improvise. During these sessions I would have loved to listen and see ... Michel and Ron assure us that all the music on the present album was improvised live in this cottage.
 
The holiday together must have been musically very fertile for both of them, otherwise such an excellent record would not have come out. Unfortunately, the two of them withheld this jewel from us for many years and we were longing to find out whether and how things would continue after their joint debut in 2010 "Refuge En Verre". "Polished" and remixed in October and November 2020, the CD fortunately made it into this year's pre-Christmas season. "BorkHavn" is another ray of hope in these dark times of crisis, next to Electric Mud's "Quiet Days on Earth"- my CD of the year. (see my review in schalldruck No. 54.)
 
Of course the music doesn't sound Christmassy, quite the contrary! It is very powerful in many parts and sometimes even martial. In my head - even when listening to it several times - always the same film is playing: Erik "the Red" defeats the roaring sea after a hard fight and discovers Greenland with his Vikings. BorkHavn has become fantastic film music. Various musical variations such as melancholy, opulence, and gentleness, wonderfully expressed by a guitar in a minor key, staccato-beaten (snare) drums, as well as dreamlike, delicate piano playing, make the album something very special. This rhythmic interplay is a very interesting sound variation, which I have not heard so often.
 
In any case, both Michel and Ron, this time from a completely different musical side than before. Two EM giants have come together, whose music makes you want more! Chapeau, dear Ron and dear Michel!
 
For me, "BorkHavn" is an extremely cinematic consolation at the end of this bizarre year. Music on, head cinema on!
If you don't have this masterpiece yet, please add it to your wish list!
Tips on how to play: BorkHavn, Nordsøen, Torden, Gåpåmod
 
Sylvia Sommerfeld

More information and sales links for the album:

https://www.synth.nl/music/collaborations/borkhavn

https://synthnl.bandcamp.com/ 

Wall-E DIY Project with Wifi (Part 2)

And then the display arrived. Time for some tesing. I also switched to an ESP32, since it has more CPU power and more Inputs and Outputs. I got the display working over SPI, but the library that I used didn't seem to be very stable. So I tested it on the ESP12 again and that worked fine. Hmmm what to do. I do need quite some IO to control everything. I planned on using an RGB led and that already takes up 3 Output pins alone. But first I decided to focus on writing the software to control the display. For the code it actually doesn't matter if it runs on an ESP32 or ESP12 so I could decide about that later. So first thing I did was watch some scenes from the Wall-E movie to determine what actually needed to be on the display.

And that also meant digging up some math knowledge. I used to be very good at math in school, but it is amazing how quickly you forget that stuff when you never actually use it. But I did need it because there is a Sun symbol on Wall-E's display and I could not load a bitmap or anything so I had to draw it with lines. And then you need a circle to begin with and then some line originating from the center in certain set angles where the starting point is further on the line. On the right you see that bit of code. Good old Sine and Cosine calculations :) Doesn't that feel like high school again. I did have to fiddle a bit with the scale because the resolution of the display isn't that high (128x128) so sometimes some lines just didn't look nice. But after some experimenting with values I was satisfied with the end result. And could focus on the rest. Next challenge was the bar that shows Wall-E's battery percentage and some text of course.

And here is the result that I managed to get. I think it looked quite OK comparing it to shots from the movie and actually comparing it to the sticker that was on Wall-E's chest. Also the bar is done with math and consists of rectangles. I decided that it should actually work so I made a function that I can feed a percentage and it draws the bar accordingly. You have to draw black rectangles to make the yellow ones disappear again by the way. I could not make the text fit by the way with the default fonts included in the library. So I had to create a custom font for that. Luckily there was an online website where I could do that. Ok enough for now more in the next part.

Wall-E DIY Project with Wifi (Part 1)

My girlfriend and myself love gadget like I stated before. We especially like robots as well and Wall-E is one of our favorites. I started looking for a nice decent size Wall-E on E-bay but in good condition they are very expensive. So I eventually bought a broken one also missing the remote control that normally comes with it. So when it arrived the first thing I did was taking it apart to see what I could do with it. First thing I removed was the battery compartment since I planned to put it in our gadgets cabinet and it doesn't have to drive around. It will get a fixed power supply.

