BME-700 // FATTEST SYNTH ON EARTH

Published on Feb 6, 2015

"as far what I have heard and played I'd consider this the fattest synth on earth. please bear in mind that the synth was directly plugged into the sound card; no tubes, sutarizers, distorsion, compressors limiters or other stuff is involved or applied later to the track of the one-VCO-machine!!!
the keyboard is somehow awkward though ;-)"

BME-700 synth demo. Note the touch keyboard.

BME-700 // MAX PHATT // sequenced // Miniature 23

Published on Feb 7, 2015 LESINDES

"the BME-700 from its PHATT side -- triggered with a Nord G2 step sequencer. Kenton Midi translated it into CV/gate.
to satisfy the urge for phatt material asap I used looped archive footage. And the publishing miniature 22 (another Minitaur clip) has been postponed for the moment."

Electric Avenue (BBC 1988) SpecDrum (Micro Live follow-on) [ZX Spectrum 'SpecDrum']

Uploaded on Apr 25, 2011 atariman1988

"A programme from the 1988 BBC series 'Electric Avenue'. This series was a late-night follow on from Micro Live broadcast in 1988/89 and presented by Fred Harris. This episode documents the two guys behind the old ZX Spectrum 'SpecDrum' add-on and their quest to produce a stand-alone drum machine for the mass music market in co-operation with Cheetah Marketing. Full of nostalgia! This programme is owned by the BBC."

This one in via ni.ce.ly (@PlaysNicely). There has only been two prior SpecDrum posts on MATRIXSYNTH, a demo video from March of 2013, and post from Music Thing back in 2005 with a link to some samples from Analog Industries.

COLUMBIA CRB-82 Rhythm Box Vintage Drum Machine SN 1091

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

This is the first CRB-82 post on the site. There are only two previous Columbia posts. There was another model (CRB-101) Rhythm Box posted here. Note that one had a serial number badge in English while this one appears to be in Japanese.  The other post was for an odd COLUMBIA LALALA TURNTABLE MINI-ORGAN.

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Rare Vintage Wavemakers Modular Systems kb 658 Digital Sequencer

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

"Vintage Wavemakers Modular Systems kb 658 digital sequencer

This unit was tested with a condor power supply and found to be in working condition, but it's currently in need of a wood case, power supply, and it could use a new 9 volt battery connector to store sequences. (1 battery post is currently broken off)

Tested with my eurorack system and Arp 2600. And it seems to work fine.

But, please:
Bid accordingly due to age, rarity and please keep in mind it could need repair or maintenance to be 100%

from the estate of Dr. Terry Kincaid, designer of Wavemakers modular systems here in seattle.

John Loffink of wavemakers-synth.com should be able to help with any repairs needed. this is a rare chance to own a piece of music industry history."

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NAMM 2015: Video - Yamaha Vintage Synth Museum Tour with Demos

Published on Jan 26, 2015 sonicstate

"NAMM 2015: Video - Yamaha Vintage Synth Museum Tour SY2 through CS80 to VL3"

Some amazing bits of synth trivia and history in this one. Make the time to watch it through if you can. There are demos of the rare GX1 & VL7. Less than a dozen were made and only three VL7s left the company and were sold.

See this post for some history on FM synthesis from Dave Bristow, the man who programmed the presets of the GS1, Yamaha's first FM synthesizer.

Rare Vintage Baldwin Syntha Sound Early 70"s with Original Stand

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

Here's one you don't see often. Note the built in speakers.

"This is a very basic early synth but It all works including the built in speakers.

As previuosly entioned it has a slider know missing and the attached fader switch is shorter which means it must have broken off at some point but still functions

It comes with the original stand but to be honest I don't know how I will be able to ship with the stand unless I can take it apart."

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HARMS MAC16 MIDI Analog Converter

Here's one from obscure synth history. I found this on Florian Anwander's website when updating this post.  This is the first post on MATRIXSYNTH to ever feature the HARMS brand.

