"8 tracks EMS Synthi E
+ ~ -
Art OPL
Buchla 225e, 281e, 292e
Doepfer A175 ,A180
Grendel Formant Filter²
Hameg Dual Trace Oscilloscope HM 312-8
Kenton Pro Solo & Pro Solo Mk2
Lexicon PCM 80 / 90
Make Noise Format Jumper
Moog CP 251,Bass Murf
Rane Spitter Mixer
Red Federation BPM FX Pro
Roger Linn Adrenalinn 2
Sherman Filterbank 2
SPL Channel One
TC M one XL
Yamaha MCS 2
mackie the mixer
Logic sequencer & drums
Arpeggio source: Access Virus C
vid # 1130"
EMS Synthi E
Buchla System #1
Hameg Dual Trace Ocilloscope HM 312-8 by Rehberg
Kenton Pro Solo Mk2
Knas Ekdahl the Moisturizer
Lexicon PCM 80 / 90
Maestro Ringmodulator
Moog CP 251
Red Federation BPM FX Pro
Sherman Filterbank (ADSR)
TC M one XL
Yamaha MCS 2
mackie the mixer
drums Logic Ultrabeat
vid # 1107
EMS Synthi E sequenced by
Roland Jupiter 6 , Arpeggiator Step Rhythm & Polyrythm
Buchla System #1(Low Pass Gate)
Alesis 3630
Art OPL Preamp
DBX 286
Electrix Warp Factory
Kenton Pro Solo & Pro Solo Mk2
Lexicon PCM 80 / 90
Make Noise Format Jumper
Moog CP 251,Bass Murf
Rane Spitter Mixer
Red Federation BPM FX Pro
Sherman Filterbank 2
Shure SM 58
SPL Channel One, Gold Mike
TC M one XL
Yamaha MCS 2
mackie the mixer
vid # 1117
six tracks by EMS Synthi E (blue)
Moog Freqbox, CP251
Korg Karma - Shine on - outro solo
Hameg Dual Trace Ocilloscope HM 312-8 by Rehberg
Kenton Pro Solo Mk2
Lexicon PCM 80 / 90
Red Federation BPM FX Pro
mackie the mixer
vid # 1106
EMS Synthi E & Buchla System #1
Digitech RDS 3600
Electrix Warp Factory
Kenton Pro Solo Mk2
Lexicon PCM 80 / 90
Maestro Ringmodulator
Moog CP 251,Freqbox, B Murf, VX 351
MXR Phase 100
Boss LS 2
Red Federation BPM FX Pro
Roger Linn Arenalinn 2
Sherman Filterbank
TC M one XL
Yamaha MCS 2
mackie the mixer
Hameg Dual Trace Ocilloscope HM 312-8
vid # 1112
Alesis 3630
Art OPL Preamp
DBX 286
Electrix Warp Factory
Kenton Pro Solo & Pro Solo Mk2
Lexicon PCM 80 / 90
Maestro Ringmodulator
Make Noise Format Jumper
Moog CP 251,Bass Murf
Rane Spitter Mixer
Red Federation BPM FX Pro
Sherman Filterbank 2
SPL Channel One, Gold Mike
TC M one XL
Yamaha MCS 2
mackie the mixer
vid # 1118
8 tracks EMS Synhi E
Korg micro X Mayhem Voices & Organ processed by Synthi E
Akai MFC 42
Alesis 3630
DBX 286
Kenton Pro Solo & PS Mk2
Lexicon PCM 80 / 90
Line 6 Filter Pro
Make Noise Format Jumper
Moog CP 251,Freqbox²
Rane Spitter Mixer
Red Federation BPM FX Pro
Sherman Filterbank 2
SPL Gold Mike
TC M one XL
Yamaha MCS 2
mackie the mixer
vid # 1115
EMS Synthi E
Buchla System #1
FX: Boogie V Twin, Soldano SP 77 mk 2
Lexicon MPX 100, PCM 80 / 90, TC M one XL
Rane SM 26, Rocktron Rack Interface², Model 311
Maestro Ringmodulator
Make Noise Format Jumper
Moog CP 251
Sherman Filterbank 2
Yamaha MCS 2
Kenton Pro 2000
mackie the mixer²
odd time 14/16
vid # 1385
EMS Synthi E & Buchla System #1
Clavia D Drum 4 se
Digitech RDS 3600
Electrix Warp Factory
Kenton Pro Solo Mk2
Lexicon PCM 80 / 90
Maestro Ringmodulator
Moog CP 251,Freqbox, B Murf, VX 351
MXR Phase 100
Boss LS 2
Red Federation BPM FX Pro
Roger Linn Arenalinn 2
Sherman Filterbank
TC M one XL
Yamaha MCS 2
mackie the mixer
Hameg Dual Trace Ocilloscope HM 312-8
vid # 1113
This one was sent to me by someone that goes by Ground Films. Man, what a beauty. Don't think I've seen one this nice before.