So I started measuring what the electronics still did but that wasn't much unfortunately. So I decided to cut all the wires and take out the electronics board. Then I slowly started to apply a low voltage to all the parts and see what still worked. It turns our the motors were still working. It had a motor to drive the wheels, but I don't need that like I said. But there is a second motor that moves the head and arms and that was neat and I wanted to use that. Second thing I found out is that it has lights in the eyes that light up blue. That of course is very cool. It had a speaker and sound board, so that brought me the idea to use the same mp3 player board I used in HAL9000 and get some sound from the movie Wall-E. On the chest Wall-E had a fake light that I thought would be cool to replace by an actual red led and also there was a sticker on his chest to represent a display. I thought how cool would it be to replace this by an actual Oled display! So I started looking for one with RGB color and in the right size and I found one :)

So now I had a plan. Time for action. First I took another ESP12 that I had and attached the MP3 player to it. I spend some time to sample audio from the movie and put the MP3s on the player. Luckily so far I could mainly use the software I already made for HAL9000. And I also put in OTA updating since I already had to take HAL9000 down once to update the firmware. I also put that in there. OTA means I can now update the firmware of the ESP12 over WiFi without having to attach it to the USB port of my computer. That is very handy and cool :) So now I had to wait for the display to arrive and also find something to drive the motor and the eyes. Soon more in Part 2.

Deckard's Dream DIY (Part 1)

 If you follow my blog you know I like to build my own synthesizers. Unfortunately due to my divorce I had to sell a lot. Also some of my DIY stuff. But as you know after 2,5 years I have a small studio again. Luckily I still had a DIY kit that I saved. It is a Deckard's Dream which is actually a clone of the famous Yamaha CS80 that was heavily used my Vangelis one of my favorite musicians. I did have a CS60 in the past and that came close. So I'm really looking forward to this synthesizer. But the build is a lot of work and not the easiest to build. First thing up is build  the 8 voice boards. In the picture you see the back of the first one. You have to solder a lot of very  small SMD capacitor on there to begin with. I never really did that and my eyes used to be better ;) So that was quite a challenge.

After that you start with the resistors and diodes. There are a lot actually and you need to pay attention to the correct value going in the right spot. Usually it is quite a puzzle, but luckily some made a build document that made life a lot easier. It is divided with a drawing that highlights all the resistors of one value and where they need to go. That actually saves a lot of time and mistakes. And one thing I learned myself is using to multi meter to measure the resistor values before I put them in and not rely on what is printed on the bag you buy since sometimes the supplier makes mistakes too. It is a lot of work, but actually I find this work very therapeutic and relaxing :) So I don't mind.

After This the capacitors go on. Just like the diodes here you have to watch the orientation too. Getting this far for the first board was about a days work. So time to stop and also the sun light was going away. Unfortunately I don't have very good lighting in my temporary work place which is actually the dinner table in our living room. So time to call it quits. 

And already I'm worrying if I didn't make any mistakes. But I decided to build the 8 voice boards one by one so when they are finished I can compare them to each other. It would be weird if I made the same mistake 8 times over. But well you never know ;) I will update you with part 2 soon.

HAL9000 DIY Project with Wifi

 After the R2D2 project I thought to do the same with an HAL9000 replica from the movie '2001 A Space Odyssey'. It is an Artificial Intelligence computer that basically is a photo lens with a red light in the middle that talks. Again I took an ESP12 and this time I needed to produce audio as well. I used a small mp3 player that talks over serial to the ESP. On this MP3 player I put some samples from the movie that I slightly edited. This one is also hanging in our hall way. It is kind of creepy when it start talking. Just like R2D2 it is connected over WiFi to my home network and I can control it from my home automation server.

R2D2 DIY Project with Wifi

Another nice project I did last year was operating our R2D2. It is actually a (useless) clock that also made some sounds like it does in the Star Wars movies, but you had to press a button for that. So I decided to have a look if I could fix it someone to do this in an automated way. So first things first. I took it apart to see what is inside. And that didn't look too complicated. My first idea was to put in a relay over the switch, but then that would make a clicking sound I rather not have.

So the most sensible thing to do was to try and put in a Arduino like mini computer called an ESP-12. It has several IO pins so I started by attaching the button to one of the inputs of that ESP and started measuring voltages on the electronics to see what happens when you press the button. It turned out I could easily attach the wire that came from the switch to an output of the ESP and done. I could control it. The original sound it made was way too long to be funny (like 30 seconds). So I was already happy I could make the sound shorter. 

And you do that of course by writing software. The nice things about these ESP chips is that they also have WiFi Build-In so I started by logging it in to my home network and writing a small web server to run on it. So now I could control it over the network. I do have a Home Automation System in my house. So the next thing was to have that system to control R2D2.

And then we get to the hardest part of course: Putting everything back together. Luckily there was plenty of space to put the small ESP in and the leads of the SMD board I soldered it one just fitted over the original battery compartment. I attached it with some double sided tape to it. After that I had to put the legs in hold everything together and put the screws back in. Well that took me a while. I'm quite good with electronics, but not so much with mechanical stuff. But I got it. I decided with my girlfriend to put it in the hall and have it triggered by a sensor on the front door. So R2D2 now act as a welcoming committee when we open the door for guests.

And to conclude a small video of R2D2.

Pixar Lamp has Light Now

Long ago I 3D printed a Pixar light. Recently I added a bicycle light to it so it actually works :) Looks nice I think. I'm currently working on a big project in my living room that I'm going to show you in the future. It involves lots of gadget that I'm transforming with electronics. I thought it would be nice to share these projects with you. Maybe it will make your day more enjoyable maybe it inspires you to do the same. More to follow soon!
 

Working on New Solo Material

Now that BorkHavn is finished I started working on new music for my new solo albums. Yes multiple! The last 7 years I recorded quite some music, but never got to finishing it. So I'm slowly starting to open all these projects and begin working on those tracks. One of my solo projects is going to be about dinosaurs so hence the new name for my studio called the 'Jurassic' studio now and the accompanying Jurassic Park T-shirt. My Girlfriend Sonja took this picture for the upcoming Schallwelle sampler release, but I thought it was a nice idea to share it with you as well. I'm also working on the music I recorded a couple of years ago for two planetarium shows. That will be released in the future as well with some new tracks and I have another surprise album planned with old and new material. So lots to come.

During the work on this new music I did encounter a problem though. It turned out I used a Virus TI polar as a plugin and didn't record this as audio because I thought I would never sell it. I only had the midi notes. But because of the divorce I did sell it :/ I had to find a solution for that. So the first new addition to the 'Jurassic Studio' is this used Access Virus TI2 desktop module. Fortunately I did backup the sounds I programmed for it so all projects I used it in are working again. Another nice thing to mention is that I did the artwork for two of these upcoming albums together with my youngest daughter Tamara van Osenbruggen. She is learning media design in school. I'm very proud of the outcome and will share it with you soon. I will try to put more updates online from now on about the progress of my ongoing projects. And do let me know if you have any questions for me. I'd be happy to answer them.

 

Creating 640 Sound Effects for my upcoming Solo Album

I just released the album BorkHavn together with Ron Boots, but I'm already working as well on new solo material. In the last 7 years since my last release I recorded quite some material. But usually that are just rough track ideas that need to be worked out. Not to forget finalize with small details in the form of sound effects like rises, synth modulation sounds and so on that make a song much more detailed and interesting. With the first album I created I did this during the final moments and found out that is costs a lot of time. Since my second album I started to dedicate a whole week to this process. I pick out a couple of synthesizers and start creating sound on sound on sound.

