"Rare, analog auto-accompaniment machine from Italy with DIY keyboard - these don’t come up for sale often and if you’re a fan of Elgam Carousel or Elka Wilgamat you might need this.
The Welson Ritmo has 4 sections with individual volumes and minor modulation controls:
1. Analog drum machine with 12 preset rhythms
2. Bass line generator with 2 sounds and 2 bass lines per rhythm
3. Chords section with 2 independent chord sounds with volumes.
4. Arpeggiator with 1 sound with volume and decay controls and harmony.
Very good condition unit just back from service with some minor paint chips on top and a few smaller dings on the wooden sides.
The DIY keyboard is heavy duty and has a vintage feel - it was made from a vintage Gem organ keybed.
"The Welson Supermatic S12 is a unique and rare Italian drum machine that stands out for its vintage charm and exceptional quality. This model, originating from 1972, is notable for its near-mint condition, reflecting its careful usage and maintenance over the years."
"i've serviced several Syntorchestra and I found out that because of the age, build quality and design limitation of the synth, owners can sometimes wonder if their unit is working and sounding how it should. So here you have an example of a properly working unit, with its strength and weakness. These instrument are quite unique. Before I laid my hands on one I was not really convinced by the demos I heard. Sure is sounded nice but nothing to rave about. But I must admit that when you have the chance to play with one you get quite quickly drowned in its sound. There is something very unique about that instrument, nothing I can really compare it too. Especially when you play both sections together, something magical happens. First part of the video is a quick performance using a Welson S12 drum machine and Vermona VRS23 for reverb. Second part is recorded dry from the synth with no production. I go over every sound and parameter of the synth in that section so you can compare to your unit.
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video upload by ohm_studi_ohm
"Very nice analog preset rhythm unit from the late 60s. It features 12 patterns that can be combined and 4 manual trigger sounds (snare roll, claves, tom 1 and tom 2), very much like the Farfisa Rhythm 10.
On the back of the unit you can set the 'impedance' and the "tone" of the unit. Also a pedal input is availbale for start stop.
intro synth used is a Korg Poly 61. Drum and synth recorded through a Teisco Vocal 120 in order to add spring reverb."
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video upload by ohm_studi_ohm
"I've seen many string synths and this one is still one of my favourite. It's one of the happy few string synths I keep. I have one always plugged in my studio and it's actually the one I use the most (along with the Arp Omni 2). It's not the lushest, not the smoothest, not the fatest one and yet there is something I'm particularly attracted to. I like the combination of the 2 strings sounds with the harpsichord one. And on the other hand I really like the piano sound, played alone. It's my favorite of all the electronic piano sound I could hear, except for the Farfisa Professional Piano that is the best electronic piano there is (and with dynamic !).
Design is very close to the Elka Rhapsody 610 but I definetly favor the sound of the Welson. Like the Rhapsody it only embeds a double chorus, and that explain why the sound is not as lush as other stringer that uses triple chorus (most of them). Still they sound very nice IMO."
"Quite rare italian polyphonic keyboard with 4 sounds: cello, violin, piano and harpsichord.
Very simple design and yet very nice sounding. Check the demo I made.
You can mute evey section with its dedicated switch and you have control over individual volumes, as well as "sustain" for the string presets and "decay" for the keyboard presets.
Inside there is of course a BBD based chorus, using classic TCA350Y chipsets, like many famous string synth: Eminent Solina, Logan/Hohner String Melody, Elka Rhapsody etc
Like on the Elka Rhapsody it's only a double chorus, not a triple one, so string sound is not as lush as on the Solina or Logan. But these strings sounds very nice, better IMO then the Elka.
There are also seperate outputs for both sections. And furthermore the instrument is quite compact and leightweight (13.5 kilos) for a string synth, which makes a great live performer."
"An amazing and very rare Italian string machine/keyboard from the late 1970's.
It has the ability to separately process the Violin and Viola sections from the Piano and Harpsichord sounds. I tend to put a chorus and reverb on the strings and a delay on the percussive sounds...for amazing results.
This keyboard is in excellent shape considering that it is 44 years old. I just cleaned all of the slider pots and the internal circuits. In gorgeous shape for a mid-aged instrument.
I recently replaced/repaired the slider for the string sections sustain control. I couldn't find an exact match, but did my best."
"Welson Syntex with midi retrofit by Mirco Trentin play a sequence from Step Seq on Ipad
Free play on WelsOne 4 oscillators prototype (it's like 2 Syntex with more feutures)
Linn Drum sample on Ipad
Montarbo DRev 128"
"This is a favorite - of all the Italian mono synths we got in the studio it stands out as a extremely versatile and powerful instrument with some really cool features.
It sports dual oscillators with 4 footages each, Moog ladder filter as well as white and pink noise.
Watch the video of this very unit in action.
The Random Music button triggers random notes but can also be routed to control the LFO of the noise and filter sections to create rhythmic, drum-like patterns - here that snappy filter comes to good use.
The LFO triggering is stable so dialing in the tempo to an existing track is a breeze
This was serviced a few years back and still works great."
"The Welson Ritmo was a accompaniment unit intended as an add-on to some of Welson's organ line. It consists of a rhythm unit, a bass section, a chord section and an arpeggiato section. All sounds are of course fully analog. It is very similar in features and sound to the Elka Wilgamat, Böhm Böhmat and Wersi Wersimatic CX1. They are actually built around the same chipset family (SGS M2xx), but the Ritmo cannot be programmed.
It was never intended as a standalone unit so I built a custom keyboard to make it so.
Unit is very easy and straightforward to use with some nice features: for instance you can play it in "free chord" or 'one finger chord'. In the first mode you need to make a 3 notes chord to trigger the arp sound. With one or 2 notes you only trigger the bass and chord sounds, this make for some nice performance variations. The bass section can be set to 'walking bass', and in this mode you also need 3 notes to trigger the melody.
In 'one finger chord' you play a major chord with one key. There is a pedal input on the back to make the chords minors. I also added a switch on the keyboard to alternate between major and minor chords when playing in the "one finger chord" mode.
Other nice features are "keystart" (obvious functionnality) and 'memory' which holds the played notes (and rhythm).
And like almost all the preset rhythm units you can combine different rhythms together."
"3 LFO oscillators and 1 random knob for Italian Synthesizers:
Welson Syntex (1974)
WelsOne (4 oscillators prototype late 70')
Jen SX1000 Synthetone (1977)
Jen SX2000 Synthetone (1978)"
https://vsmi.bandcamp.com
"- The LEL' UDS is a soviet drum synth, made in the late 80's. It has 2 identical, independant channels that include a tone (triangle) and a noise generator. - The Welson Supermatic S12 is an italian drum machine made in 1971. It provides 12 classic patterns with no available edits, except global volume and tempo. There's still a little knob at the back that acts like a 6dB LP filter ('tone' thing)
So in a few words, two simple instruments that make simple sounds... Chained together! I was digging inside the LEL' (A bit of servicing) but got lazy to close the lid to shoot the video. So there it is, wide opened for your eyes :D I think I'll add a second output for this unit. Just requires to build a second amplifier and split the channels - not thaaat complicated stuff so... why not give a try x)
Patterns: 0:00 - Shake 0:28 - Tango 0:46 - Mambo 1 0:59 - Mambo 2 1:09 - Slow Rock 1:20 - Samba 1 1:32 - Snare Roll 1:43 - Samba 2"
"This is the title track of my upcoming album with @ahkosmos - I am very happy to finally share this with you! You can stream and buy the full track everywhere now https://orcd.co/blastofsirens
We want to put out the album on vinyl - pre-order now and help us make it happen: https://hainbach.bandcamp.com/album/b..."
"Welson Syntex - our favorite Italian monophonic dual oscillators with 4 footages each, a Moog ladder filter and white and pink noise - you'll hear it in this video.
The Random Music button triggers random notes but can also be routed to control the LFO of the noise and filter sections to create rhythmic, drum-like patterns - here that snappy filter comes to good use.
What seems like a goofy novelty is actually pretty neat.
The LFO triggering is stable so dialing in the tempo to an existing track is a breeze - but I am thinking of putting MIDI and CV Gate in to this machine anyways - to be able to arpeggiate the Welson Syntex is the stuff of dreams.
Here I'm using some of the presets as well - they're surprisingly good - although most of them are not tweakable which is another thing I might look into.
This rather slim, elongated synthesizer growls and howls - it distorts on its own internally so no need to add distortion - but can also generate gentle and sweet flute and whistle sounds - summing it up its a versatile synthesizer.
Sitting in on second drums we got a German 'Ostie' - East German - machine - the Vermona ER-9.
It's thin but harsh sounding - very electronic - and quite a looker as well.
Just the way we prefer them - it's got separate volume controls for each sound."
"It doesn’t beg for your attention - it demands it. Welson Syntex is a great Italian monophonic synth - it’s kind of our favorite Italian monophonic machine.
It’s got dual oscillators with 4 footages each, a Moog ladder filter and white and pink noise - it can really sound huge.
You’d think it has a third oscillator since it says oscillator 3 on the panel but it’s actually the LFO section.
This thing growls and howls - it distorts internally - but can also generate gentle and sweet flute and whistle sounds - summing it up its a versatile synthesizer.
On drums we got a German "Ostie" - East German - machine - the Vermona ER-9.
It's thin but harsh sounding - very electronic - and quite a looker as well.
Just the way we prefer them - it's got separate volume controls for each sound."
"Whilst taking a holiday in Italy we stopped off at Museo del Synth Marchigiano for a couple of days and this is the account of what I experienced there.
Enormous thanks to everyone at the museum, particularly Riccardo and Paolo.
"Rare, analog auto-accompaniment machine from Italy with DIY keyboard - these don’t come up for sale often and if you’re a fan of Elgam Carousel or Elka Wilgamat you might need this.
