Looodwig Von Synthi-Fünk Guitärrenshtüff (Ludwig Phase II)

Here's a quick, off-the-cuff video demo of a Ludwig Phase II Guitar Synthesizer that we were testing before shipping it off to a customer (Hey Glenn!). We weren't trying to do a full-fledged demo, just having a last bit of fun while we still had it.

The ultra-funkinated guitar playing is courtesy of our own Mikey T (a.k.a. Keyboard Mike), who's actually a left-handed keyboard player jamming out on a right-handed guitar. Not too shabby, I'd say. I'm shooting the video with an iPhone and tweaking some of the settings. The Ludwig Phase II is know for that vocal "Yoy-Yoy Yoy-Yoy" sound, and variations thereof. The variation on this particular unit that day seemed to be more along the lines of "Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi."

More Moogerfooger Videos!

Here are a couple more Moogerfooger videos I posted on YouTube. The first one is called Modern Jazz Moogerfoogers, using a patch I got that sounded very much to me like an avant-garde modern jazz improvisation; something in the vein of Ornette Coleman or Eric Dolphy. Parts of it sound like a couple of horn players blowing hard bop & free jazz through some kind of funky effects filter. The saxophone type timbres are fairly convincing at times. I'm definitely hearing snippets of tenor and baritone sax in there; maybe some bass clarinet as well. There's also a brief interlude of this frenetic funky slap bass sound.



Here's another patch I got on my rack of Moogerfoogers. This one ended up sounding pretty rude, so the 5-year-old in me just had to record it. Once again, the only sound generators/ sound modulators are the Moogers you see in the video (not counting a brief instance of cellphone audio interference). I did a good bit of knob twiddling in this one to give you a better idea of what's patched in and what's controlling what. Maybe I should start writing down the patches and settings, but I prefer to unplug everything and start over rather than trying to recreate any particular sound.



Again, you can find the full range of Moog Music Moogerfoogers available for sale at the FMO Gear Shop.

Modular Moogerfooger Madness

Modular Moogerfooger Madness

Here's a video I made last week featuring some truly bizarre sounds I got using several Moog Music Moogerfoogers. I was playing around with some patches on my rack of Moogers and it ended up sounding so weird, I decided to make a video. All sounds in this clip are generated and modulated by Moogerfoogers. Not all of them are hooked up for this patch, but the ones that are include the MF-107 FreqBox, MF-101 Low-Pass Filter, MF-102 Ring Modulator, MF-103 12-Stage Phaser, MF-105 MuRF, MF-104SD Super Analog Delay, and CP-251 Control Processor (plus EP-2 Expression Pedal).

There were some very freaky vocal sounds happening here. Really weird (and kind of spooky when you're in a room alone with this stuff. Don't ask me how it was patched, I probably wouldn't be able to get the same sound again if I tried... BTW, I should dutifully mention that we sell the full line of Moogerfoogers at the FMO Gear Shop.

Welcome to Chromatropolis!

Here's a project that's been long in the making. In fact, it's not quite finished, but that's no reason to keep it hidden from everyone. So here it is... introducing the Chromatropolis!

This magnificently monstrous assemblage of analog synth gear is comprised of the Rhodes Chroma, Chroma Expander, and a brand new Chroma Enabler. I have christened the three units collectively as the Chromatropolis. I thought it deserved a much grander name than "Chroma stuff" or "Chroma, etc." I also thought it would be easier to use a single name as way of referring to the three units, rather than having to say "Chroma, Expander, and Enabler" over and over again. As far as I know, I am currently the only one who has all three units.

For those of you not familiar with the amazing Rhodes Chroma polyphonic analog synthesizer, check out the Rhodes Chroma website, which has just about everything you could possibly want to know about this incredible instrument. You can even get the back-story on my own Chroma, which can be found in the Rhodes Chroma Instrument Registry.

