Saturday, May 19, 2007
Wurlitzer SideMan - 1950s Tube Drum Machine
YouTube via peahix.
"The Wurlitzer SideMan was arguably the world's first drum machine. It depends on whether you count the Chamberlin Rhythmate, which was introduced some years earlier, but featured tape loops instead of electronically generated drum sounds. In any event, the SideMan is definitely the first "beat box." I just picked this one up for $50. It's got all its guts exposed so you can see how it works."
15 comments:
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one was up on ebay recently.
ReplyDeletethey're pretty hissy
love that knob design
thats awesome and everything, cool kick thuds, and i really dig the mechanical wheel sequencer, but did i see a Mark Hamill poster?
ReplyDeletePretty Cool! Does it sync to Midi Clock?
ReplyDeleteLet's see Metasonix try that! Huh!
ReplyDeleteCool. The 2-wheel tempo adjustment is the same as the transmission on a Snapper riding lawn mower. Ha!
ReplyDeleteNow that mechanical sequencer is totally amazing.
ReplyDeleteBah! No disco preset ;)
ReplyDeleteDoes it have velocity sensitivity? The VST plug in does.
ReplyDeleteYou mean first commercially manufactured drum machine. Theremin's Rythmicon dates from 1931.
ReplyDeletethat mechanical sequencer is frickin awesome. oh wait, someone said that allready. well..they were frickin right!.
ReplyDeleteI think there's a preset called "Teen"
ReplyDeleteI have one of these. Mine has a really bad hum, and almost certainly needs to be recapped. I opened up the sound generating portion (which is all tube, ftw) and discovered it was wired entirely point-to-point, and is a rat's nest of resistors and caps.
ReplyDeleteSo it needs to be recapped, but isn't gonna be, not by me anyways. Great conversation piece, though. I paid $90 for mine.
-CR
I paid $600 for mine and that included retubing and new caps. I found you can glitch that sequencer wheel by using the wet finger technique. I'm going to add a bunch of switches and stuff and really bend the thing.
ReplyDeletethe wet finger and something that as far as you know is putting out 400V is really a smart idea. can i have it after your dead? also shouldn't it be more of a museum piece at this point. destroying it with bending isn't necessarily the best idea. not that i'm against bending, i do it i love it, but there can only be a hand full of those things left. i say resist the urge if you can.
ReplyDeleteafter recapping and retubing, how is the hiss/hum?
ReplyDelete