"Here is the EMS SYNTHI E (educational) synth! There were only 230 EVER MADE, many of which were DESTROYED. This one is MINT AND LOOKS LIKE IT WAS NEVER USED! EVERYTHING works perfect!"
"Circa 1975: A photo from the Frankfurt Music Fair
Peter Zinovieff in the EMS synthesizer booth.
They are featuring the rare SYNTHI P model, just announced on the left side and stand. Underneath the board listing EMS musical artists is a SYNTHI HI-FLI effects unit is barely seen. Another unusual/prototype model is next to the Hi-Fli."
Peter Zinovieff and Electronic Music Studios video upload by JeffreyPlaide
Peter Zinovieff: Synth Pioneer video upload by Sound On Sound magazine Jul 21, 2016
Peter Zinovieff talks about modern musical interfaces video upload by Expressive E Jan 6, 2016
Peter Zinovieff feature uploaded by Erica Synths on Nov 23, 2020. This was the latest video to feature Peter Zinovieff that I am aware of.
Peter Zinovieff interview 2015 video upload by 香港電子音樂社 Hong Kong Electronic Music Society Jun 30, 2015
Dr Peter Zinovieff intro & performance excerpt - Deliaphonic 2017 video upload by Deliaphonic Aug 29, 2018
And a few perspectives from others:
Bright Sparks Behind The Scenes - The Brits video by GForce Software published Feb 16, 2021
Cosmic Tape Music Club Podcast hosted by The Galaxy Electric - E1 Peter Zinovieff
video by The Galaxy Electric published Jan 27, 2021
"Peter Zinovieff, a hugely influential figure in British music whose early synthesisers helped to change the sound of pop, has died aged 88. He had suffered a fall at home earlier this month.
With its marketing slogan 'think of a sound – now make it', his company Electronic Music Studios (EMS) was one of the first to bring synthesisers out of studios and to the public. With products such as the portable VCS3 and Synthi A, EMS customers – including David Bowie, Kraftwerk, the Who, Tangerine Dream and Pink Floyd – were often taught to use the instruments by Zinovieff.
In 1967 he collaborated with Paul McCartney on Carnival of Light, a performance of a 14-minute avant garde composition created between Beatles sessions for Penny Lane that has never been released.
He was also a respected composer of his own work, including early experiments with AI composition and sampling – he claimed to have invented the latter technique." You can read the full post here.
"Peter Zinovieff (26 January 1933 – 23 June 2021) was a British engineer and composer, whose EMS company made the VCS3 synthesizer in the late 1960s. The synthesizer was used by many early progressive rock bands such as Pink Floyd[3] and White Noise, and Krautrock groups[4] as well as more pop-oriented artists, including Todd Rundgren and David Bowie. In later life he worked primarily as a composer of electronic music.
