Et Misericordia from Bach’s Magnificat is one of the first pieces of music I truly fell in love with (after Siegfried, of course). I first heard it when I was about 10 (1981), and over the years have sought out outstanding recordings of this magnificent (!) piece.

Since I now run a synthesizer blog, and just acquired Prosoniq’s Orange Vocoder, I decided to perform this piece myself. The following is version 1.0 of Et Misericordia recorded in Logic with MiniMoog Vs, FM8s, Massives, ES2s and the Orange Vocoder.

I’m still fine-tuning the vocal qualities of the vocoder (it can take quite a bit of tweaking to get it to sound good), and will post the updates when they become available.

What’s a Vocoder?

From Wikipedia:
A vocoder (pronounced /ˈvoʊkoʊdər/, a combination of the words voice and encoder) is an analysis / synthesis system, mostly used for speech in which the input is passed through a multiband filter, each filter is passed through an envelope follower, the control signals from the envelope followers are communicated, and the decoder applies these (amplitude) control signals to corresponding filters in the (re)synthesizer.

In English, that simply means ‘a singing synthesizer’. Great fun!

Want one of your own?
Head over to Software & Hardware Vocoders at KVR Audio

I’m always on the lookout for good tutorials. A lot of folks get set up with software like Logic Pro or Cakewalk Sonar and twiddle around a bit, and even a moderately talented person can come up with some great sounds. But, to really get to know your instrument well (that’s really what a DAW like Logic Pro is, an instrument), you need to either read the manuals (Logic Pro comes with over a thousand pages worth of manual!) or use video tutorials.

Nothing beats a well done video tutorial in my book. When you can actually watch a person using the software, see where they click, watch the song unfold in front of you, and follow along, that’s where you really learn something.

Sonic Academy has a great series on making music with Logic Pro 8:

Music Production Using Logic Pro 8

The modules, listed below, are very reasonably priced at US$6.55 (£3.99), or you can get the whole set for US$57.42 (£34.99).

Module 1: Creating a Drum Beat—make a dance drum beat using Logic’s Ultra Beat
Module 2: Creating a Bassline—construct a bassline using the ES2 Synthesizer
Module 3: Creating a Synth Lead Line—produce a synth lead line using the ES2 Synthesizer
Module 4: Creating Synth Sweeps—create filtered synth sweeps with the ES2 Synthesizer
Module 5: Time-Stretching & Stabs—how to time-stretch drum loops and & cutting up vocal samples
Module 6: Mixing—mixing track levels and using effects
Module 7: Arranging—arranging techniques used to assemble your loops into a full tune
Module 8: Automation—using Automation to make a more dynamic arrangement
Module 9: The Final Mix—final mixing, fills, effects and rendering

Visit Sonic Academy Now

Got money to burn and an itching to make vintage noise? Love knobs and patch cords? Synthesizers.com has got brand new modular systems that look like the old Moog Modulars, but without the headache of used analog gear (are the oscillators in tune? are there mice in the cabinet??).

Synthesizers.com  – Systems – Modular Analog Synthesizer for Electronic Music

This beautiful beast, the Studio-110, is priced at a very reasonable $14,357.50 </sarcasm> Seriously, I would sell one of my arms to have one of these in my studio.

From Synthesizers:
The Studio-110 is our largest pre-configured Studio system. The 6 oscillator base cabinet is topped by a 22-space cabinet, then an inverted 44-space cabinet, then a special crown piece. The system includes our 24-stage Q119 sequencer, plus 2 Moog-Style Q960 8-stage sequencers, sequential switches, and interfaces. The top row contains a complete 3 oscillator synthesizer with dual filters. A 5-octave keyboard controller, keyboard garage, foot pedals and patch cables finish out this incredible machine. You will not exhaust the possibilities of this system.

AES125: Arturia: Arturia Origin at last !!.

Arturia is the company behind the amazing MiniMoog V, Moog Modular V, ARP 2600 V and many other software synths. They also now have a hardware synthesizer called the Origin.

From Arturia.com:
Origin is the first Arturia Hardware synthesizer. It is a modular system of a new generation opening innovative avenues in sound design. Loaded with modules extracted from the best synthesizers of all time (Moog Modular, ARP 2600, CS-80, minimoog and Prophet VS) Origin lets you combine these modules and benefit from the additional possibilities put onboard. The result: a new type of sound accessible through an extremely intuitive interface.

As of this posting, the Origin is priced at US$2,499 at Amazon.