via this auction
"Up for bid here is a Synare Sensor drum trigger/synthesizer made in 1979 or thereabouts by the late, great Star Instruments Co. out of Stafford Springs, CT. It's a smaller version of the legendary Synare drum synthesizers that was designed to be screwed down onto the rim of a drum. Now it's more often used as a finger-controlled portable analog synthesizer. This thing has a ton of sonic possibilities in a very few ounces of box. And this particular box is in impeccable, sparkly, like-new condition, looks and plays great!
Physically, the front has knob controls for Tune, LFO Frequency, LFO Modulation, Decay, Oscillator Sweep, and Volume. There's also an internal trim pot you can turn to adjust the sensitivity of the unit, accessible either by opening up the case or by inserting a thin non-conductive screwdriver in the little hole between the MOD. and SWEEP knobs. On the back is a 1/4" output jack, a 1/4" footswitch in for silencing the output, and a 1/4" footswitch out for chaining the footswitch to multiple pedals. There's an easily-removable bracket on the bottom for screwing the Sensor down on the rim of your drum. Dimensions are 3" by 4" by 6.25", including the knobs and the attachment bracket, weighs about 11 ounces with the battery installed. Speaking of which, the unit runs on one 9-volt battery, included in this auction.
Sonically, I'll let a couple YouTube videos tell the story. The first one here is a fellow who's attached his Sensor to his drum rim, as Star Instruments originally intended, then run it through a looping pedal as Star Instruments originally never could have imagined:"
YouTube Uploaded by MrRitchieDrums on Jan 14, 2011
"Next one's a guy working it out on his Sensor with just his fingers for a full six minutes. (I think I even hear a bit of the Star Spangled Banner in there in the middle.) (And keep in mind he's just playing it through a simple tube amp. Imagine this going through a nice chain of effects pedals!)"
YouTube Uploaded by amukat on May 24, 2010
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