"The Harms MAC16 is a rare MIDI-to-CV/Gate converter which was made by a small one man company Harms in Hamburg Germany in the late nineties. The original price was around 1250 Deutschmarks (about 600 Euro). It provides 16 channels, which can be configured for any kind of MIDI to analog conversion. Basically there are five modes:

VCO (CV) - which converts note data, pitchbend into either Oct/V or Hz/V Voltage. Portamento can be added. There is also the possibility of microtuning, octave spread (for mistuned or non standard synths!), pitch offset and keyboardsplit zones

VCF - converts basically the note info into a voltage; then a SoftEnvelope, a SoftLFO, and one MIDI controller (modwheel or aftertouch) can be added; the amount of the envelope and/or the controller can be controlled by the velocity of the corresponding note. The converter channel can get its information either from a MIDI channel in general (using the last note) or can be assigned to a dedicated VCO-channel for polyphonic setups (* see below); keyboard splitzones are possible

VCA - same as VCF, only with other name

Aux - same as VCF, only with other name

Lite - similar as VCF, but no assignment to a dedicated VCO

Gate/Trigger - creates a gate (positive or inverted) from a note on event. Again it can use either the last note information from all notes of one MIDI-Channel or it can be assigned to a dedicated VCO-channel for polyphonic setups (* see below); splitzones are possible too of course
DIN-Sync out from MIDI-Clock"

See Florian Anwander's page on the Harms MAC16 for a pdf of the manual and more.

Baumann BME-700 - Ultra Rare German Synthesizer from 1976

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

This is the only BMD-700 I have ever seen for sale. There was a general post on the BME-700 back in 2006 here, and there was actually a software emulation of the BME-700 posted here. There is only one other BME post which features the Rattlesnake here.

This is as rare as it gets.

1975: The first speech synthesizer IC was born. [To Return in 2015 with Plogue's Chipspeech Project]

Published on Jan 12, 2015 Plogue Art et Technologie, Inc.

"In 1974/1975 Dr. Forrest S. Mozer licensed his unique voice compression technology to Telesensory Systems, Inc. (TSI).

Encoding words was a very complex and time consuming process. Something only he and a few of his colleagues could do. Most of the TSI/Digitalker-using consumer devices of the late 70's and early 80's used Dr Mozer's own voice, compressed by a factor of 100.

This is the voice you are hearing in the video.

Last year we've obtained his authorization to use his voice for our 'chipspeech' project.
Thank you infinitely Dr. Mozer!

All other materials used property of their respective owners.

Berzerk Arcade filmed on location at http://www.classicarcademuseum.org KEEP THE ARCADE ALIVE, please visit them!

Character art: https://twitter.com/pixoshiru

End 'ATTACK humanoid 2015' Track produced by https://www.youtube.com/user/Wasreich

chipspeech (c) 2015 Plogue Art et Technologie, Inc."

Vintage 1968-1980s Moog Modular Synthesizer - 4 Suit Case System w/ 2 Keyboards For Sale

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.
Published on Jan 8, 2015 progjazzfusion

Update: video added.

via this auction

Some of the serial numbers on the back lead up to 1982.

"Used but in unbelievable condition for it's age!

Please watch the test video. We do know that the keyboards need to have the bushings replaced. They electrically work fine but the action is not perfect and the keys sit at different heights. There is one burned out pilot light and 3 system bulbs not lighting. There are 10 missing screws that hold the modules in the rack. One of the 960 Sequential Controllers is only working through the manual step process and not auto repeating through the 8 steps. All the lights do work on it and I've been told it is an easy fix. One missing case handle, Tolex covering is 97% in perfect shape with just a few very small rip marks, one cut and a few dents.

Vintage Modular Moog Synthesizer Suit Case System From 1968-1970s [82] with 2 Keyboards

This MOOG system come to you from the Western Michigan University Music School where it has been in their lab since the late '60s. There is a manual booklet full of blue prints and schematics for the modules that comes with the purchase and the log-in books from the university.

The system has been tested and is 95% functioning perfectly. Please watch the testing video. When played the sounds of the past all come to life! That big fat low pitched analog sound produced by the oscillators is gut shaking to experience. Also the higher flute and brass sounding tones just sing out. The sequencer can generate another layer of melodies that you can then play over. We will ship this freight and cover the cost to ship it to you.

