maxim mds-1000 (no talking hq audio)

video upload by #onedrumcomputeraday

"quick demo of this rare simmons sds v clone from japanese company maxim. built in the 80s each card features a SSM2044 filter and some other nice components."

Maxim MDS-500 (Japanese Simmons SDS8 clone) SN 009396

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Kory Westerhold

"Brief video for a Reverb listing showing the state of this very rare old Japanese Simmons SDS8 clone, the Maxim MDS-500. It’s obviously seen better days as I’ve had it in storage for quite some time, and is in need of a tune up/servicing. As you can hear, there is a hum/noise (ground?) coming from all the different outputs (1/4”, headphone and XLR) and some of the pots are scratchy as well—but as is, I suppose you could run it through a comb filter and filter out the noise and have a rad glitchy drum brain ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Oh, and the pan pots work but I’m an idiot and even though I had a few of the channels panned, I didn’t have L/R panned on my mixer, so everything is running through the center 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️"

via this auction

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Rare MAXIM MDS-500 5ch Analog Drum Synthesizer

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via this auction

The last one to be featured on the site was back in 2007.

"MAXIM MDS-500 SYNTHESIZER DRUMS is 5 channel Anolog drum Synth Module manufactured by MAXIM ELECTRONIC 1984 in Japan.

MAXIM was legendary small independent company making fine drum synth those days. the name MAXIM means "Devil Strange Death Nothing" by Japanese Kanji.

MAXIM MDS-500 was made very limited quantities those days by small company so i'ts very hard to find even in Japan these days!

MAXIM MDS-500's sound character is fat & warm analog synthesizer sound it has SSM2044 filter chip (used by many vintage analog synth) cool '80s electro drum sound!

MAXIM MDS-500 is 5 channel analog drum synth featuring STEREO EQUALIZER

MAXIM MDS-500 has 5 instruments channel (BASS DRUMS,SNARE DRUMS,HIGH TOM,LOW TOM,BASS TOM)
each channel has FACTORY sound (preset) and PLAYER sound (user editable)
player section (user editable) has 6 edit knob (NOISE,TONE,BEND,DECAY,BALANCE1,BALANCE2)
other knobs are TRIGGER,PANPOT,LEVEL and EFFECT ON/OFF selector,FACTORY/PLAYER selector
PAD INPUTS,CHANNEL OUTPUTS.

control section has 10 knob:
MIX LEVEL.LEFT LEVEL,RIGHT LEVEL,
EFFECTS LEVEL,EFFECTS PANPOT,(for outside effect)
LEFT EQ (LOW,HIGH),RIGHT EQ (LOW,HIGH)

HEADPHONE OUTPUT with Level knob,
POWER LED,FOOT SWITCH LED
POWER SWITCH,TOTAL OUTPUTS(MIX,LEFT,RIGHT)

back panel has EFFECT LOOP(SEND,RETURN),FOOT SWITCH(FACTORY1/PLAYER2),TRIGGER INPUTS.

MAXIM MDS-500 has no MIDI,you need trigger drum pad or drum machine with trigger output.
I checked it with trigger out from my TR-606 into MDS-500's PAD INPUT."

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Maxim MDS-002 Maximum Synth Drum Machine

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via this auction

Maxim MDS 1000 - Simmons SDS V clone from the 1987

Published on Feb 4, 2017 100 Things I Do

"The Maxim MDS 1000 is a 1:1 design clone of the classic Simmons SDS 5. How close a clone you may ask? Well, I was able to use SDS V schematics to repair the MSD1000!

The majority of the board is consumed with logic chips for the preset bank selection. Other than that its very basic where you have tone , noise and bend as you main generators, followed with a Decay envelope. As you can see I picked up this unit in very sorry but complete state (with some original Maxim SDS Copy drum pads).

Due to cheap production of the PCB it suffered from a lot of broken solder joints, and some horrible layout. Traces will break and lift almost no matter what you do when working on the PCB. The Main connector between the front panel and the PCB is a major point of pain and I ended up running point to point wires to stop this failing in future. I still have not fixed the logic on the Low tom and the Bass Tom needs a new SSM 2044 and Sensitivity potentiometer.

All in all if you can find one at a good price (and you have the ability to do some tweaking of the Filter and noise inside the unit) you have a source of true analog SDS V sounds at what should be much less cost than an original."

There have only been a handful of Maxim MDS 1000 posts on the site.