After that I start listening everything back and cut out the sounds I like. I usually make everything in random order like drum sounds, percussion sounds, sweeps and wooshes, modulation sounds and some weird stuff. Sometime on purpose sometimes by accident :) Last week I made 640 of such sounds. The hardest part actually is to come up with names for them. You can also see which synthesizers I used. I have 4 rack mounted Behringer clone synths that were very suitable for this work, because they are also semi-modular and easily patchable to another. I have done this proces for every solo album I released so I have lots of sounds. One day I might even release a sample CD with only these sounds. If you are interested let me know ;) I thought it would be nice to share this step in my creative proces with you for a change. Michel, Synth.NL

Ron Boots & Synth.NL BorkHavn Released Today!

Today is the day. After 7 years I finally have an official release again. 8 years ago Ron Boots and myself went on a family holiday in Denmark and took some synthesizers and notebooks with us. During the day we enjoyed the nature with our families and did some nice stuff and in the evening Ron and myself went in the small improvised studio and started improvising on our own. All music on the album was recorded live and was improvised in that holiday house. 8 years later we picked the best parts and finished them in our studios and eventually did the end mixing in Ron's studio and Ron also did the mastering. I did the artwork. The music is a bit more modern film music than classic EM we think, but judge for yourself. You can listen to some excerpts on my website on this URL: https://www.synth.nl/borkhavn and you can also listen on bandcamp here: https://synthnl.bandcamp.com/album/borkhavn. You can also buy the album there as MP3 or FLAC. You can also buy it directly from Ron's record label Groove Unlimited from these links.

Physical CD with Jewel Case: http://www.groove.nl/jump2.php?artnum=GR-299
FLAC download including all the artwork: https://shop.groove.nl/gr-299-flac
MP3 download including all the artwork: https://shop.groove.nl/gr-299-mp3

I hope you like it. Let me know if you have any question. 

Synth.NL Jurassic Studio

 I'm sure you all remember the famous 'Apollo Studio' pictures that still roam the internet. Well that studio is gone :( As you might well know I have gone through a rough period with a nasty divorce and I abandoned everything. After 2 years I moved in with my new girlfriend Sonja in her new apartment in Rotterdam. I did manage to save some stuff during the divorce. Some stuff is put in long term storage like my Eminent 310, V-Piano and Roland Drum Kit and some synths, but I could bring some stuff to the new apartment and build a small studio again. I always name my studio's and  I call this studio my 'Jurassic Studio'. For several reasons. First of all it feels like traveling back in time for me, but secondly I'm currently working on a new solo album about dinosaurs. So now that cat is also out of the bag :) I hope to release it somewhere next year.

So what is still in the studio. Well most importantly I saved my studio computer, where all my recordings were stored and also my software was installed. Then I could take my Genelec monitors. I'm very used to that sound and even though the acoustics in my studio are terrible I know these monitors very well. I could take my Aurora AD converters and also the RME MADI stuff. I'm also happy that I could keep my main reverbs like the Bricasti M7, Eventide H8000 and Eclipse and the Quantec Yardstick. And some of the graphic display units I like to use as reference for my levels. This was my basic recording chain and that means I don't have to sacrifice much in sound quality fortunately. I'm really happy about that.

So are there any synthesizers left. Yes !! I have kept both the Korg Kronos and the Nord Wave. Especially since I used them on the BorkHavn album with Ron Boots, so I needed these to finish the album here. I also still have the Alesis Andromeda but it is currently under the bed since I don't have room to put it. I kept some DIY stuff like the SamichSID, SamichFM and MIDIbox SID and I'm currently building a Deckards Dream. I will post more on that project later as well. I also bought some new gear. Not much budget so I started out with some Behringer Modules. The Model D, K-2, Neutron and Pro-1. And I just pre-ordered the new ARP2600. I must say. Having owned all the originals in the past. I'm not disappointed. They sound really good. So what is next? I still have a lot of recordings I made during the last 10 years. I plan on finishing them now and releasing them. So expect much more to come! I know it has been quiet for a while, but I'm back :) Keep an eye on my Blog, Twitter and Website and even better subscribe to my newsletter here: https://www.synth.nl/newsletter-subscribe