MOOG Test Video

Module Specifications
Eight - 902 Voltage Controlled Amplifiers
Eight - 911 Envelope Generators
Six - 921B Oscillators
Two - 921 Voltage Controlled Oscillators
Two - 921A Oscillator Drivers
Two - 960 Sequential Controllers
Two - 961CP Interfaces
Two - 962 Sequential Switches
Two - Patch / Attenuator & Mixer Modules
One - CP8A On/Off Power & Fuse Module
One - Filter And Attenuator Module
One - Patch Panel with Multiple Patch Inputs & 6 Slide Switches
One - Pitch & S-Trig On/Off Fuse Module
One - 903-A Random Signal Generator
One - 912 Envelope Follower
One - 907 Fixed Filter Bank
One - 905 Reverb Unit
One - 904A Voltage Controlled Low Pass Filter
One - 904-B Voltage Controlled High Pass Filter
One - 904C Filter Coupler
One - 951 Keyboard Controller
One - 950 Keyboard Controller
Four - Rail System Suit Cases

Check out our other auction listings!"

Some of the serial numbers from the images of the back below:

Model 902 SN 3435
Model 902 SN 3436
Model 902 SN 3438
Model 902 SN 3437
Model 911 SN 3441
Model 911 SN 3440
Model 921B SN 10157
Model 921B SN 10161
Model 99-921A SN 10143
Model 911 SN 5605
Model 911 SN 5600

Note the Western Michigan University stickers 84343 & 88843 on one case. There also appears to be some custom work.

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Pics of The ARP Centaur VI Polyphonic Guitar Synthesizer System

This is a follow-up to this post from earlier today. See that post for another possible one-off ARP guitar synth (not the Avatar).

Vincent found the following two pics of the ARP Centaur VI.

Left via the VSE forums: "I think there was 2 ARP Centaur VI built. It would have cost about $20K had it hit the markets, but it was hopelessly unreliable. This is the only photo I know of: a former employee of there custom engineering dept. Has anyone seen a better picture?"

Below via gearslutz:

"Just scanned this pic out of an old guitar book my brother had - the prototype ARP Centaur VI polyphonic guitar system. Two prototypes were built but the second one is unaccounted for.

The Centaur never went to production for two reasons. One, the technology of the mid 70s wasn't advanced enough to realize a reliable pitch-to-voltage converter and they couldn't get consistent tracking from a guitar. Two, they used a brute force approach for a polyphonic system - they crammed 115 circuit boards into the thing. Very expensive approach and it ultimately proved to be unreliable - Al Pearlman did a failure analysis and concluded that the mean time between failures was two hours. It was impossible to keep it running.

The project was dropped in favor of a simpler monophonic guitar synth - the Avatar was simply an Odyssey with the keyboard system replaced by a monophonic pitch-to-voltage converter. But they still couldn't perfect the converter, the tracking from a guitar was extremely glitchy, and you had to use a extremely clean picking technique. Between the Centaur and the pitch-to-voltage converter problems, ARP sank a HUGE amount of R&D revenue into these systems.

The not-ready-for-prime-time Avatar was rushed into production. Guitar players balked at the $3000 price tag and unreliable tracking. Avatars sold poorly, dealers blew out unsold units at bargain prices, and Avatars were discontinued after one year of production. ARP never recovered the R&D investment, they dug a very deep hole in which they only recovered $1m sales revenue from a $7m R&D investment."

Two additional pics sent my way via Jimmersound. These come from Mark Vail's Vintage Synthesizers, page 53.

First Look: GForce Software Oddity2 Synthesizer [The Elusive ARP Centaur & ARP Poly Guitar Synth]

Published on Dec 16, 2014 sonicstate

"To coincide with the launch of the Oddty2 - the latest version of GForce Software's Arp Odyssey emulation, Dave Spiers came down to the studio to show us what it can do"

At 5:30 he mentions the ARP Centaur which was to be a polyphonic ARP Odyssey. He believes there are two in existence with one owned by Pete Townshend of The Who. He's never seen one before. I did a quick search and found only three posts mentioning the Centaur:

1977 ARP Brochure - no pic, and note it's referenced as the Centaur VI.

Modded ARP Odyssey - claims it has "the Centaur filter"

The Top 100 Synths According to the A-Z of Analog Synths - the ARP Centaur at #46.

If anyone knows where to find a pic of the Centaur, let us know. I did a quick image search and found this Poly ARP Guitar Synth on synthforum.nl (Googlish here). According to the thread this the only one out there.

Update: you'll find two pics and some info on the Centaur here.

Roland CR-78 CompuRhythm with Rare Future Retro Sync Box (One of Two Made)

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

According to the listing only two of the FR Sync Boxes were made. I'll see if I can get confirmation on this from Future Retro.

via the listing:
"The programmer/sync box was custom made by Future Retro (only two made). Works similar to the original WS-1 that Roland released with this.

* Sync the CR-78 to any other Din Sync device
* Select the playback sync rate to: (1) normal speed, (2) double speed, (3) half speed
* Use external positive polarity Gate or Trigger signals to programm patterns into the CR-78 user memory.
* Manually tap a beat into the CR-78 user memory using the momentary switch on the front panel.
* Front panel blue LED lights to show when external gate or trigger signals are being received.
* Sync box is powered using a 9v battery (included)
* Instructions for using the sync box will be included with the item.

By syncing the playback of the CR-78 to your Din Sync master eg.TR-808/TR-606/Future Retro Revolution, you can then send the programmable trigger or gate signals out of the master into the programmer interface and on to the CR-78 for storing your own custom rhythms in the CR-78. When using a Din Sync master device which also has MIDI such as the Revolution, you can then sync your CR-78 to any other MIDI sequencers as well."

Update: I heard back from Future Retro. Not only are there only two in existence, this is the only one released to the public. The other is still with FR.

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Buchla Christmas by Warner Jepson

"SHINKOYO is very proud to release for the first time ever, a most auspicious recording, Warner Jepson's Buchla Christmas. I'll let Warner explain it in his own words...

San Francisco Bay Area: 1969

"I'd been playing Buchla music in various galleries for openings, as well as MOMA openings. They liked them enough, since the music gave a good time, was infectious and totally new to people. So MOMA asked me to provide music for their annual Christmas party for Children on a Saturday morning.

So I took off one evening for Mills College where the Buchla now was kept to take up my usual time time slot of 8pm. At the time use of the Tape/Buchla room was very loose; I could stay as long as I liked after the building closed at 10; sometimes I would be there almost till dawn. There were times, however, when I'd go back home at midnight dejected at having found nothing exciting.

This night I was already across the Bay Bridge when I realized I hadn't brought any Christmas music, no carols! I was going to have to remember what I could. Turned out I knew enough of them to play with.

The Buchla doesn't' have a keyboard like a piano (with twelve notes to the octave), just slits in a metal plate with two tuning knobs to give each slit a pitch or a pair of pitches. I didn't have to reconstruct all twelve notes of a scale, just the notes needed in the song. Tuning what few notes I needed for each tone was fairly easy. But one carol sounded like church bells because it one of the notes sounded out of tune as some church bells because their tuning doesn't fit with a tempered tuning so goes out of tune with the other notes. At first I thought this a problem, but since it did resemble church bells it decided it added to the charm. Other sounds reminded me of lighter caroling bells as I imagined in old Germany or the Alps, at least, as I remembered hearing them.

The most pleasure came when I incorporated the sequencing module that gave a tune rhythm that it never had nor would have, since it came from a synthesizer with a different kind of creativity that a human wouldn't have. The unusual rhythm added a kick to the carol.

I didn't have enough carols to make a long enough session so I added here and there, especially at the end, some synthesizer music that I'd previously made on the Buchla that sounded shimmering and might evoke a starry sleigh filled night."

credits
released 15 December 2010
Composed, Arranged, and Recorded by Warner Jepson at Mills College Electronic Music Studios. December 1969, Oakland, California. Composed on the Buchla 100 Analog Modular Synthesizer. Recorded to Ampex PR-10 Tape Recorder.

Cover photograph by Warner Jepson. Design & Typography by Severiano Martinez.

www.shinkoyo.com"

Image of Warner Jepson below back in the day via Synthtopia.

TSI / Waldorf: Schloss Ahrenthal 2002 [Waldorf in 2002]

Published on Nov 20, 2014 Sven Steglich

"Die TSI / Waldorf Zentrale auf Schloss Ahrenthal im Juli 2002

Siehe auch: www.synthmuseum.de und www.facebook.com/synthmuseum.de"

Googlish: "The TSI / Waldorf Center at Castle Ahrenthal in July 2002"

This one in via swissdoc.

"You see people like Holger Steinbrink, Wolfram Franke, Lu Wangard, Stefan Stenzel, Frank Orlich, Sven Steglich or Jörg Hüttner."

