MATRIXSYNTH: The Performance Music Systems Syntar II


Thursday, January 20, 2011

The Performance Music Systems Syntar II


Pics of the Syntar II prototype. This is a follow-up to my last post from my recent visit to George Mattson of Mattson Mini Modular.

The Syntar II never made it past the prototype stage. The first Syntar was the first synthesizer enclosed in a keytar case. Previously only remote controllers for external synths existed. See this post from 2006 for interesting background of The Syntar including Bob Moog. Also check out The Syntar on Carbon111. See the Syntar label for more.

Key features of the Syntar II:
"It had two full ADSR's. It was polyphonic in the sense that the entire keyboard was connected to two, parallel banks of top octave dividers that could be slightly detuned for a phase roll in addition to the two VCO's. The polyphonic board worked but, I couldn't squeeze it into the case. The VCO's had a hard sync. The filter had VC resonance and a mode switch above the filter that let you go continuously either from LP-BP-HP, LP-Band reject-HP or, LP-notch-HP. It also incorporated an internal digital delay."

Unfortunately the Syntar 2 never made it beyond the prototype stage and is beyond salvation. Fortunately, a part of it will live on. According to George Mattson: "I'm going to be pulling out all of the hand-made boards and turning them into modules. It was made with Curtis CEM chips.

Those modules will be built into cabinets that will hang on the side of the sequencer. I'll put 'em to work." See this post for reference. I have some exclusive pics of the refurbishment in progress and will post them in time.


















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