OSC OSCar
The OSCar was a synthesizer manufactured by the Oxford Synthesiser Company from 1983 to 1985. It was ahead of its time in several ways and its later versions were among the few mono-synths of its time to have MIDI. Around 2000 were made. History When synthesizer manufacturer Electronic Dream Plant folded in 1982, Chris Huggett went on to form the Oxford Synthesiser Company. The OSCar synthesizer was launched in 1983. Chris Huggett designed the electronics while independent product designer Anthony Harrison-Griffin was responsible for the unique look and build of the OSCar. Design and features Harrison-Griffin's use of distinctive black rubberized components to protect the controls and main casing became one of the instrument's most distinctive visual features. He even built a dummy 3-pin mains socket into the ends to safely store the plug. While the basic structure of the OSCar is the common subtractive synthesis model, it has many unusual features and design quirks. T ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Oxford Synthesiser Company
The Oxford Synthesiser Company (OSC) was a small British synthesizer manufacturer, active during the early 1980s. It was founded in 1982 by electronics design engineer Chris Huggett, with Paul Wiffen, after Electronic Dream Plant folded. Products * OSC OSCar Related companies * Electronic Dream Plant Electronic Dream Plant (EDP) was a small British synthesizer manufacturer, active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. At the time their products were not particularly successful commercially. In later years products like the "WASP" became prized ... (''EDP'') * Novation, co-developers with Chris Huggett since the 1990s. References {{reflist Synthesizer manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom Musical instrument manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Roland Jupiter-6
The Roland Jupiter-6 (JP-6) is a discontinued synthesizer, manufactured and introduced by the Roland Corporation in January 1983. Background Although introduced as a less expensive ($2,500-$3,000 market price) alternative to the Roland Jupiter-8, its features include some capabilities not present in the JP-8, which makes the JP-6 a successor. The Jupiter-6 is widely considered a workhorse among polyphonic analog synthesizers, capable of producing a wide variety of sounds, such as ambient drones, pads, lead synthesizer lines, unison basses and techy blips and buzzes. It is renowned for its reliability and ease, but with sophisticated programmability. The JP-6 has 12 analog oscillators (2 per voice), and is bitimbral, allowing its keyboard to be "split" into two sounds - one with 4 voices, and one with the remaining 2 voices (either "Split 4/2" or "Split 2/4" mode). "Whole Mode" is also available, dedicating all 6 voices to single (monotimbral) sound across the entire keyboard. A ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Synthesizers
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and frequency modulation synthesis. These sounds may be altered by components such as filters, which cut or boost frequencies; envelopes, which control articulation, or how notes begin and end; and low-frequency oscillators, which modulate parameters such as pitch, volume, or filter characteristics affecting timbre. Synthesizers are typically played with keyboards or controlled by sequencers, software or other instruments, and may be synchronized to other equipment via MIDI. Synthesizer-like instruments emerged in the United States in the mid-20th century with instruments such as the RCA Mark II, which was controlled with punch cards and used hundreds of vacuum tubes. The Moog synthesizer, developed by Robert Moog and first sold in 1964 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Novation Digital Music Systems
Novation Digital Music Systems Ltd. is a British musical equipment manufacturer, founded in 1992 by Ian Jannaway and Mark Thompson as Novation Electronic Music Systems. Today the company specializes in MIDI controllers with and without keyboards, both analog and virtual analog performance synthesizers, grid-based performance controllers, and audio interfaces. At present, Novation products are primarily manufactured in China. History Novation's first commercial product, released in 1992, was the Novation MM10, a portable battery-operated keyboard controller with full-sized keys, designed to operate with the Yamaha QY10 music workstation. It was based on a device called the MidiCon, which was never released and was the first hardware controller the company made. The MM10 combined with the QY10 arguably constituted the first completely portable modern music workstation. In 1993 the company released the Novation Bass Station. Influenced by the Roland TB-303 Bassline, a portabl ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Akai
Akai ( ja, 赤井, ) is a Hong Kong manufacturer of consumer electronics. It was founded as Akai Electric Company Ltd in Tokyo, Japan, in 1946. Grande Holdings in Hong Kong purchased the Akai brand, and now distributes various electronic products such as LED TV, washing machines, clothes dryers, air conditioners and smart phones, through collaborations with other electronics companies bearing relevant expertise. inMusic Brands in the United States took over Akai's brand, starting the ‘Akai Professional’ label, that distributes high-end audio electronics products. Corporate history Akai was founded by Masukichi Akai and his son, Saburo Akai (who died in 1973) as , a Japanese manufacturer in 1929 or 1946. Although reliable sources are not yet found, according to the several sourceskotobank.jp :ja:Akai Professional), Masukichi Akai established ''Akai Press Industry'' in 1923, then his son, Saburo Akai established ''Akai Electric Company Ltd.'' in 1946, and Masukichi served ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Mantra For A State Of Mind
"Mantra for a State of Mind" is a song by British dance act S'Express, released as a single in 1989. It was their penultimate top 40 hit, reaching No. 21 on the UK Singles Chart. The song formed part of their second album, '' Intercourse''. In 2016, Primal Scream released a cover of the track on a double A-side for Record Store Day. This version featured backing vocals from original S'Express vocalist Naomi Osbourne and Jason Pierce of Spiritualized Spiritualized (stylised as Spiritualized®) are an English rock band formed in 1990 in Rugby, Warwickshire, by Jason Pierce (often known as J. Spaceman), formerly of Spacemen 3. After several line up-changes, in 1999, the band centered on Pierc ... on guitar. References {{authority control 1989 songs 1989 singles S'Express songs ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
S'Express
S'Express (pronounced ''ess-express''; sometimes spelled S'Xpress or S-Express) were a British dance music act from the late 1980s, who had one of the earliest commercial successes in the acid house genre. "Theme from S'Express", which contained elements from Rose Royce's "Is It Love You're After", was one of the earliest recordings to capitalize on the emergence of sampling culture. The song went to number one in the UK Singles Chart for two weeks in April 1988. It made the Hot Dance Club Play chart in the US (also scraping into the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at number 91). In 2016 Mark Moore released a remix album called Enjoy This Trip which retooled S’Express’s music for the 21st century through working with guests such as Punks Jump Up and Chris & Cosey. Biography The main player in the act was disc jockey and producer Mark Moore. In 1989, the group released its debut album, ''Original Soundtrack'', which featured a line-up of Moore, Pascal Gabriel, Jocasta, Mark D, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Do They Know It's Christmas?
"Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a charity song written in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. It was first recorded by Band Aid, a supergroup assembled by Geldof and Ure consisting of popular British and Irish musical acts at the time. It was recorded in a single day at Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, London, in November 1984. "Do They Know It's Christmas" was released in the United Kingdom on 3 December 1984. It entered the UK Singles Chart at number one and stayed there for five weeks, becoming Christmas number one. It sold a million copies in the first week, becoming the fastest-selling single in UK chart history; it held this title until 1997, when it was overtaken by Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997". UK sales passed three million on the last day of 1984. The song also reached number one in thirteen other countries. In the US, it fell short of the top ten in the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 due to a lack of airplay ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Revolutions (Jean Michel Jarre Album)
In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due to perceived oppression (political, social, economic) or political incompetence. Revolutions have occurred throughout human history and vary widely in terms of methods, duration, and motivating ideology. Their results include major changes in culture, economy, and socio-political institutions, usually in response to perceived overwhelming autocracy or plutocracy. Scholarly debates about what does and does not constitute a revolution center on several issues. Early studies of revolutions primarily analyzed events in European history from a psychological perspective, but more modern examinations include global events and incorporate perspectives from several social sciences, including sociology and political science. Several generations ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Jean-Michel Jarre
Jean-Michel André Jarre (; born 24 August 1948) is a French composer, performer and record producer. He is a pioneer in the electronic, ambient and new-age genres, and is known for organising outdoor spectacles featuring his music, accompanied by vast laser displays, large projections and fireworks. Jarre was raised in Lyon by his mother and grandparents and trained on the piano. From an early age, he was introduced to a variety of art forms, including street performers, jazz musicians and the artist Pierre Soulages. But his musical style was perhaps most heavily influenced by Pierre Schaeffer, a pioneer of musique concrète at the Groupe de Recherches Musicales. His first mainstream success was the 1976 album ''Oxygène''. Recorded in a makeshift studio at his home, the album sold an estimated 18 million copies. ''Oxygène'' was followed in 1978 by ''Équinoxe'', and in 1979, Jarre performed to a record-breaking audience of more than a million people at the Place de l ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Skeletons (Stevie Wonder Song)
"Skeletons" is a number-one R&B single performed by American recording artist Stevie Wonder from his 1987 ''Characters'' album. Song background The song is an R&B record about lies and deceptions being uncovered. The 12" extended version features short sound bites from prominent figures such as Col. Oliver North ("I am not ashamed of anything in my professional and personal conduct") and President Ronald Reagan ("The United States has not made concessions to those who hold our people captive in Lebanon") among others. This has remained a popular R&B uptempo song for Stevie Wonder, as well receiving airplay from urban radio stations. Music video The song's music video shows Stevie Wonder sitting on the front porch of his home, in a typical white-picket-fence American neighborhood. As the video progresses, he greets his archetypical neighbors, and we are shown who they are; then we are shown their "skeletons", or secrets. Karen Black is featured as the "perfect" mother and housewi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop music, pop, Soul music, soul, Gospel music, gospel, funk, and jazz. A virtual one-man band, Wonder's use of synthesizers and other electronic musical instruments during the 1970s reshaped the conventions of Contemporary R&B, R&B. He also helped drive such genres into the album era, crafting his LP record, LPs as cohesive and consistent, in addition to socially conscious statements with complex compositions. Visual impairment, Blind since shortly after his birth, Wonder was a child prodigy who signed with Motown's Tamla label at the age of 11, where he was given the professional name Little Stevie Wonder. Wonder's single "Fingertips" was a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1963, at the age of 13, making him the List o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |