Rhythm Machines 2: The 1980s Drum Computers

This one is in via the comments of this post on the unreleased Anvil drum synthesizer. According to the comments, "The story of the Anvil Percussion Synth is in RHYTHM MACHINES 2: The 1980s Drum Computers - By Alex Graham. It's available on Amazon (the book, not the Anvil)." [on Amazon here]

According to the description on Amazon: "The 1980s saw the emergence of the Synthesizer, the promo video, and the programmable Drum Machine in the music industry. Rhythm Machines 2 - The 1980s Drum Computers - features over 100 programmable drum machines from the decade, instruments that are heard on countless records from the era and are still used in the present day. The all-colour book has the Classic 1980s drum machines from the likes of the USA (E-mu, Linn, Oberheim, MXR, Sequential Circuits), the Japanese industry (Korg, Roland, Sound Master and Yamaha), as well as the more obscure drum machine models made from all over the world."

Anvil Synthesizers "The Anvil" Digital Percussion Synthesizer Ad

This one is via @mu_zines

"The Anvil" was featured in this post from 2014. Muzines, an online repository of music magazines, posted an article on The Anvil here. The question though, is did any of these ever get produced? If you know, feel free to leave a comment. The advert to the left implies they were taking orders at some point they were selling off their IP. Interesting bit of synth history. One of those mystery synths no one knows what happened to...

Update: note the address in the print is 29 Chowmley Gardens, Aldred Road, London NW6. Someone mentioned it could be Cholmley Gardens, pictured. A search on Chowmley gets redirected to Cholmley, so this is likely. Interesting to see where it could have all happened. I used to walk by Serge's shop in Hollywood, none the wiser, when I was a kid. I do remember the wig shop. :)

Update2: interesting side note from Rob Walker: "Reading the in depth article linked to, one of the designers was Roy Gwinn who is known for his Guitar Effects pedal design which Chris Carter adapted into the Gristleizer. I sold Roy a Doepfer Euro case a couple of years back, I’ve asked if he can shed any light."

Update3: via the comments below: "The story of the Anvil Percussion Synth is in RHYTHM MACHINES 2: The 1980s Drum Computers - By Alex Graham. It's available on Amazon (the book, not the Anvil)." [on Amazon here]

Update4: From Roy Gwinn: 'No, the Anvil was never finished. I underestimated the time to do the software, and the hardware was a bit iffy when it got hot. All fixable, but we ran out of money.'

Anvil Synthesizers "The Anvil" Digital Percussion Synthesizer Circa 1985

1985 E&MM article scan in via noyzelab. You can find additional scans of Electronics & Music Maker at noyzelab's site here.

"You probably don’t need me to tell you that it takes a good deal of nerve to enter into the commercial arena of hi-tech musical instruments, especially if you’re an unknown name and attempting R&D on a shoestring budget. Yet that’s exactly what a new British company, Anvil Synthesisers, have tried to achieve with their advanced digital drum machine, the Anvil."

Note this is the first Anvil post on MATRIXSYNTH.

Side note: I was curious what happened to Electronics & Music Maker and did a lookup on Wikipedia. There isn't an article on the magazine however it was mentioned in a number of other articles including one on Mark Jenkins who has been featured here on MATRIXSYNTH a few times. Mark was the Music Editor for the magazine.

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