Access in there as well as they were both distributed TSI at the time. You'll find some great history on Waldorf on Wikipedia including the names mentioned above, and of course the Waldorf FAQ.

Chase Bit 99

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via this auction

Crumar Bit 99 rebadged as a Chase 99.  I don't believe I've ever seen or featured one of these on MATRIXSYNTH before. There's one reference in this synth interview with 808 state's Graham Massey, and another post featuring vintage Chase catalogs here, and that's it.  Interesting bit of synth history you do not see often.

The First YAMAHA CS15 Monophonic Synthesizer - SN 1001 For Sale?

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

"YAMAHA CS15 monophonic synthesizer SERIAL #1001 the 1st made CS15

Looks 9.00 of 10
Has some minor scratches but looks better than average.

Works 10 of 10
Everything works as it should do, overhauled before shipping to have long life and to keep original sounds.
Change all electrolytic capacitors and voltage regulators, some short life OpAmps, tramsistors and logis ICs with new ones,
and keys knobs, sliders, switches and jacks cleaning before shipping.
Voltage adjusted on buyer's request, to 100/120/220 or 240, need no extra cost.

Free shipping to anywhere on the earth as far as courier reaches..."

I did a quick search for "Yamaha CS15 SN" on the site to see what other serial numbers came up. They are all four digits and none were earlier than 1001. Unless there's a 1000 out there or they started with 0001, this is likely the first production CS15. Curious if it went to anyone special when it was first release or if it was simply shipped out with the first units.

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The Crumar Compac Synth

via Monofonen where you'll find additional details. I don't believe I've seen one of these before.

"The architecture of the Compac is a bit unusual in that it has two separate voices, playable simultaneously or split in two zones on the keyboard. Each has it's own oscillator, filter and AR envelope. Separate outputs are also available."

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Vintage Synthesizer 3-83 UNISONO from Czechoslovakia

Published on Jun 5, 2012 Najvrtson

"This is a short video showing the sound possibilities of Synthesizer 3-83 Unisono - a very rare monophonic synthesizer made in Czechoslovakia in first half of eighties. The synthesizer has an unusual design with two VCO's, VCF one and one VCA with limited edit possibilities. The audio track was recorded by Jiri Krivka and given to me by Moimir Papalescu, the photo of the instrument was taken by Ivan Hirländer. My big thank to them!
Please, read more on http://czechkeys.blog.cz/0710/3-83-un... (using some translator - sorry, I'm too lazy to translate it :o))."

Prototype 1974 Vintage 1974 RMI KC-1 Keyboard Computer SN 509 with Punch-Out Card Reader

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

"Wow! This is the 1974 RMI Rocky Mount Instruments KC-1 Keyboard Computer! It has just arrived fresh from a Colorado Estate! I am still going through this incredibly rare synthesizer! This is the world's first portable digital synthesizer!! Less than 100 were ever made! That is the best guess as to how many were actually ever produced! The Keyboard Computer II, or KCII, followed this original KC1 version. That KCII model was offered from 1975 to 1982..

First users included Jean Michael Jarre and Garth Hudson, Uses the North American Rockwell MOS chip set that came right out of the NASA Space program from the 1960s!

10-voice polyphonic digital wavetable synthesizer with IBM punch card reader. I have about 50 IBM punch cards included in sale

This keyboard Pre-dates all PPG and Prophet digital synthesizers!

Low serial number- all wood enclosure-not the plastic top KC1 version- the selector buttons light up when selected as only the very first versions did!

61 key polyphonic-3 Audio channel output- 3rd channel was for white noise only

$4,495 in 1974"

Related posts: The PPG 1003 "Sonic Carrier" - World's First Programmable Synth? - The First Synth to.... Also see the RMI channel.

Update via 909955847736 in the comments: "This is actually the prototype which was used on the demo record, ads, and promotional tours. It's very possible that only one of these was ever made. It's the only one with a wood body and illuminated switches. The production model Keyboard Computer (KCI) has a molded plastic body with non-lighted push-in/push-out buttons. And it also had a few differences in the voices and functions compared to this instrument. They are both portable versions of the Allen Theater Organ. The later KCII was not directly associated with any specific Allen organ model. None of the KC models qualify as a synthesizer any more than any other electronic organ did in 1974."

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