This is the first one to be featured on the site. Just when you think you've seen it all, some never before piece of gear from synth history crops up. I capture them in the "New Old" label if you want to check some out. There are 101 posts over the last 13 years of running the site. Cool little bits of synth history.
"Very rare monophonic bass synthesizer keyboard ZENON EK200B made in Japan '70s
made as a student's marching band musical insturmnents.
looks very cool! mint-green panel with white wood side panel.
I'ts very hard to find even in Japan nowadays...
main panel has power,volume,sustain, tone selecter ( TUBA1,TUBA2,Electric BASS)
left side has internal speaker
back side has OUTPUT,Pitch,AC adaptor Inputs (for power & charge)
ZENON EK200B sound is very fat and warm analog Bass sound!"
Never seen one of these before. Small bit of synth history right there.
"Nice fully working Casio AS-110 Keyboard Amp - 30 Watts.
Went over this and cleaned it up. all is working, some minor pot scratchiness,seems to lessen with use.
This appears to have been a complement to the Casio CZ Series.
Has 2 front as well as rear line input, a 1/4 microphone input (higher gain) as well as a tremolo, and all the other usual front panel knobs"
This is the first D.S.M. 8t to be featured on the site.
"Vintage DSM8t British analog drum synthesizer module. Made in the 80"s Tested and functioning. This item is used and has scratches. Three of the rubber feet are missing."
This is the first MPC 32x4 to be featured on the site.
"Vintage MPC DSM 32X4 128 memory programmable drum synthesizer module. Made in the 80's. Tested and functioning. This is used , has some scratches and the rubber feet are missing."
"I thought this might be of interest, a local talented musician made this album, each track made in a day 'using sounds from a different piece of cheap or unfashionable musical equipment'. Amiga, Casios including SK-1!, BBC Micro, a duck caller, simple waveform generator and many more. Stream and purchase here also: https://stef-animal.bandcamp.com"
Note: Jaycar and Letron are new brands to the site. Never featured them before now. Enjoy.
1. Loading (Casio CA-100) 01:01
2. In the Pines (Casio SK-1) 03:29
3. Ducks (Cass Creek Electronic Waterfowl Call) 01:28
4. You Have Powers! (Casiotone MT-800) 02:40
5. Cave Story (Acorn BBC Micro) 00:52
6. The TGV (Roland U-220) 02:03
7. The Ghost (Jaycar Waveform Generator) 00:31
8. Adventure (Yamaha VSS-200) 02:01
9. The Golden Condor (Commodore Amiga 500) 02:17
10. Dragon Swirl (Ploytec PL2) 02:17
11. Owl (Roland MT-32) 02:12
12. The City (Yamaha TX81Z) 01:31
13. Running Music (Atari 2600) 00:46
14. End Credits (Letron MC-38) 02:18
15. Our Spanish Dream (Roland U-110) 03:56
"I wanted to share with you my most recent synth acquisition - Supreme Sonic Systems TS-4 (Indian electronic tamboura).
I also have a saarang/radel DZ soft Indian synthesizer/electronic tamboura and I’ve noticed there is a dearth of info on these peculiar and delightful instruments. In fact the only info I’ve ever discovered relating to them was on matrixsynth, hence my contacting you.
Anyways this synth is very similar in sound, design and operation to those analog radel E tambouras. As usual these synths hardly offer realistic emulations of the actual instruments but instead offer delightful analog timbres with controls and design that provide rudimentary Hindustani accompaniment. Of primary interest is the accompanying pamphlet/manual, which offers arguably the most info on these instruments I’ve ever come across. It was this pamphlet that I thought would be of most use to matrixsynth followers. Also of note is that this isn’t made by radel! I’ve never seen or read anything about supreme sonic systems but I will be googling it after I finish playing with my lovely new instrument."
I asked Scott when he thinks these were produced and he believes they are from the 80s.
It appears to take 5 1/4" floppies. Advert scan below.
"Back in the day on my studio, I used an Steinberg Pro-24/Atari ST set-up, and I can attest that the MIDI DJ was tightest compare with the ST and it is portable!. Below a couple of features, such as:
As a conventional MIDI sequencer, recording polyphonic performances and overdubbing them in the usual fashion for playback 'live' or synchronised to tape via a drum machine.
Up to 12,000 note capacity per sequence
A total of 45,000 notes per disk (just limited by storage capacity of the disk)
Real time record
inboard clock for tempos from 1 - 255 beats per minute
Two track recording of data w/ "sound on sound" technique
Standard 5 1/4 floppy disk format and more.
· As a data filer which will let you store (for instance) DX7 sounds on a cheap 5 1/4" floppy disk rather than an expensive RAM cartridge.
· For those interested in playing live, as a playback machine for sequences which have been created on a much more complex system and easily incorporate MIDI and CV analog input and outputs
I assure you that this is one of a kind and it will be hard for you to find another one like this one and in this amazing state."
"Recorded in Japan at a 1978 concert ... original 8-track tapes were sent to the UK and transferred to 16 track tape in Birmingham.
Brian then overdubbed the original recording by adding to the mix with a Kawai Grand Piano ...
I'm sorry about the 'popping, hissing and crackling' from my well worn record ... I keep meaning to replace it."
Another one spotted and sent my way via Conny. Based on the year, I'm guessing the Kawai T50 was analog. The following is some minimal info via organforum.com.
"Masato Akiyama was one of Kawai Japan's staff organists at the time, so would certainly have been heavily involved with the T50 project. A really nice guy and great player.I played my Japanese concerts with him and with another Kawai staff organist, Norio Goto, and our own Brian Sharp.The T50 strings were indeed superb, played from Manual IV (the top one in front of you), but available elsewhere via couplers. With eight, ten really, manuals, it took a few minutes to set up between numbers, but once started, you had enough pre-registered, and then plenty of sounds available pretty much instantly from the presets in front of you.
The T6 was a pre-production version of the T5. I have a picture of it from 1979, when it was in the museum at the Kawai/Teisco factory in Saitama Province."
Note the "Digital Excellence" DX logo on the left. The DX is in Yamaha font. The red orange stripe is reminiscent of Roland.
Update: You can find one sitting on top of a Kawai DX800 Digital Organ in this video. Considering the name, I am again curious if there is any relation to Yamaha. I checked Wikipedia and found the following:
"Koichi Kawai, the company founder, was born in Hamamatsu, Japan in 1886. As the son of a wagon maker, Kawai developed an ability to create mechanical devices and inventions as young boy. His neighbor, Torakusu Yamaha, a watchmaker and reed organ builder, noticed Koichi riding past on a unique pedal-driven cart he built himself. Impressed, Yamaha, who was struggling to build his first upright pianos, took the early-teenager in as an apprentice. While just a young man, he became a key member of the research and development team that first introduced pianos to his country. He proved to be a gifted inventor who became the first to design and build a complete piano action in Japan. He was awarded many patents for his designs and inventions.[1]"
Fascinating bit of synth history.
Update2 via swissdoc: " With a bit of Google I could spot this document in French, which reveals the function of it
It is to store registration settings of the organ. It can save to magnetic card. Thats it. Nothing fancy."
Kind of looks like a eurorack module, but it's not. RedSound were of course the makers of the RedSound Darkstar.
"The Micro Sync Beat Xtractor is a very reliable audio/MIDI synchroniser and BPM counter.
It accurately synchronizes your MIDI sequencer with audio playback, keeping the downbeats locked together for the perfect real-time groove.
This comes in really handy when syncing up a mix of equipment that's both old and new.
Features:
4-digit BPM display Synchronization status indicator
Rotating MIDI clock display
Tap 4 way Nudge control for manually adjusting the BPM Lock-in time
Typically 2 - 4 sec's (readable beat information)
Accuracy: 0.1 BPM
Input level: Nominal line level (1V peak)
Display: 1 x 4 character 7 segment LED BPM Range 60-230"
This is the first post to properly feature Countryman Associates (they were previously mentioned in the BBC video linked below). Check out the EMS SYNTHI in the background. I can't quite place what's on the upper left. Thought it might be the EMS SYNTHI Logik, but it's not. If anyone knows, feel free to leave a comment.
"Countryman released the first commercial phase shifting devices beginning with the Type 967 Phase Shifter around 1967; The 968A is the last model in this series, released around '71. Like the 967 and 968, the 968A uses an internal Envelope Follower rather than a cyclic LFO for phase modulation. There is also a CV input on the front panel, along with the audio input and output.
Besides being one of the very first of its kind, and having a very unique sound, the 968A is designed in a way that makes it particularly suited to experimental audio processes and special audio effects (as opposed to and different from your average stomp box phaser). There's not a lot of information online about this rare device, but what is available is mostly concerning it's experimental applications.
The 968A was used in a number of early electronic music studios including the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. It's featured in this BBC TV 70's documentary film." [posted here]
"Rare old Thomas organ "Band Master" polyphonic synthesizer kit in its original box. I assume this was something that could be added to a Thomas organ? Might be a fun project."
WBRA Television - Wayne Joness - December 1987 - Festival Fillers - Voyetra Sequencer Plus Mark III
Published on Mar 31, 2018 WayneJoness
"Video recorded in December of 1987, live at WBRA Television Studios in Roanoke, Virginia. Many thanks to Maureen Eiger who made this video possible. I used Voyetra Sequencer Plus Mark III, with a Kawai R50 drum machine, Roland JX-10 (synth brass), Yamaha TX-81Z (bass and other parts), and a humble Casio CZ-101 as my solo synth. More info: http://www.joness.com/gr300/voyetra_e..."
