Now that the #bonk is out of the bag, erm box, I can finally reveal the secret weapon that I specifically acquired for the occasion:

The Casiotone MT-70 is one of only six sine wave based #Casio synths, released in 1982. This makes its sound palette quite limited, but unique.

Its accompaniment section has a few tricks up its sleeve, especially the arpeggio mode, which I will show off in the video in the second post.

#caturday #MyMusic #RubiaTheCat #synths #StudioCat #StudioCats

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My submission for "Not What I Call Bonk Wave - Vol. 002", entitled "Schrödinger's Bonk" has a slightly less messy recording of the rhythm and chords from the video below running throughout the track.

In my mind its slight rhythmic imperfections and quirky sound are the reason the song bonks so hard (yet not at all).

In case you haven't heard the finished song yet you can do so at

https://faircamp.axwax.eu/axwax-schroedingers-bonk/

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#BonkWave #caturday #MyMusic #NotBonkWave #RubiaTheCat #StudioCat #StudioCats

Schrödinger's Bonk

My submission for Bonk Knob Records' Not What I Call Bonk Wave - Volume 002 compilation.

AxWax

There is one more really unusual feature of that keyboard:

It comes with a light-pen that allows to read barcode sheets of songs. These consist of a section for all note values of a song, followed by note length and finally chords.

Sadly my copy didn't come with the barcode booklet and I haven't managed to find a copy online either.

It is kinda compatible with the chordless barcodes for a #Casio VL-5 though, so I'll try to post a demo soon (it is a right old faff to read them).

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#synths

In the meantime I want to mention another pivotal instrument to achieve an authentic #BonkWave sound (while simultaneously sounding nothing like it):

A short while ago I watched a great video by @dhilowitz on how he acquired an adorable Soviet #synth featuring French cartoon character #Pif that was made in and sold to him from #Ukraine:

https://yewtu.be/watch?v=sStI42iwdIM

He even made a free instrument for his #DecentSampler out of it, so I just had to download and use it for its haunting pad sound.
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Also, while it isn't #FollowFriday any more I highly recommend anyone who is into software samplers or absolutely adorable videos of unusual musical instruments to follow Dave at @dhilowitz.

Hopefully that'll encourage him to post a little bit more about his cute content and many excellent free and reasonably priced #DecentSampler instruments here on the #Fediverse.

 

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#ff #MusicProduction #synths

@axwax @dhilowitz That is a rad synth. It’s so fun to see the behind the scenes of the making of your Bonkwave track. I love the light pen and barcode scanning. It reminds me of the work of Electronicos Fantasticos! With their barcode scanner stuff.
I also agree that David Hilowitz makes some great videos and the Decent Sampler is super cool.

@attksthdrknss @dhilowitz

Sadly I haven't had time to really look into the light pen yet, but there is actually people out there who have figured out how the barcodes work, so one could probably make their own barcodes to store custom melodies.

I definitely won't have time to look at this this year, as I'm leaving my studio and synth on Wednesday, but hopefully I can explore it properly on my return in the new year.

Oh, and thanks for reminding me about EF. Their new stuff is brilliant! 😍

@axwax @dhilowitz Making custom barcodes would be super cool. I bet that will be a fun project. I'd love to hear about it as you get going next year.
EF are super awesome. I remember the first time I saw them playing old TVs like drums and it was so cool.
@axwax @dhilowitz Piff enters the chat...
@axwax Smart title there btw. It hit me a while ago why. Seeing the cat helped makes it even better. 😁

@n3wjack

Thank you! 😻
She was definitely a strong inspiration for the title!