BorkHavn already available on BandCamp

 Groove Unlimited (my record label) already put BorkHavn on BandCamp. You can listen to some excerpts of some of the tracks. You can also buy the album there as MP3 or FLAC download or listen to it in the BandCamp app. I hope you like it. The physical CD's also arrived from the factory. I will pick them up from Ron this weekend. The album will also be soon on the Download Shop of Groove Unlimited as MP3 and FLAC. I will let you know when it is there. You can find it here on BandCamp: https://synthnl.bandcamp.com/album/borkhavn

Another Synth.NL track will be released in 2020

 I was asked by the German Electronic Music Club Schallwende to submit a track for their upcoming SchallPlatte 23 sampler album. They normally release these albums once a year and most of the times there is a theme. This is a special release for their members because all concerts have been canceled due to Corona. I though this was a good idea and I spend some time creating a track called 'Gemini' inspired by the Gemini space program. They liked the track so it was selected and will be on that album. It will be released by the end of 2020. It is not for sale. It is only for members of the club. You can read more information about Schallwende here: http://www.schallwen.de/. I will give more information on this project when the album is released.

BorkHavn CD Pre-Order possible at Groove.NL now!

 Ron finished the mastering of the BorkHavn CD and I finished the artwork. I did make a mistake so we had to reprint the inlay, which caused a bit of delay. Sorry Ron :) But the CD is done and currently being produced. It will be available very soon. You can already pre-order the CD from the Groove Webshop at this URL: 

 http://www.groove.nl/jump2.php?artnum=GR-299

I expect the CD's to be coming from the factory later this week and I guess shipping will be starting next week. Let me know if you need any help. There will be a digital download version both as MP3 and WAV later on as well.

BorkHavn Music is Finished

 Last week I finished the music for BorkHavn together with Ron Boots in his studio. We worked on the last details and made the final mixes together. I will have to listen to them in my own studio, but I'm sure not much will change. So the music is done finally. We recorded this music together in 2012 so it has taken quite some time. I think the end result turned out pretty great and I can't wait to heat what you think about it. The only thing left to do is the mastering and the artwork. Ron will take care of the mastering and the artwork will be my responsibility. I already finished all the text and you can already read the track descriptions on my website. You can find them here: https://www.synth.nl/music/collaborations/borkhavn. We are still on track for an 2020 release so keep an eye our for news on that. When the mastering is done I will also put some small previews on this page. I will keep you updated when I have more news. I'm really looking forward to releasing a new album. It has been too long ago, but rest assured more is coming after this.

I know is has been very quiet (again) from my side. I have been through a rough time and still am actually. I'm currently in a divorce that already lasts for 2 years and the end is not there yet. Unfortunately this meant that I had to leave everything behind including my studio. I had no place of my own and lived at my parents for about 1,5 year. I have good news as well though. I have been very lucky to find a very beautiful and sweet new girlfriend and we are living in a new apartment together now in Rotterdam. In this apartment I have a tiny studio with some equipment I saved from my Apollo studio. I usually name my studios, but I haven't come up with a good one yet. More good news is that I am composing and producing new music again. So finally all the music I have been promising for the last years is coming to you. I'm sorry it took so long. The first release will come very soon. It will be a second album together with Ron Boots. Just like the first one we recorded new music live and improvised during a family holiday. This time we spend a week in Bork Havn in Denmark. At this moment Ron and myself are adding some details in the 9 tracks we selected to go on the album and we will start mixing and mastering very soon. We also finished the artwork already and here you get the first sneak preview of the album cover. I will update you with more information as it gets available. I have accumulated a lot of material since my last solo release in 2011. So don't worry. A lot more is coming! But first things first. Keep an eye out for BorkHavn. I think it has become a really beautiful album that represents the friendship between Ron and myself. The music is different from our first album together, but the people that heard it so far liked it a lot :) I did leave social media by the way. So please subscribe to my news letter on the website http://www.synth.nl when you want to be kept up to date. (or send me an E-mail on michel@synth.nl and I will add you manually). More to follow soon....