via Nick
"please find in a attachment a picture, which is part of a research I do for the 80's modular rack equipment of Tangerine Dream's Christopher Franke. The most elements about the rack's contents I found in an 1981 article of UK magazine 'Electronics & Music Maker'. Part of it, as you will see in the picture -upper corner, was a compination of two revolutinary drum modules (using EPROM samples, were custom made for Franke) and an sequencer module (the "rhythm robot") This drum amchine can be heard in "Exit" (1981) and mostly in "White eagle"(1982)albums. Would be helpful if readers and viewers could help intentifying the unknown parts of this thing, which is essentially the 1980 hardware equal of "Reason"!
Thank you very much - Nick"
Thank you! If you can help, feel free to post in the comments.
Update: Make sure to check out the comments. Some fascinating stuff coming in.
i'm certain most of the drums on White Eagle are Schmoelling's TR-808.
ReplyDeletethose units below the 960s are Projekt Elektronik assist units for the 960s. they are not sequencers on their own. the upper two rows are for pitch, the next two are for gate division value, and the switches on the bottom are for triggers.
they are visible in the TD movie you posted a couple days ago in Baumann's rig.
i think they were the first devices Projekt Elektronik built for TD, as they predate the TD-specified modules which made their full-force appearance on the Encore tour as Peter Baumann's rig.
also, this is a "duh" point for us synth geeks but some TD fans don't get it: all of the modules were normalised. all of the modules in the Baumann's big PE system were normalised. this is why there were never any patch cables seen in this early 80s rig or the big PE system.
some cynical TD fans like to point to the absence of cables to say "look! they were running off tape!", but there are enough boots from the period that you can tell through careful listening that this band actually performed all the music. it was very rehearsed, but they did actually perform it.
Hi!
ReplyDeleteBeing the owner of the unit located second from the top in the right column I can tell you it's far from eprom-based. He must've been referring to some other unit. My drum synthesizer was built by Franz Knüttel in 1976 as a one-off (I've spoken to Franz over the net). It's totally analogue and the sound is similar to a Roland TR-606 or even older beat units. Here's a recently taken picture with some close-ups available; http://www.electronic-obsession.se/studio/epu/epu.html
Regarding the tape issue this one has original DIN-5 contacts on the back for triggering. Regarding sound _OUT_ however you _NEED_ to use the front jacks. I've modified mine to accept +5 volts from a Kenton Pro-4, but it was originally intended to run on +15 volts to trig correctly.
Wonderfully cheesy sound and I plan to add a small sound file I'm preparing the the future...
For completists; bought on Ebay as faulty (cheap too if you ask me), changed one IC (which had messed up triggering on two channels) and now it kicks ass as never before.
Cymbals are great, toms and cowbell good, bass OK and the snare is a joke...
electronically yours, jesper
www.electronic-obsession.se
One more thing... I'm 99% positive the one above the EPU was also built by Franz Knüttel so if interested, try contacting him about it...
ReplyDeleteFranke already had those two drum modules (as well as that white-colored module in the same row) in his modular rack during the TD concert in East-Berlin back in January 1980, so they might have used them on Tangram and Thief as well.
ReplyDeleteBtw, does anyone know who built that custom "digital" sequencer which is visible in the leftmost row (beneath the Moog/PE/PPG modules)?
I wonder whether it's the "Compulab" digital sequencer or the PE polyrhythmic sequencer, both of which are listed in Franke's setup for the Poland concert (Dec 1983).
Micke
Here's what the back of those PE "voltage store" sequence controllers looks like. Ain't pretty!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.synthfool.com/franke_back.jpg
Thanks everyone for the helping coments, I belive that the drum machine in the 'White Eagle' isn't a TR-808, I don't belive that it had released early in the year 1980. I say this, because the drum machine that can be heard in 'Mojave Plan' or 'Midnight In Tula' from 'White Eagle' LP IS THE SAME that can be heard in the 1980 january East Berlin concert (side 2), in the bootlegs from the 1980 TD's tour, and 'Thief' soundtrack, and in every concert from 1980 untill 1983.
ReplyDeleteI'm mad about this sound -I've sampled the drum sounds from the start of 'Midnight In Tula' and I put them in reason's redrum for the ultimate TD drum machine experience - I know is not the same exactly, and I have to tell that I'M NOT PLANNING TO USE THE SAMPLES FOR ANY COMMERCIAL REASON! I did it just for my own pleasure!
Well, Jesper please tel me if the sounds from the EPU are the ones from the records! If this aren't the drum machine...well the mystery continues, and only Chris Franke could give the answer but maybe he don't remember or he's just not interested to talk about the past.
For the digital sequencers used from for 1983 he mentioned a company called PVH.Please check also the German 'Synrise' site for more info (in German also sadly)about the TD custom equipment build by companies like SYNTEC and EEH (Electronic Engineering Hoffmann)
Thanks to all!
Nick
O.K.,at last I found an old E&MM article from 1983 called "Chris Franke on sequencers" and there he talks about this custom drum machine and says that "it was 8-bit sampling drum machine that we use in 'Chorozon'."
ReplyDeleteWell it seems that it was the white one device, downright in my picture -I just was mislead by the 1981 E&MM atricle who said "12 analogue drum sounds" propably they refered about the EPU.
Thanks again,
Nick
Could the module with the white facia down on the right of Franke's modular rack be an early incarnation of the PPG 390 drum computer?
ReplyDeleteIf so, the two black drum modules in the upper right of the rack might be the "12 analogue drum sounds" referred to in that picture.
There is a possibility for it to be a PPG 390 prototype as I read in the original brochure (thanks to paul maddox) that it was uses digital samples. Also I send an e-mail to someone who owns a lot from the CF modular rack and maybe owns this rare (and at least for me legendary) drum computer.
ReplyDeleteI think that maybe he could tell some info about this -don't forget that there's the possibility that is the drum computer that SYNTEC (involved in the making of the EEH Banana polysynth) made for Franke and also they were planning a sequencer and a drum machine around 1984-85 but they never materialise them.
Thanks for contributing in this research-and sorry for the bad english!
Nick
Hi dudes... Here's a sound link of how the EPU can sound. In time the EPU takes it's way through an Accessit Great British Spring (100 cm spring reverb). I made this for the mailing list SAS to show what the two units sounded like and could accomplish. I thought it fit this discussion well too...
ReplyDeletehttp://electronic-obsession.se/studio/epu/epu+gbs.mp3
electronically yours, jesper
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ReplyDelete