On the Octave-Plateau Voyetra MIDI Guitar pictured below:
"The Octave-Plateau Voyetra MIDI Guitar (about $2,000.00) is a polyphonic synthesizer controller. It has no sound generating circuitry, but it can link directly to any MIDI-equipped synthesizer. Programs can be recalled via the numerical keypad on its upper bout, and such parameters as vibrato and pitch bending can be programmed into the touch plate/pickguards. Besides putting out a MIDI signal, it has a standard guitar pickup output."
"The successful hardware and software company Octave-Plateau Voyetra showed up to the 1985 Summer NAMM show with what may be the rarest MIDI guitar of all time, the Octave-Plateau Voyetra MIDI Guitar.
As a software company producing the acclaimed Sequencer Plus sequencing software, Octave-Plateau Voyetra had plenty of programming chops.
But the company was also responsible for the Voyetra Eight, a cutting edge polyphonic analog synthesier using a serial interface that predated MIDI.
Unlike the Roland 24-pin compatible guitars, Voyetra did not use pitch-to-MIDI processing, but instead used a microprocessor to scan the guitar for activity generated by the contact strings to the frets. This is approach is clearly faster and more accurate than the pitch-to-MIDI approach. In addition, the guitar had no less than 8 programmable knobs and switches for real-time control of various MIDI parameters. Notice in the photo the two rack-mount Voyetra Eight synths, presumably being controlled by the Octave-Plateau Voyetra MIDI Guitar
Little is known about this MIDI guitar. I have only found two references to the guitar, in the issue of Guitar Player Magazine, from September 1985, and in the English music technology magazine, Electronic Soundmaker & Computer Music, also from September of 1985."
Note this is the first post to feature the Firstman FP-1300.
"Up for sale is extremely rare Firstman FP-1300 vintage analog electronic organ synth made in Japan.
The unit appears to be working fine, all the keys and knobs and preset sounds working fine to the best of my knowledge. There is quiet a bit of scratch noise when controlling the volume know, which could probably do with some servicing/adjustment if required. The built-in speakers on the rear are sounding fine.
Cosmetically the unit is in nice and reasonable condition for its age as you can see. There are some wear and minor marks here and there with some discoloration on the keys as pictured, but nothing too major. I'm including plenty of pictures so you can see exactly how it looks.
Comes in Original Hard Case Lid as shown.
Does not come with Attachable Legs."
Just when you thought you've seen everything... This is the first Roland REVO-30 to be featured on the site. It appears to be a leslie rotary speaker effect.
From the listing:
"ROLAND Brand REVO-30 Model CHORUS ECHO EFFECT UNIT
reportedly makes speakers sound like Leslie Brand rotating speakers
REVO-30 UNIT ONLY / DOES NOT INCLUDE SPEAKER SYSTEM"
P.S. To check out "new old gear" discoveries, see the corresponding label at the bottom of this post.
Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.
The NISSIN C-16 CUP NOODLE Digital Synth Keytar!
A special novelty model of CASIO SK-1 via this auction
Can be yours for only $249!
Bet you never thought you'd see a cup of noodles keytar. One was actually listed back in 2011 here. If anyone knows of any other odd brand pairings, feel free to leave a comment.
Another super rare Synare not previously featured on the site. This one is the Hi Tom. Also see the Bass here.
"This is an extremely rare original late 1970's-early 1980's Star Synare HI TOM percussion synthesizer. It does not include a power supply, but has been thoroughly tested with a 9 volt power supply and all controls functions great. There are 3 jacks, but the one near the DC plug in was the only one that had output. The other two are a bit corroded and one seems to be slightly smaller than 1/4". It has some cosmetic wear. One screw is missing from the top."
"This is an extremely rare original late 1970's-early 1980's Star Synare Bass percussion synthesizer. It does not include a power supply, but has been thoroughly tested with a 9 volt power supply and everything functions great as it creates AMAZING analog synth bass tones with a double, triple, and continuous "repeat" feature. It has some cosmetic wear. It appears one of the pots has been changed."
This is the first one in white to be featured on the site. You can see pics of it in black in the archives here.
via the listing: "Wow, this is that super rare Synton that is never seen or heard. Sounds like a version of the Fenix 1. The rarest synth from Synton, as there were only a handful ever made! In this pristine condition, it is impossible to find. Regretfully giving it up to the next synthesist! Every feature works great!"
This is the first one to be featured on the site. Just when you think you've seen it all, some never before piece of gear from synth history crops up. I capture them in the "New Old" label if you want to check some out. There are 101 posts over the last 13 years of running the site. Cool little bits of synth history.
