SYNTHORAMA Drum Machines

video upload by peter m mahr

"Martin Hollinger's SYNTHORAMA in Luterbach/Switzerland not only has an impressive collection of vintage synthesizers, but also a large collection of old drum machines."

See the SYNTHORAMA label below for more.

SYNTHORAMA Synthesizermuseum in Luterbach, Switzerland

video upload by peter m mahr

"The SYNTHORAMA in Luterbach is one of two synthesizer museums in Switzerland (the other is the SMEM in Fribourg). This video shows some of the showrooms of Martin Hollinger's museum, which is open to the public on the first Saturday of every month. There are also Sequential and Yamaha showrooms and collections of Italian, Russian and synthesizers from other countries like one from former Czech Republic.

If you own BJOOKS - SYNTH GEMS 1, you will find a large number of the instruments illustrated and with descriptions by Mike Metlay."

SYNTHORAMA PPG Showroom 4K

video upload by peter m mahr

"PPG Showroom at Martin Hollinger's SYNTHORAMA synthesizer museum in Luterbach, Switzerland.

https://www.luterbach.ch/anlagenplaet..."

And a 2022 video from Torsten Abel:

Synthorama Synthesizer Museum Switzerland
video upload by Torsten Abel

"In March 2022 I visited the Swiss synthesizer museum "Synthorama" in Luterbach. I had a very nice chat with the owner Martin Hollinger and he gave me his kind permission to film this round trip. Most of the instruments are fully working and in a good shape. Visitors have the ability to play with all that gear. Only a own headphone is needed for the headphone amplifiers under the tables.

If you are planning to visit the Switzerland, make a stop in Luterbach and support Martin Hollinger with a visit. Opening hours are regulary the first Saturday a month 10am - 6pm, but if you contact Martin you can ask him for a private tour."

-- See the Synthorama and Synthorama Matrix labels below for more. The Synthorama Matrix label will bring up posts from my visite back in 2008.

Swiss Synthorama Synth Museum Featured in Swiss TV

I've actually been to Synthorama. Click here for all of my posts covering my visit. The curator Martin Hollinger is also into skateboarding. Note those posts went up long before I widened the site so you'll want to click on the smaller pics for the full size shots.

Googlish translation for the video:

"Synthesizer: The miracle of sound from the analog world

No instrument has contemporary music strongly characterized as synthesizer. Especially the first analog "sound machines" offered endless possibilities to make any sound at their own discretion. Today, the mass-produced works already digital, but the analog synthesizers have among musicians still cult status - also because of her fat, slightly dirty sound."

via sequencer.de

An Interview with Bruno Spoerri on Astronauta Pinguim

Update: in case you read this post when it first went up, be sure to give it another look for a few updates.  It's a bit convoluted with quite a few tangents, but that's how it goes sometimes.

Read the full interview on Astronauta Pinguim here.

The following are some excerpts and tie-ins to other bits of synth history.

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Initially a saxophone player, Bruno Spoerri explored electronic music in the 1960s on.

"In 1964 he was invited to a job in an advertising agency and began to work with electronic music using a Ondes Martenot and, after, using lots of synthesizers and also experimenting with electrified/synthesized saxophones..." "As a saxophonist and jazz improviser I always looked for ways to play without a keyboard."

Pictured above is Bruno with his EMS Synthi 100 (videos previously posted here and here).

On the Synthi 100: "I bought the Synthi 100 in 1971. In 1987 I gave it to Felix Visser (Synton) in exchange for a Fairlight CMI; some years he had to sell it at an auction, and I don't know where it is now (I would recognize the instrument, as I did some small changes on it)."  It was listed on Vemia back in 2009 posted here and here. Click though for pics.

In 1974, he recorded the album 'Iischalte (Switched-on Switzerland)'.

Bruno Spoerri - Le Ranz Des Vaches


Uploaded on Jul 25, 2011 Aura Archange Maudit·57 videos

"Bruno Spoerri - Iischalte (Switched-on Switzerland)
1974

Imágenes de la película La lunga notte di Veronique (1966)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0183441/

Video made by Aura Archange Maudit"

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"On 'Voice Of Taurus' (1978), Bruno Spoerri experiments a lot with electrified wind instruments and also with jazz-rock and rock."

Bruno Spoerri - Hymn Of Taurus (Taurus Is Calling You!)

Uploaded on Nov 19, 2009 MrJJBonanza·29 videos
Re-Published on Sep 30, 2014 Bruno Spoerri - Topic

"First track of Bruno Spoerri's 'Voice Of Taurus'
1978 Gold Records, Switzerland
Cat# 11 061 (Vinyl, LP)

Bruno Spoerri on 'Hymn Of Taurus':
"The rhythm track was created with my very first primitive ring modulator (4 diodes and 2 transformers) that is why it is so dirty The voice went of course through the EMS vocoder, the choir was created through the VAKO Orchestron."

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Again, don't miss the full interview with Bruno Spoerri on Astronauta Pinguim here. There's some fascinating history there including Ginette Martenot and the Ondes Martenot, Oskar Sala with his Mixturtrautonium, and Joel Chadabe. Regarding his original gear, "most of my analog gear is sold (most of it to the remarkable Swiss Synthorama of Martin Hollinger), but I still have my first synthi, the EMS VCS-3 (from 1970), the ARP 2600 with sequencer and the Lyricon I and II. I use the lyricon quite often in performances, the other gear mostly for demonstrations to visitors."

I was fortunate enough to visit Synthorama back in 2008. You can find my pics and videos from the visit here. See the Synthorama label for other posts including a one of a kind modular, the Airböurne, created by the curator of the museum, Martin Hollinger.

For more posts featuring Bruno click here and scroll.  Check him out on the Synthophone and Gesture Based Synthesis here.

via Fabricio Carvalho aka Astronauta Pinguim on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge

You can find links to additional interviews with synth history's early influentials by Astronauta Pinguim here.

SYNTHESIZER MAGAZIN Sets up for Musikmesse 2012

You'll find a few more pics on sequencer.de. The write-up is in German, but you can find a Goglish version here.

Four synth-centric booths are called out. The EMC booth including gear from Moog, Schmidt, Radikal Technologies, and John Bowen Synth Design with the Solaris. You might remember the EMC booth showcasing The Schmidt at NAMM 2012 in my uber post here. Radikal had their own booth at NAMM. Buchla 200e is at the SM Pro booth in Hall 5.1, and Ghielmetti (Airbourne / Martin Hollinger) with his AVS04 is in in Hall. BTW, if you haven't seen the AVS04, it's pretty incredible. Click on the Airbourne label below and check out previous posts (don't miss these pics). It's a custom modular by Martin Hollinger of the Synthorama synth museum in Switzerland.

Airböurne Modular Synthesizer System

flickr By Brättli Airböurne 3

"Complete Airböurne Synthesizer System. It consists of three parts:
Synthesizer Airböurne AVS-04A (right), Synthesizer Expander Airböurne AVS-04B (mid) and Sequencer AMS-496 (left).
The system will be exhibited at Prolight & Sound in Frankfurt in Hall 8, booth L57 between April 6th and April 9th 2011."

I actually saw an earlier version of this system in person during my visit to the Synthorama synth museum in Switzerland. It is as impressive as it looks. Click on the Airböurne and Synthorama label links below to go exploring.

Martin Hollinger and Brättli Airböurne's friends, Synthorama (Switzerland) in January 2010

flickr by
Brättli Airböurne 3
(click for more)

Be sure to see the Synthorama and Airböurne labels below for more including video and shots of the Synthorama Synth Museum in Luterbach Switzerland.

Airbourne AVS04 Modular Synthesizer (FPGA based) Part 1/2

YouTube via Moogulator

"small overview. it's still a prototype but all working. it's 4 voice polyphonic in concept, more see the synth database www.sequencer.de (data)

hardware: fpga inside, a lot of work, all hand made. Martin Hollinger is the man who did it (synthorama synth museum, switzerland). great work."

Airbourne Synthesizer AVS04 Overview Part 2


See the Synthorama and Airböurne labels below for more.

Martin Hollinger, Synthorama (Switzerland) in April 2009

flickr by by Brättli Airböurne 2
(click for more)

Be sure to click on the Synthorama label below for more including my visit to Synthorama in 2008 and the Airböurne modular synthesizer.

Do not miss this walk through.

Martin Hollinger, Synthorama (Switzerland) in April 2009

flickr by Brättli Airböurne 2

(click for more)

Be sure to click on the synthorama and Airböurne labels below for prior posts featuring Marting, the Synthorama synth museum and the Airböurne modular synthesizer.

Musikmesse: More Pics by Sequencer.de

Synthesizer-Magazin Stand Impressionen

Musikmesse Frankfurt 2009 Batch B

Frankfurt Musikmesse 2009 Batch C

You can find the first batch here.

Pictured:
Airböurne sequencer and modular
Curetronic modular
Moogulator of sequencer.de with KORG Radias
John Bowen Solaris
Klangwabe
DJ

CLICK FOR MORE »

Airböurne Synthesizer System

flickr set by Brättli Airböurne
(click for more)

You might remember the Airböurne from this post on my visit to Synthorama. Be sure to click on the Airböurne and Synthorama labels below for more.

Update you can see a video of the Airböurne modular here minus the sequencer. You can actually see the blank panel case of the sequencer at the start of the video.

New to the system is the Airböurne Sequencer AMS-496.

Update: Martin from Synthorama wrote in with more details. The Airböurne Synthesizer System will be shown at the Musikmesse at the Ghielmetti booth in hall 8, row H, booth 14. Martin will be there throughout the show. The following is some more detail on the sequencer:

"The sequencer has 4 independent tracks with up to 96 notes. You can place plugs in four different colours, corresponding to the four tracks. It is possible to place notes over 5 octaves. Every track you can also transpose 2 octaves down and 2 octaves up, so you have 9 octaves in total.