Zinovieff was born on 26 January 1933;[5] his parents, Leo Zinovieff and Sofka, née Princess Sophia Dolgorouky, were both Russian aristocrats, who met in London after their families had emigrated to escape the Russian Revolution and soon divorced.[6] During World War II he and his brother Ian lived with their grandparents in Guildford and then with their father in Sussex. He attended Guildford Royal Grammar School, Gordonstoun School and Oxford University, where he earned a doctorate in geology.[7][8]
Zinovieff's work followed research at Bell Labs by Max Mathews and Jean-Claude Risset, and an MIT thesis (1963) by David Alan Luce.[9] In 1966–67, Zinovieff, Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson ran Unit Delta Plus, an organisation to create and promote electronic music. It was based in the studio Zinovieff had built, in a shed at his house in Putney. (The house is near the Thames, and the studio was later partially destroyed by a flood).[10][11] EMS grew out of MUSYS, which was a performance controller operating as an analogue-digital hybrid.[12] It was a synthesiser system which Zinovieff developed with the help of David Cockerell and Peter Grogono, and used two DEC PDP-8 minicomputers and a piano keyboard.[13] Unit Delta Plus ran a concert of electronic music at the Watermill Theatre in 1966, with a light show. In early 1967 they performed in concerts at The Roundhouse, at which the Carnival of Light was also played; they split up later in 1967.[11] Paul McCartney had visited the studio, but Zinovieff had little interest in popular music.[14]
In 1968, part of the studio was recreated at Connaught Hall, for a performance of pieces by Justin Connolly and David Lumsdaine.[15] At the IFIP congress that year, the composition ZASP by Zinovieff with Alan Sutcliffe took second prize in a contest, behind a piece by Iannis Xenakis.[16]
In 1969, Zinovieff sought financing through an ad in The Times but received only one response, £50 on the mistaken premise it was the price of a synthesiser. Instead he formed EMS with Cockerell and Tristram Cary.[17] At the end of the 1960s, EMS Ltd. was one of four companies offering commercial synthesizers, the others being ARP, Buchla, and Moog.[18] In the 1970s Zinovieff became interested in the video synthesizer developed by Robert Monkhouse, and EMS produced it as the Spectron.[19]
Jon Lord of Deep Purple described Zinovieff as "a mad professor type": "I was ushered into his workshop and he was in there talking to a computer, trying to get it to answer back".[20] Trevor Pinch and Frank Trocco, in their history of the synthesizer revolution, see him rather as aristocratically averse to "trade".[21]
Zinovieff wrote the libretto for Harrison Birtwistle's opera The Mask of Orpheus,[22] and also the words for Nenia: The Death of Orpheus (1970).[23] The section Tristan's Folly in Tristan (1975) by Hans Werner Henze included a tape by Zinovieff."
Update:
Peter Zinovieff: A Tribute by CatSynth TV
video upload by CatSynth TV
"We look back at the life and work of Peter Zinovieff, who passed away last week at the age of 88. His work at Electronic Music Studios (EMS) was a major influence on musicians of the 1970s and beyond. At EMS, he co-created the well-known and coveted VCS3 and Synthi series. But he was also a composer in his own right, working on pioneering electronic music in the 1960s and returning to active composition in the 2010s with several collaborations with artists in other media and exploring massive sound spatialization.
Additional background music provided via the Arturia Synthi V as a tribute."
"From ten years ago, a paper catalogue from the VEMIA auction. 24 pages, tiny print, and not well printed - but just about readable everywhere. A couple of illustrations (not high quality!!) - of a massive Roland System 700 and the even bigger Yamaha EX42.
Fun to look at the prices - many of them not the final bids, but all already over their reserves (there are no hidden reserves in this auction) .
That means that in November 2000, you could have had a chance of winning the following (with prices in pounds sterling):
Two Siemens V72s, 440GBP; Vortexion tube amp 23GBP; Roland CR-78 230GBP; Roland TR-808 500GBP; Crumar Jazzman 95GBP; Hohner Clavinet 1 140GBP; Clavinet/Pianet Duo 260GBP; Wurlitzer EP-200 450GBP; Ashly SC-68 140; AKG BX20E 100GBP; Six Audio & Design SCAMP modules 130GBP; BBC EQs in a rack 50GBP; Binson Echorec Baby 280GBP; Binson Tube Reverb 350GBP; Carlsbro Flanger 85GBP; Dynacord CLS222 145GBP; Dynacord TAM19; Echolette SEV66 Vocoder; Echoplex tube model 240GBP; EH Small Stone original 55GBP; EH Talking Pedal 260GBP; Four EMT 256 II compressors and two de-essers 755GBP; Moog 12-Stage Phaser 580GBP; Roland Funny Cat 160GBP; Roland RE-201 190GBP; Roland SRE-555 240GBP; Ursa Major Space Station 450GBP; Reslosound Ribbon 75GBP; two Sennheiser MD421s 250GBP; two Tannoy mics from the House of Commons 45GBP; Two EMS Presto patches 60GBP; Korg MS-03 110GBP; Korg MS-04 110GBP; Optigan Stereophonic Deluxe 220GBP; RSF Kobol Programmer 450GBP; BBC Outside Broadcast four-channel passive mixers 90GBP; Roland VCA800 / CPE800 units 115GBP; Telefunken 12/2 mixer 200GBP; ARP 2600 Blue Meanie (aka Blue Marvin) 1450GBP; EMS Synthi AKS with all EMS mods 1770GBP; EMS Synthi-E 600GBP; EMS VCS3 1900GBP; Korg MS-50 680GBP; Roland System 100M five-module system 880GBP; Roland System 700 complete 9950GBP; ARP Odyssey white-face 480GBP; ARP Pro Soloist 150GBP; EDP Wasp 280GBP; Hohner Bass 28GBP; Korg M500SP 75GBP; Korg Sigma 180GBP; Moog Minimoog 900GBP; Moog Prodigy 270GBP; Oberheim OB-1 460GBP; Octave Cat 330GBP; OSC OSCar 840GBP; Roland MC-202 200GBP; Roland SH-101 190GBP; Roland System 100 101 330GBP; Farfisa Compact Duo 500GBP; Hammond F-100 Extravoice 150GBP; Moog CDX 430GBP; Yamaha EX42 GX-1 look-alike 1250GBP; Vox Continental 300 240GBP; Yamaha YC-45D 280GBP; Elka Rhapsody 610 85GBP; Gleeman Pentaphonic 1270GBP; Moog Memorymoog Plus 1450GBP; PPG Wave 2.3 800GBP; Roland Jupiter 6 580GBP; Roland Jupiter 8 (JP8) 680GBP; Roland VP-330 400GBP; SCI Prophet 5 rev 3.2 760GBP; SCI Prophet 5 with Kenton MIDI 900GBP; Korg SQ-10 250GBP; Roland CSQ-100 34GBP; Roland MC-4 250GBP; a hundred CEM 3396 chips 100GBP; Leslie 147 360GBP; Ampex 351 980GBP; Studer C-37 300GBP."
via Ethan Callendar in the comments of this post. Thank you Ethan! Click the image to shoot Peter an email on the availability of the A-Z Books. I have them and they are very, very good - an absolute must have for synth enthusiasts.
"Here are the top 100 according to Peter Forrest's "A-Z of Analogue Synthesisers:
Synthi-100 is being triggered by a Roland TB-303, drums: Roland TR-606. Both 303 and 606 going through the Synthi-100 mixer. No added effects or processing.
Extra pair of hands helping me manipulate the Synthi in real-time is Anthony Lyons.
With special thanks to Lesley Craythorn and my colleagues Anthony Lyons and Mark Pollard at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, The University of Melbourne."
"EMS Synthi E , Moog Freqbox, Buchla System #1 Low Pass Gate
seven tracks, 4x synthi, 3x drums
+ ~ -
4ms Noise Swash
Boss LS 2, FV 200, FV 300L, 2x EV -5
Doepfer A 117 , A131
Flame FX 16
Kenton Pro Solo & Pro Solo Mk2
Lexicon PCM 80 / 90
Make Noise Format Jumper
Moog CP 251, VX 351
Rane Spitter Mixer
Sherman Filterbank 2
SPL Channel One
TC M one XL
Yamaha MCS 2
mackie the mixer
Logic master clock
Yamaha KX 25 Arpeggiator
vid # 1125"
flickr by Herman Beun
full size top
