via this auction
"Kurzweil K150 Fourier Synth Rack from 1986. If you are not familiar with the K150, it was Kurzweil’s only module to use additive synthesis, much like the Sequential Circuits VS [the Prophet VS was not additive - see Robbie's notes in the comments]. It comes loaded with 69 presets sounds in memory so you won’t have to start from scratch. It also comes with the FS-SMP Fourier Synthesis modeling program written by Hal Chamberlin."
Update via Richard Lainhart: "i used to own a K150, back in the 80s. It was a wonderful-sounding instrument, but I was never able to really program my own sounds because the modeling program mentioned in the description runs only on an Apple IIe, which was already obsolete in the mid-80s. I sorta got it to work in a IIe emulator running on my Mac Plus, but the modeling app was crippled running in the emulator, and too limited for real work. The 150 had many excellent preset sounds, and featured a number of alternate tuning tables.I believe Wendy Carlos also used one of these, and I'd heard she got a IIe specifically to run the app. She also, if I recall correctly, designed some of those alternate tunings.
For those interested, several of the tracks on my second, unreleased Periodic Music album called "Walking Slowly Backwards" feature the FS150, in particular, a piece called "The Naga" in which the lead voice is the 150 controlled with a Lync LN-4, using (I think) one of Carlos' alternate tunings.
You can listen to those tracks here on my site:
http://www.otownmedia.com/he/walkingslowlybackwards.htm"
The Prophet VS did not use additive synthesis.
ReplyDeletePeople often describe it as a wavetable or wave-sequencing synth, too. It was neither. It simply layered digital waveforms, and allowed dynamic (i.e. vector) control of their mix. The fact that up to four waveforms could be layered does not make it additive, in the same way that the Minimoog and the Fantom are not additive simply because they can layer waveforms.
i used to own a K150, back in the 80s. It was a wonderful-sounding instrument, but I was never able to really program my own sounds because the modeling program mentioned in the description runs only on an Apple IIe, which was already obsolete in the mid-80s. I sorta got it to work in a IIe emulator running on my Mac Plus, but the modeling app was crippled running in the emulator, and too limited for real work. The 150 had many excellent preset sounds, and featured a number of alternate tuning tables.
ReplyDeleteI believe Wendy Carlos also used one of these, and I'd heard she got a IIe specifically to run the app. She also, if I recall correctly, designed some of those alternate tunings.
For those interested, several of the tracks on my second, unreleased Periodic Music album called "Walking Slowly Backwards" feature the FS150, in particular, a piece called "The Naga" in which the lead voice is the 150 controlled with a Lync LN-4, using (I think) one of Carlos' alternate tunings.
You can listen to those tracks here on my site:
http://www.otownmedia.com/he/walkingslowlybackwards.htm
Wendy Carlos Switched-On Bach 2000 lists Kurzweil FS 150 synth.
ReplyDeleteI have two 150"s and have been using both for about 10 years. I originally bought the first one in 87/88. then got one given to me when I bought the midiboard from this chap who was selling it. The smp moding program works best on the apple GS which it makes use of the mouse for editing. I'm in the middle of writing a patch editor using Ctrir and hoping to get it working by next year. I have two of them to produce stereo patches. the modulation controls are among the most complex that I have seen and really starts to shine when you play with a polyaftertouch modulation keyboard (midiboard and the ensoniq line has that option) their e-pno patch just cuts through the mix once you start modulating the delay and pitch of every individual note you play.
ReplyDeletethe midiboard came out at the same time as the FS150 and were more or less designed to be together. unfortunately the midiboard spits out a huge amounts of controller data, and will start hitting the bandwidth. ensoniq has algorithms that filter out much of the controller data thats not needed.
Hal Chamberline, who basically designed most of the 150 (I had talked to him extensively about the 150) had also designed the midiboard. still the best action for a controller. its hard to beat. I have two of those as well. The k150 has it's issues. it only does 9Khz - they (Kurzweil) found that there was not much harmonics above that on most pianos. and for the most part when I had it in the studio, most never noticed, and none of them thought it was a synthesizer but instead thought it was a really good sample. only until recently that the physical modeling pianos have eclipse the 150 . it's hard to emulate the sympathetic vibrations of open strings (dampener off) on the piano with anything but physical modeling methods. Hal had told me that one could mod the 150 up by installing a faster 68000 in the unit (it runs at 10 mhz) with a 16mhz unit. one needs to readdress the envelope timings and throw some heat sinks on some of the chips on the sound engine board. what also lacks on the machine is individual phase envelops on the oscillators (240 of them). they reasoned that what they had was more than enough (16 note polyphony) to keep the 68000 humming along.
BTW the pictures of the rack have been modified in that whom ever had the unit cut off an inch from the top and bottom of the rack - it had extended fins on the side walls to aid in cooling (which it didn't really need) but it takes up two rack units in height. You can download pretty well everything about the unit from kurzwells website. its a very interesting read
Interesting. Thanks for sharing this, and keep us posted on the editor! You can reply here or send an email to matrixsynth@gmail.com (email icon under Contact: towards the bottom right column of the site).
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