In the brown rows you can place white plugs if you want a gliding effect between the notes. You can choose every note of every track.

The red rows for Skip and Stop are not implemented yet. The red Repeat row allows to set an end of a melody, from where the sequencer repeats the melody.

The green Duration rows allow calibrated note lengths for every column. If you wish to have different note length at the same column for the tracks you must use the green Gate Hold rows for combining the note lengths.

The blue Volume rows allow to change the volume of every note of every track in 9 different levels. The blue Pan rows allow to define on which channel the notes will sound. You have the possibility to choose left, right, mono and random pan, for every note and every track. There are built in four independent pseudo random generators.

The white pitch rows are splittable in up to three independent sections. Here you can place up to three melodies. For every section you can define how many repeats (1 to 64) they have to run. So you can create small songs with three sections.

The internal beat generator counts from 20 bpm up to 300 bpm and the frequency you can alter with an external control voltage. With an externel quarter note clock the sequencer synchronizes in the limits between 10 bpm and 400 bpm. Later it will be possible to synchronize it via Midi clock (not implemented yet).

At rear you have the possibility to use the Pitch-CV, the Gate and the Trigger Outputs for every analogue synthesizer which uses 1 V/octave. The volume and pan signals are not available for analog synths because they are digital coded for the Airböurne Synth AVS-04 only.

On the exhibited model not all ist working perfectly.

Actually these malfunctions are known:
The bottom row (lowest C) of the pitch panel reacts not in the same column at the other rows.
The functions skip + and skip - are not working properly.
Sometimes some notes disappear or have the wrong pitch or note length. This is a timing error in one of the FPGAs.
The number of pitch plugs you can place on one row is limited, dependent of track, to 3 to 12 plugs.
The LSB digit of the internal beat generator will be only updated if the sequencer is in Repeat Mode :-) This is a real nice software bug in one of the micro controllers."

One of the Rarest Moogs

No not the modular or the vocoder. The little synth on the floor under the modular - the Minitmoog. This image was taken at the Synthorama synthesizer museum in Luterbach Switzerland. Click on the synthorama tag for some updates sent in via Martin Hollinger, the curator of the museum. If you asked a question or took the time to comment in any of the prior posts, you should find some more info.

Synthorama - Synth Museum Walkthrough - Parts 1 - 5

YouTube via matrixsynth.

This is the walk through of the Synthorma synthesizer museum in Luterback Switzerland. Before you watch this video I want to make a few notes. First of all, be sure to click on the synthorama label/link below to see all posts on my visit to the museum. Second, this set of five videos is literally walk through the museum. If you have been following the posts you will know that the majority of synths are hooked up to headphone amps. There is a very good reason for this - you are encouraged to explore and listen to the individual synths without the disturbance of others doing the same. Because of this there is obviously no synth audio in this set of videos. The purpose of this post is to give you an idea of what is there and to give you a sense of what it would be like to walk through and see all of this before you put the camera down and start playing. :) There is no background track as you walk along. Just a ton of synths you want to explore.

For those of you that get camera sick watching videos like this, apologies ahead of time, and there are plenty of shots of the museum in my prior posts if that works better for you. Hopefully the vids aren't too bad.

That said, enjoy this set of videos, or not. Remember you can mouse over the video and click on the forward and backward links to move on to the next video if you do not have the time to watch all five in one shot.

Thanks again to Martin Hollinger for hosting such an incredible synthesizer asset for the community and a special thanks to swissdoc for not only driving me to the museum with the great synth talk, but also for dropping by the music shop and brockenstube on the way there. I couldn't have dreamt of a better synth fix on my vacation. Thank you.

Synthorama - MISC Shots

click here for the last set of images of the Synthorama synthesizer museum in Luterbach Switzerland. The set includes that last random shots I took of the museum after completing a tour of all the synths. Next up, the video tour of the musuem. Click on the synthorama label below to see all the posts of my visit.

Synthorama - Yamaha Room

click here for images of the Yamaha room at the Synthorama synthesizer museum in Luterbach Switzerland. Click on the synthorama label below to see all posts in this set. An EMS Hi-Fli is also in this set.

Synthorama - KORG Room

click here for images of the KORG room at the Synthorama synthesizer museum in Luterbach Switzerland. Click on the synthorama label below to see all posts in this set. An EMS Hi-Fli is also in this set.

Synthorama - Drum Machine Room

click here for images of the drum machine room at the Synthorama synthesizer museum in Luterbach Switzerland. Click on the synthorama label below to see all posts in this set. An EMS Hi-Fli is also in this set.

Update via Martin: "Around 60 Rhythm Machines are not placed and also all 90 Electro-Harmonix Effects are stored. You can see that the Synthorama has really a big space problem :-)

Synthorama - Roland Room

click here for images of the Roland room at the Synthorama synthesizer museum in Luterbach Switzerland. Click on the synthorama label below to see all posts in this set.

Update via Martin: "In the Roland room there are only a few synths from my stock. From Roland I have a lot of other models but there is no space left to expose them."