Another Ralph Dyck Synth Recovered

"Encouraged by the recovery of his Carson Graham synth, Ralph went in search of another synth he made around the same time for the UBC. Bob Pritchard of the UBC Music Dept. confirmed that the synth was still sitting offline in his office, and after a quick consultation with the school’s administration, it was decided to gift the synth back to its original creator! Ralph has been working on the synth for a few months now. Here’s a bit of Q&A about it, along with some pics and sound examples."

You'll find them on Pea Hicks' Roland MC-8 Micro-Composer blog here. Ralph Dyck is considered the godfather of the Roland MC-8. See the Ralph Dyck label below for previous posts.

Ralph Dyck's 1970s DIY Synth Recovered From Pawn Shop

You might remember Ralph Dyck as the Godfather of the Roland MC-8 MicroComposer. His home-brew sequencer served as the basis for the MC-8. See this post for a video featuring a track he wrote titled "Odd Rhythms" that was included in the MC-8 manual. Ralph Dyck was also featured for his DIY modular work in this 1972 news article.

via Pea Hicks on the Roland MC-8 Micro Composer blog:

"A couple years ago, Ralph mentioned to me that in the early-70s he had built a couple of custom analog synthesizers for local schools – UBC and Carson-Graham Senior Secondary. I attempted to contact the music departments of both of these schools. The UBC music department still had theirs, but the Carson-Graham synth was missing in action. Fast forward to a few weeks ago, and I get an email from Ralph that an acquaintance of his in Vancouver recognized Ralph’s handiwork in a craiglist ad for a homebrew synth- it was the long-lost Carson-Graham synth!

The asking price was only $75, but try as he might to recover it, Ralph was too late, and it was purchased by a young guy interested in making 'bloopy synth sounds.'"

Click here for the full story including audio and pics.

Side note: Pea Hicks aka peahix who wrote the article is also the man behind Optigan.com.

1972 Newspaper Article about Ralph Dyck & His Modular Synth

via the Roland MC-8 Micro-Composer blog where you'll find the full size scan.

Interview with Ralph Dyck, Godfather of the Roland MC-8

via Pea Hicks

"Recently I’ve been in touch with Ralph Dyck, the man responsible for cobbling together a home-brew sequencer that eventually served as the basis for the design of the Roland MC-8. I’ll be posting lots of photos, music and technical documents that Ralph has been very generously emailing me. This is all very important stuff in the history of programmable sequencers. First off, we’ll start with a brief email interview. All photos are provided by Ralph Dyck, all music is copyright Ralph Dyck and registered by SOCAN Canada."

You can find the full interview on the Roland MC-8 Micro-Composer blog here. Check out the DIY modular.

Roland MC-8 Sequencer Demo Song - ODD RHYTHMS

YouTube via peahix

"This is one of the demo scores in the Roland MC-8 manual. It's a piece called "Odd Rhythms," written by the inventor of the MC-8, Ralph Dyck. I decided to spend a couple of hours punching this thing in to see what it sounds like. The lead, bass and chords are playing back on a Roland SH-101 (overdubbed via the MC-8's tape sync one monophonic line at a time), and the cymbal and conga are playing back on a SCI Pro-One. For the cymbal, I had to use VCF accents instead of the VCA accents the score calls for, because the Pro-One doesn't have a CV in for the VCA. I didn't spend much time on the sounds or on the mix, so it is what it is. But as you can see, you can get as musically complex as you want with the MC-8.

If any other MC-8 users out there want the data for this piece, just send me a message and I can send you an mp3 to load into your machine."