Buggles "Video Killed The Radio Star" SELIDOR iNCONSEQUENTIAL CIRCUITS Modular Synthesizer System

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Update: Original video was pulled so the above will do. It comes in at 3:02.

Uploaded on May 8, 2011 antonio roberto·75 videos
It comes in at 2:51. Tons of other synth spotting in there as well.

via this auction

SELIDOR "Inconsequential Circuits" Modular Synthesizer

"This listing is for a Selidor 'Inconsequential Circuits' modular synthesizer system.

We are selling it on behalf of a professional composer who got it as a trade a long time ago and never used it. It has been kept in pretty rough storage and shows lots of deterioration.

This item is a One-of-kind system built as a pioneering prototype back in the very early eighties by UK engineer Roy Gwinn.

This item was a programmer for a huge Moog modular system as used and owned by Hans Zimmer and featured in the very first video on MTV, the Buggles "Video Killed the Radio Star"!

In Roys words:

'I can confirm that the equipment you see is from Hans Zimmer.

The box in the front is an extender for a Sequential Circuits Prophet 5. It is to run a Roland Microcomposer MC-8 into the Prophet. It is of no use without the modded Prophet it goes with. We called that box "Inconsequential Circuits". This is what you had to do in the days before MIDI. It was used on dozens of major tracks back in the early eighties.

It's not a standalone synthesiser; it's a programmer which saves and recalls knob positions and patching. It was pioneering work, but there isn't much use today for a system run on a single 8-bit Z80 at 2MHz, with a mere sixteen program stores.

I do think it's worth documenting and preserving for posterity, and I would be prepared to help (a bit) in that regard. I have extensive technical documentation in my archive. I could also put it in the context of what we were trying to do, where we succeeded, and where we failed.

There was only ever the one of these. It was very experimental and prototype.' -Roy Gwinn

We are selling it on behalf of a professional composer who got it as a trade a long time ago and never used it. It has been kept in pretty rough storage and shows lots of deterioration.

ACCESSORIES - Comes as pictured. This unit consists of FOUR large steel frame modular units and single desktop box.

PHYSICAL CONDITION - Poor. There are scratches, scuffs & marks that cannot be removed. The synthesizers show signs of heavy age & wear. There are several modules that appear to be missing. There is a considerable amount of oxidation.

WORKING CONDITION - Not working, obviously. Would be great museum piece worth restoring as a historical record of a pioneering piece of gear prior to MIDI and of course as part of the first video on MTV. Roy has offered the original circuit diagrams to help facilitate a restoration..."

via El Estereo on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge