A collection of Eurorack and Sync Jams from South Farm in 2023. Playing around with my Makenoise Morphagene and a reel made up of samples from Freesound.org. I had a floating CV/Gate connection to an MS20 and so it was generating a lot of background crackle - in the end I left it in as I sorta liked it!

South Farm Jam 59

A collection of Eurorack and Sync Jams from South Farm in 2023.

South Farm Jam 51

NEWS UPDATE: The second batch of 25 pre-production units are nearing completion and am now taking pre-orders for delivery in June. A new Patch Editor/Librarian App & VST/AU plugin with full automation has also been developed complete with a new library of over 250 sound patches for Win/Mac/Linux and will be free to all Elfin-04 and 01 owners.

Introducing Elfin-04, Hideaway Studio's Compact New 4-Voice Polysynth Expander...
 
I have been working round the clock for weeks now on my dinky little 8-bit 4-Voice (4 x [2osc+1sub+LFO]) VA Poly Expander with 1960's style transformer-mixed output voicing and finally No's.000 thru 010 are born to the world and receiving very positive feedback from their new owners....... this 4-voice polysynth measuring just 16x12x3cm has full real-time control over her 32 parameters via simple midi ccs and 16 built-in patches. 

Based on an expanded form of a customized software synth-core design by ISGK in Japan, I think the Elfin-04's unique voice ouput/mixing transformers do add something for sure - they are driven full-swing with 60KHz PWM resulting in a lot of additional harmonics/mirror frequencies and some saturation that all gets trapped within the transformers which adds a richness/darkness to the sound (no-doubt inspired in part by my beloved DK Synergy). In the Elfin-04, the 4 voices are passively mixed but, unusually, by the topology of the output-transformers themselves which is a trick that used to be found in some more exotic 1960s valve test equipment where multiple signal outputs were mixed on isolated outputs (eg. my huge old Panoramic TTG-2 tube Dual Sinewave Generator). Also, each voice CPU is independently clocked so everything is genuinely free-wheeling across the voices so even the noise phases slowly when played on multiple notes and unison which is pretty cool.

Any questions, please PM me here on S/C or to EF86 on GearSpace.

All Sound Design & Recordings Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio 2025.

Hideaway's New Elfin-04 Polysynth: Detuned Unison Mode Montage 01

Elfin-08 No. 000 (basically two stock Hideaway Elfin-04 Poly Expanders bolted together running modified firmware with a stereo output) fires up for the first time on all 10 of its 8-bit processors and 8 output transformers!....

The allocation of the 8 voices has been distributed between the left and right audio outputs with even voices on one channel and odd voices on the other giving a rather pleasing stereo effect. The Detuned Unison Mode on the 8-voice is just massive!

All of the sounds in the test recording are factory Elfin-04 patches loaded up from the new Elfin Controller VST/AU/Standalone (win/mac/linux) patch editor which currently has around 260 patches built in.
 
NB: I am building these 8-Voice proof of concept variants in very limited numbers for those who can't wait for the official Elfin-08 otherwise the current Elfin-04 offers the very same sound but with less polyphony.

Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio 2025

Hideaway Elfin-08: 8-Voice Functional Prototype Awakens...

Modular jam, lead comnig from an WMD Synchrodyne, and some speak and spell fun from Morphagene

South Farm Jam 63b

A segue of recordings played back at normal, twice and half speed of the sound of laser light being modulated by plumes of dust kicked up by dropping nuts and bolts into dry icing sugar in a large glass jar. The optical mic was positioned on the far side of the jar and sometimes you can just make out the glass walls pinging as the bolts land on the bottom of the jar.

The slowly building up vortex was made by swirling the icing sugar and then playing back the resulting return to still  air in reverse.

Rather like the oil in water and electrolysis experiments, since it all takes time to disperse, you get a kind of natural decay tail effect.

Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio 2025.

Sound of Light Through Icing Sugar Dust: Nut Drop Field Segue...

"PASSAGE AETERNUM" concludes the album. Guitars stretch across time like dying echoes, layered in repetitions so deep they reveal a solitary pulse beneath. The song builds and folds inward, showing overlapping versions of itself like shifting glass. A final resolve. The LZP coalesces. All roads lead here.

PASSAGE AETERNUM

Lakebeach featuring The Speak Low

This entire cue was done with only one synthesizer--an actual Yamaha CS80. All melodic and percussive sounds (even the kick) were done on a real CS. For the drum kit, the CS was sampled and loaded into Kontakt. It was multitracked to Digital Performer, and there are 47 stereo tracks in the mix. 
  I spent a year of on and off working on restoring this infernal machine, so I thought it was time to actually write something for it. Normally, I wouldn't want to do an entire cue with just one synth, because that one instrument's character often overwhelms the mix (sort of like doing a symphony for 48 clarinets and nothing else). The CS80 is an instrument with a very broad, expressive range. There is a vague futility in doing pure synth cues these days, especially with a monster like this machine, so the proper name for this piece of music is:

"Tilting At Windmills," Drew Neumann c2012, ASCAP

TiltingAtWindmills

Just a patch I created to illustrate the glitchy, 8-bit nature of the PPG Wave 2.3

Glitchy PPG Wave

An improvised montage of sounds recorded live from 1938 Hammond Novachord No.346 shortly after partial restoration to working order by vintage synth specialist D.A.Wilson in the UK in 2009.  It is very rare to hear a direct modern recording (non-acoustic through chorus/delay/reverb directly from the generator chassis)of one of these instruments in action as less than 50 remain in known working order.

The Novachord is generally accepted to be world's first commercial all electronic polyphonic instrument featuring dynamics control and specifically designed to emulate timbres beyond those of an organ such as strings, harpsichord and piano.

See more on this extremely rare beast at www.novachord.co.uk

Original Composition & Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio 2009.

1938 Novachord #346: Creepy Montage (87 Year Old Tube Polysynth!)

I've been recording electronic music on-and-off now for some thirty years. When I sit down to make music, I usually end up getting lost in making sound instead :) 

A lot of what I have here is made while testing instruments I've repaired.

Glitchy PPG Wave

Synthetic Dreamscapes