I acquired my Rhodes Chroma on trade in 2006 in non-working condition. It took a couple of years for me to get around to making it functional, but once I finally got to hear and play it, I was amazed. Then, gear fiend that I am, I just HAD to get a Chroma Expander (basically, a Chroma without the keyboard) to go with it. I finally found a Chroma Expander for sale around April 2009, so I eagerly bought it. I was told it was in good condition except that the power supply unit would need to be replaced, which is a common problem with the original Chroma. Since I had already done this on my Chroma, I figured it would be fairly simple to do on the Expander as well. Unfortunately, once I got the Expander and began replacing the PSU, I discovered there were a few other issues, not the least of which was corroded traces on the I/O board. The CPU had also suffered extensive damage from a leaky battery, but I had already planned on replacing that with the amazing CC+ upgrade.

The Chroma Expander is still not functioning 100%, in spite of having work done by two different synth repair specialists. I was very fortunate to find a replacement I/O board, and installed both the PSU kit and CC+ that are available through rhodeschroma.com. At this point, six of the eight voices are working. I’ve already ruled out the voice cards as the issue, but haven’t yet been able to figure out the problem. But with the right help and the abundant resources on the Rhodes Chroma website, it’ll definitely happen soon enough.

Shortly after I got my non-working Expander, I had a custom Bubinga wood case made for it and for my newly working Chroma, which I previously wrote about in my blog entry from August 2010. The Bubinga Chroma and Expander cases were made by Wes Taggart of Analogics. Around the same time, I also installed the Chroma Pressure Sensor (CPS) kit, which gives the Chroma keyboard after-touch control of any parameter assigned to it. The CPS kit was made available to members of the ChromaTalk discussion list and was designed by one of the members.

Now, let me tell you about the Chroma Enabler... The Enabler is a custom controller made specifically for the Rhodes Chroma. It was designed and built by Randel Osborne, who also owns a Rhodes Chroma and happens to live in Connecticut as well. Randel told me one day about this idea he had for making a controller for the Chroma that would enable the user to have manual control of all available parameters in real-time. He asked if I thought it was a good idea. I told him I MUST have one, please! Randel came over a few times during the course of his R&D to show me prototypes he was working on, which were much smaller breadboard units that only controlled a few parameters. It was great getting to watch the idea grow and develop, and he put a LOT of work into it. I think he’s made a total of seven or eight Enablers so far. The wood case for my Enabler is made of Bubinga to match the wood of the other two units. He also programmed the display to read “Welcome to Chromatropolis” on startup. You can read more about the Chroma Enabler on Randel’s website.

So that’s the story of the Chromatropolis. I’ve had it as shown in these pictures for a few months now, and it’s caused me to stay up much later than I intended on many, many nights since then. A Chromatropolis video is definitely on the short list of things to do this summer.

Black Cat Vibe Prototype Video! And MORE Videos!

Check out this quick demo video we made of Black Cat Sara playing a prototype of the new Black Cat Vibe we've been working on. There are a LOT of loose ends to tie up before we have this ready for release, but we're planning to make it available for sale sometime this summer. Stay tuned!




Want more videos of Black Cat Pedals? You got it. Here's a really good one of the Black Cat Bass Octave Fuzz from Jeff B (MrExcane). Sounds awesome with the SubDecay Quasar Deluxe!




Finally, here's an excellent and very insightful video of the Black Cat Mini Trem by Jordan Wagner for Premier Guitar.

FMO Custom Civil War Big Muff

Here's an interesting pedal we made a while back for Alex in Canada. It's an FMO Custom Civil War Big Muff. Alex requested that we build him a Civil War version Russian Big Muff using a graphic he had designed himself. I passed the artwork along to Sarah Radawich, who skillfully added the lettering and gave us the finished layout. The rest of the work on the pedal was then handled by our Master Technician, Greg Radawich.

I really like the way this turned out (be sure to click on the picture to see the larger version). It's definitely a cool looking pedal. Alex is apparently a huge fan of Pink Floyd, which I think is reflected in the graphic... it reminds me of the album cover art that Storm Thorgerson did for all those Pink Floyd albums.

Black Cat OD-Boost

We got a custom pedal request a couple of months back from Brad Scott of Ontario, Canada. Brad wanted us to make him a Black Cat OD-1 with an independent buffered boost channel in a Mini Trem sized enclosure. In addition, he asked if we could add a mini toggle switch to reverse the order of the OD and the Boost.

My first thought was that Brad really wanted to blow his speakers! The OD-1 is so insanely loud to begin with, I could only imagine what it would be like coupled with a boost. But it seemed like he had really put some thought into it and knew exactly what he wanted. I relayed all the info to Greg, and then Greg went about creating the Black Cat OD-Boost you see pictured here.

Okay, here’s how it works: the two footswitches give independent control of the OD and Boost channels (similar to the Black Cat OD-Fuzz). Each switch is an on/off for its own channel, so you can have just OD, just Boost, or both at the same time. There are Drive and Volume controls for the OD channel, and a single Boost knob to control the level of the Boost channel.

I have to say, the Black Cat OD-Boost turned out to be a GREAT idea (Thanks Brad!). The two channels compliment each other extremely well. There are so many useful combinations with the two circuits, especially with the toggle to switch the order of the two channels. Of course, it can be VERY loud if that’s what you want. But you can also get an endless array of gritty dirt tones, or just put some more muscle into what you’ve got already.

Here’s what Brad said when he got his OD-Boost:
“I've had the pedal for a few days now and I love it. It's a great addition to my pedalboard and it's incredibly versatile. I love the amount of output. It really overdrives my Dr. Z Maserati in a musical way. With the amp set on the edge of grit, it's like the boost adds a nice crunch channel and the OD adds a hot solo channel. And when they're cascaded, it's the Lava channel. LOL Great job, you guys!”

Lots of new vintage effects listings in the FMO Gear Shop

It didn't occur to me to actually blog about it until Sara suggested it, but we've been listing a ton of really cool vintage effects pedals in the FMO Gear Shop lately. If you haven't stopped in for a while, you should definitely check it out. Among some of the noteworthy listings have been a Ludwig Phase II Synthesizer, WEM Rush Pep Box, John Hornby-Skewes Zonk II, Audio Matrix Mini Boogee, Mu-Tron Bi-Phase, Mu-Tron Flanger, Systech Overdrive, Ibanez AD-80 Analog Delay, Electro-Harmonix Talking Pedal, Electro-Harmonix Queen Triggered Wah, Lemon Studio Sound Stretcher A, Maestro Filter Sample/Hold, Keio Singing Geisha Synthesizer Traveler, with several more items yet to be listed.

After a rather lengthy lull during most of the recession, the FMO Gear Shop has seen a surge of activity over the past couple of months with all these new listings. We've had a few vintage pieces that came in and got sold so fast, we hardly had time to play with them. Alas, payroll and overhead are great motivators for moving things along, so away they go... I've also decided to scale down my collection of vintage keyboards and analog synthesizers. So we'll be selling a Fender Rhodes Stage 73 Mark II electric piano, RMI 368x Electra Piano and Harpsichord, Univox Mini Korg analog mono synth, and a Multivox MX-440 String & Brass (a string ensemble identical to the Roland RS-202).

Valentine's Bee Buzz from Black Cat

Check out this limited edition Valentine's Bee Buzz from Black Cat Pedals! A manufacturing mishap left us with five red Bee Buzz pedals with a PINK silkscreen. There's a story behind this one that's sure to leaving you feeling warm and fuzzy.

When we got our last batch of Bee Buzz powdercoated and silkscreened, the red ones had a bit of a problem - the white paint on the silkscreen turned out pink! So we had a bunch of red and pink enclosures. Greg jokingly said that they looked like they could be Valentine's pedals. I thought that was actually a good idea, so we saved five of them and had the rest rescreened.

It seems I didn't learn my lesson after my attempt to do the graphics for the Black Cat Halloween pedals. So what you see here is yet another of my forays into stompbox arts and crafts. Sure, it's not for everyone, but I think it turned out rather well.

So the five red and pink enclosures were transformed into Valentine's Bee Buzz pedals, complete with heart-shaped rhinestones, and were offered to our mailing list subscribers. Each of the Valentine's Bee Buzz pedals came with a box of Russell Stover chocolates. I thought I may have gone a little overboard with the bling, but all five pedals sold within three hours.

Black Cat Mini Trem with Custom Mod

Here's a custom modded Black Cat Mini Trem we made a few months ago for Grant in Australia. Grant contacted us and asked if we could make a Mini Trem for him with slightly different features. Instead of having the second footswitch toggle between half-speed and double-speed, he wanted it to toggle between full tremolo depth and the regular variable depth, which is controlled using the Depth knob. He wanted to be able to go from an all out stutter/chop trem to a mild pulsing trem at the click of a switch.

So I asked Greg if he could do it, and of course he said it would be no problem. He also suggested that Grant didn't even have to lose the half/double speed option - we could just add a mini-toggle switch to handle that function. So that's what the toggle switch is for on this Mini Trem. Grant loved it! He even asked if we might someday make him a custom Black Cat Vibe and Mini Trem in one unit. Of course, we'd have to finish up the Black Cat Vibe prototype we've been working on first.

For The Love of Gear!

Anyone who's ever bought an old stompbox - be it on Craigslist, eBay or what-have-you - has probably come to the realization that most vintage electronic music equipment that you come across has been subjected to decades of neglect and abuse. Most of it only needs a little expert TLC to be restored to its former glory. That's exactly what we do here. Every vintage pedal that comes into the FMO Gear Shop is thoroughly inspected and tested before it's listed. We fuss over every piece that comes in, performing whatever routine maintenance may be required - cosmetic detailing, tightening loose hardware, cleaning pots, touching up cold solder joints and loose wires, minor repairs if necessary, and the occasional complete overhaul. Because that's what we do... for the love of gear!

Thanks eBay!

So apparently, unbeknownst to me, it appears I was part of a large class action suit against the behemoth online marketplace that is eBay (or at least, my eBay account was included in the suit). Looks like it has something to do with overcharging on final value fees. I had no idea, really! Then out of the blue, I receive this check from the Yingling vs. eBay Settlement Fund for a whopping sum of (ready for this?)... TWELVE CENTS ($0.12)! The timing couldn't be better too - this will definitely come in handy with my Christmas shopping. Thank-you Mr. Yingling (stop snickering) and thanks as well to your friend and mine, eBay.com.

ADDENDUM: Here's the first paragraph of the letter that accompanied the check.
Dear Class Member:
As described in the notice sent to you regarding Brice Yingling d/b/a Alamo Auto Sports and Andy Scott vs. eBay, Inc., Case No. C-09-01733 (the “Lawsuit”), via email and/or postcard in January 2011, below please find your pro rata distribution from the net Settlement Fund. Payment was calculated based on Final Value Fees you paid between April 21, 2005 and August 26, 2009 (the “Class Period”), for non-store inventory format items sold in the parts and accessories categories on eBay Motors. Additional details about the Lawsuit and the method of calculating your payment are available on the case website, www.ebaymotorsfeeclassaction.com.

The FMO weBlog has a new look.

No, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you. I decided to try a new layout for the For Musicians Only blog this past weekend. The old one wouldn't allow us to widen the margins, which used to drive me nuts since it felt like all our posts were confined to a tiny center portion of the page. Of course, this opened another can of worms because I then had to go back and tweak to layout for most of the old posts. One thing that's immediately apparent is that the new layout is a whole lot roomier. A small step in the right direction, I think. We'll see...

That's right, I paid $20 for Mennen Cool Spice on eBay

Yup, it's me. I'm the idiot who paid $20 for the 10+ year old Mennen Cool Spice Speed Stick deodorant on eBay. And to me, it was worth every penny. I should probably point out that these were brand new leftover stock from some drugstore. The product has dried out slightly over time, so it shrunk a bit inside the stick. But it's very minor and 100% usable. In fact, I'm wearing it now! It smells just the way I remember it, and now I'm blissfully reliving memories of my teenage years.

Special Edition Black Cat Halloween Pedals!

Halloween is just around the corner, and this is the BEST time of year to have a Black Cat cross your path! To help celebrate our favorite time of year, we made a small batch of Halloween themed OD-1, Super Fuzz, Mini Trem and OD-Fuzz pedals. The artwork features our notorious Black Cat, accompanied by flying bats and a witch on a broomstick, all silhouetted by a giant yellow harvest moon.

 

Our super talented graphic designer Sarah Radawich wasn't available to help with this one, so I ended up doing the graphic myself. The process was more painful and took much longer than having it done by a professional, but I eventually came up with something suitable. It really forced me to face my fear of vector graphics and aversion to Adobe Illustrator. I'm sure Sarah would've come up with something better, but I'd say it's not too shabby for an amateur attempt. Whaddaya think?