VGC Rare Vintage Maxim Max-ll Synthesizer Drum MDS-002

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via this auction

"Very similar to the Simmons SDSV (noise, pitch, bend, bal#1, & bal#2) and other synthesizer drums of the time"

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Maxim MDS-002 Vintage Drum Synthesizer SN 009944 with FS-4 Pedal

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via this auction

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1984 MAXIM MDS-1000 Geman Ad

via synthmuseum.de

Maxim Synthesizer Drums MDS-002

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via this auction

"This unit is very similar the Simmons SDSV (noise, pitch, bend, bal#1, & bal#2) and other synthesizer drums of the time. It does not come with any pads, but does include the original foot-pedal..."

MAXIM MDS-100 ANALOG DRUM SYNTHESIZER

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via this auction

"AMAZING MAXIM MDS-1000 ANALOG DRUM SYNTHESIZER
5 SYNTHS- BASS-SNARE-HIGH TOM- MID TOM - LOW TOM
EACH CHANNEL HAS CONTROLS FOR
- NOISE
- TONE
- BEND
- DECAY
- BALANCE FOR NOISE AND TONE
- BALANCE FOR CLICK AND DRUM

BASICALLY A CLONE OF THE SIMMONS SDSV BUT MUCH BETTER BUILD QUALITY
IN GOOD WORKING CONDITION
110V"

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MAXIM MDS-1000 ANALOG DRUM BRAIN

via this auction

"There are slides for the different effects on the front side, these include noise, tone, bend, decay, balance one and balance two. I did not test the loops effect or trigger input, there was no trigger device with this when i purchased it. There are adjuster screws for noise, tone, bend, decay, balance one and balance two that probably adjust output or line levels, There is one for left and right output. These are located on the front side of the unit..."

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Maxim MDS-002 Drum Synthesizer

via this auction

"Maxim Max IIII model MDS-002 drum (analog) Synthesizer machine... It is made it Japan and has several outputs and inputs as seen in the photos."

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Maxim MDS-1000 Analog Drum Brain - Simmons SDS V Clone

via this auction

via the seller:

"This is a mighty piece of engineering.
In a time when analog filter chips were plentiful, and XLR connectivity apparantly grew on trees, a company in Japan no-one has really heard of since (not the Maxim that made pedals) decided skimp on R&D and just Clone the leading competition with a product almost identical, but "unique" and "different"...

Each card has an SSM2044, some 3080s and a few other nice pieces. Some of the digital chips (patch switching for example) might be a bit flaky... There's no MIDI, the triggers work at different velocities. You could use all the outputs on the PTX8 I'm selling to drive this. It kind of works (I tried it once)."

inside a Maxim MDS-1000

Also see the seller's 24 Unit Rack.

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MAXIM MDS-100 ANALOG SYNTHESIZER DRUM MACHINE

via this auction

"100% Analog Drum Machine made in Japan. Built like a tank and highly flexible.
I am told it sounds like a Simmons SDSV (which are amazing) and a Roland TR 606.

Quote: 'Appears to have SSM2044 per channel, and lots of other nice things. Quite solid in design, all balanced, had a 9 pin Molex on the back so you can hook up all your triggers in one easy connector'
Quote: 'I have one of these in my collection. I would say it's most probably the best analog drum brain there is. Identical sounds and programming to a Simmons SDSV but with much better build quality and routing.'"

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Maxim MDS1000 - Simmons SDSV Clone

flickr set by Loscha
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"A Japanese clone of the Simmons SDSV. Build quality is pretty good, although they didn't use rust-proof metal on a few places (like the screws that hold the modules in), this is trivial. My unit has a dodgy power supply I haven't had time to re cap and re-regulate yet, so it doesn't work reliably. Sounds great when it works, though!"

Maxim Synthesizer Drums - MDS-500

via André Vézina

"Specifications: 5 trig in, 5 output, one for each sound, Bass drum, Snare drum ,High tom, Low tom, Bass tom. There's a white noise for each sound.

Control: Trigger, noise, tone, bend, decay, balance, pan and level.

The potientiometers seems to be a good quality. I trig it with the audio output of my hr-16b, and it works perfectly. "


As always, click the image for the full size shot.

Maxim MDS-1000

via Loscha.

"It appears to be a Simmons clone. No other images appear to be available online.

Appears to have SSM2044 per channel, and lots of other nice things. Quite solid in design, all balanced, had a 9 pin Molex on the back so you can hook up all your triggers in one easy connector, would have been convenient on the road."

More images:
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