It was in a medieval setting and I was engaged in battle. I threw my sword down after beheading my opponent, irritated with the repetitive, cyclic slaughter, and went to join my friends who were lounging by a dried-up stream bed. We all wore pure white robes over our black and bloodied leathers and armor. Sitting down, I looked across to the other bank and saw my sister kneeling by the empty river with an empty silver and gold chalice in her hand. As she looked at me, I saw she had gone utterly insane. She laughed, asking if it was time yet; If the time had finally come when we could cheat eternity and rise beyond. She raised a handful of snow from the bank and dropped it in the chalice (for the wine was all gone), then brought the chalice to her laughing lips to drink from it. She drank deeply, then lowered the cup again. Blood was running down her chin and her mouth was ringed in crimson as she screamed laughter, and the snow in the chalice was swiftly devoured in a rising pool of blood.

Then I thought and asked aloud: “But what about our clothes? Once we go beyond eternity, how will we get out the wine stains?” I looked to my left shoulder and saw purple stains on my white robe, then thought, “We should have thought of this sooner. There’s always one more fucking thing, isn’t there?” Then I woke up.

Andrew Hill Walker, Outtake, 6/26/10 by KostaStratigos

Septic Underground – Dirty by Septic Underground
Thanks Septic Underground for letting us share this one!

We’ve been pretty busy lately; mostly with re-structuring the business and a lot of work on the website, but also with two new eurorack modules: V’Amp and POWER.

The V’Amp (8 h.p., US$125.00) is a combination voltage-controlled amplifier (VCA) and ring modulator in one device, with the ability to smoothly change from VCA, to ring mod, then to inverting VCA, with one knob.
V’Amp page: http://www.flightofharmony.com/product-lines/vamp/
V’Amp Barebones Pack (VBP): US$70.00. PCB dimensions: 78mm x 39mm/3” x 1.5”

POWER (US$85.00) is a ±12V 1A power supply in a 10hp eurorack format, is 40mm deep, and is intended mainly for shallow or portable systems, but works just fine for permanent setups.  The POWER module includes a 12VAC output wall adapter – keeping the transformer outside of the case helps to keep down hum and magnetically coupled noise – but can be purchased without the adapter for US$75.00. A ±15V 1A option will also be available upon request.

POWER Barebones Pack (PWBP): US$55.00, US$45.00 without adapter The POWER Barebones Pack was designed for easy installation into any project: the AC input, power switch, and LEDs can all be remotely located, and all components and headers are on one side. PCB dimensions: 104mm x 89mm/4.10” x 1.93”
POWER page: http://www.flightofharmony.com/product-lines/power/
POWER images: http://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19710&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

And it is also fundraising time: Now accepting orders for pre-release V’Amp and POWER modules. The delivery time is 1-3 weeks. In this case, “pre-release” means I just haven’t had time to work on the manuals or packaging yet. Manuals will be available for download from the respective product page once they are completed.

As for the website, Sonja has been doing a lot of work making it more useful and we now have PayPal buttons for in-stock products. There are more changes to come – as soon as we find a good back-end structure that works well – including forums, embedded Soundcloud clips, and other goodies.

We are now accepting orders directly, both U.S.A. and International.

Oh yeah: Stickers. You keep asking for ‘em, so we’re looking into getting some made. If you have an idea for an f(h) sticker that just HAS to be done, let us know!

Though the new site will have some e-commerce features, we’re also adding a new forum as well as making it easier for our customers to leave comments and reviews. We also plan to implement a SoundCloud drop box so that you can share your creations with us and other Flight of Harmony fans.

I LOVE the fact that I even managed to get this Plague Bearer + V’Amp team to do a little squeaking.

Check out more great stuff demo’d at the Pacific Northwest 2010 Synth Meet over at MATRIXSYNTH (Link).

Check out Matrixsynth’s PNW 2010 Posts (here) to see more great posts and videos from the event. Including hopefully very soon the session by Computer Controlled which includes some great demos of the V’Amp and the Sound of Shadows.