MOOG Demo Record

Update: see this post for the audio.
via this auction
"Ultra-rare private pressing, the first promotional recording produced by Moog, given out to prospective customers to demonstrate the capabilities of their amazing products. Both sides are identical and contain a wonderful montage of Moog-sourced sound effects and short original compositions created especially for this record by Wendy Carlos, ranging widely from experimental to classical to pop to ambient soundscapes and a real treat for collectors of her work. It is narrated by Ed Stokes who explains the different types of waves and filters available, the basics of sound synthesis, and Moog innovations like voltage control. This extremely hard to find record is an awesome artifact of early electronic music history and a gem for Moog
and Wendy Carlos fans.

Wendy Carlos studied under Vladimir Ussachevsky and Otto Luening at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, worked with Robert Moog to develop and popularize the synthesizer and pioneer its performance techniques, and scored films for Stanley Kubrick and Disney. Some additional points of reference for this synth demo record: Jean-Michel Jarre, Paul Beaver, Bernie Krause, Stereolab, Aphex Twin, Autechre, Mu-Ziq, Matmos, Dick Hyman, Raymond Scott, Bruce Haack, Pierre Henry, Tomita, Vangelis, Jean-Jacques Perrey, Gershon Kingsley, Tom Dissevelt, Ondioline, Theremin, Clara Rockmore, Arp, Donald Buchla, Chappell Recorded Music Library, De Wolfe, Montparnasse 2000, Patchwork, Piero Umiliani, Roger Roger, Cecil Leuter, DJ Premier, DJ Shadow, Invisibl Skratch Piklz, Oskar Sala, trautonium, Morton Subotnick, John Eaton, Donald Erb, Bernard Parmegiani, Mort Garson..."

Custom Modular

Shot and details pulled from this auction. Via Fabio Masseti.

"This is a giant modular synth comprising around 72 modules, housed in a big wooden cabinet. The modules are either Doepfer, or Analogue Solutions, with a couple of home-brew modules. It has FIVE power supplies installed. The cabinet has carrying handles on each end and has seen only studio use:Never gigged.

The modules are - 2X master clocks / 4X 8-note sequencers / 4x Sequence length switches / 1X power switch / 1X PSU management module / 4X sequencer output length selector switch modules / 4X dual VCO / 1X single VCO / 3X LFO-noise-sample & hold / 1X dual quantiser / 1X signal switcher / 1X VC signal switcher / 1X 256 human allophone generator / 1X 256 wavetable VCO / 1X VC source / 6X Concussor percussion modules / 1X 4 channel mixer / 1X dual VCA / 1X buffer-mixer-invertor / 2X dual envelope gen / 2X single envelope gen / 1X envelope follower / 1X trigger delay / 1X signal switcher with LEDs / 1X ring modulator / 1X audio divider / 4X multimode filter-VCA / 1X Trautonium 4-bank filter / 2X synth VCF-Envelope gen-VCA / 2X MIDI to CV convertor / 1X joystick / 1X triple voltage source / 2X signal-control meters / 1X 8 channel mixer / 6X multiples/ 2X socket adaptors / 1X infra-red headphone transmitter for cordless headphone monitoring / 1X passive ring-modulator, and more. Also included in this offer is my CRT Oscilloscope. It's a Heathkit single beam unit; very useful for tuning VCOs into phase.

There's room for more modules too if you should wish to expand further. The cabinet is home built using a stained wood, designed for pride of place in my studio, and isn't bad, but you may feel you want to rehouse it in a cabinet more suitable for transportation to gigs. The back opens on hinges for getting inside.

There are FIVE power supplies, each with its own toroidal transformer (An.Sol.). Each supply feeds its own distribution board and the modules are fed through ribbon cables from rows of sockets. The power supplies have independent fuses, accessible on the front panel, each with its own indicator lamp to indicate a blown fuse. The on-board 4 channel and 8 channel mixers can receive inputs from other external equipment for special treatment."

Das Subharchord

via Das Subharchord

"The Subharchord is a unique electronic instrument which is somewhat comparable to the Mixturtrautonium from Oskar Sala. This site is dedicated to the Subharmonic Sound Generator, which was developed during the 1960s in East Berlin (GDR) at the Radio and Television Technical-Centre (RFZ) of the German post office."

The Mixturtrautonium.


You can find a VST emulation and more info on Rick Jelliffe's site.

More on 120 Years and wikipedia.

Via this this electro-music thread.

The Tannerin and Theremin Like Devices

It is a common misconception that the instrument used in the Beach Boys "Good Vibrations" was a theremin. It instead was an electro-theremin, a theremin like device with a keyboard. It was built by Paul Tanner in the late 1950s.

Paul playing the final version of the electro-theremin.

The Tannerin is a similar device recently built by Tom Polk for the Brian Wilson Tour.

Via Francois Dion on AH:

"That's definitely a very very crude martenot keyboard. Looks like one of the 1926 early revisions of the Martenot keyboard. Missing all the tonal and expression parts as found in the "drawer" on the later martenot. Missing also the floating keyboard (for the vibrato), and the references for the slider.

It is interesting to note that by 1931, there were at least 4 commercial instruments with heterodyne oscillators:

1- the theremin
2- the Ondes Martenot
3- Clavier a Lampe (Armand Givelet)

##### Update: The 4- Trautonium (Franz Trauntwein) did not use a heterodyne Oscillator. See comments link below. Also neither did the Tannerin according to another thread.

(The Audion Piano was never available commercially)."

The Ondes Martenot (it had a ring device on a string that scaled the entire range of the keyboard).

The Trautonium:

I couldn't find a picture of the Clavier a Lampe and we all know what a theremin looks like right? : )

Also check out the Theremax. Some good sound samples there as well.

For a controller similar to the Ondes Martenot, check out Analog Systems The French Conncection: