Kawai SX-240 POLYPHONIC SYNTHESIZER

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"The Kawai SX-240 is an eight voice, fully programmable polyphonic analog synthesizer released in 1984. The SX-240 has a big, wide and full analog sound, courtesy of its two analog DCOs and one sub-osc per voice. You have the options of poly-8, poly-4 and mono modes. In mono mode it is possible to have all 24 oscillators stacked into one for an extremely powerful sound. Leads, basses, brass, drones, pads and strings all have a unique analog sound on the SX-240. Strings and pads get especially warm and fluid when switching on the Ensemble effect, which is just a chorus. The SX-240 also has a function called Brass, which is actually a ring-mod effect.

Modulation possibilities are somewhat limited due to having just one saw wave on DCO1, but with adjustable PW and PWM plus a noise generator, you can find some great sound possibilities. The LFO can be routed everywhere in the DCO, VCF and the VCA. It also has an LFO trigger button to start or stop the LFO on command. The SX-240 uses eight SSM 2044 filter chips which help make up its powerful filter sound. The filter also strangely jumps into self oscillation around the value point of 98 to 99. There are also both portamento and glissando, though it was uncommon to find both of these effects on synths of the time.

This particular unit is in great shape! It has some minor cosmetic wear but is fully functional. All keys, sliders, buttons, etc. work as they should! This synth is so easy to use and also is very tweakable to get the sound you're looking for!

EXAMPLES of how it sounds!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBBas8HNc9w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUuRrwot3PY

http://www.synthmania.com/sx-240.htm"

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Kawai Teisco SX-240 Analogue Vintage DCO Synth MIDI profesionally overhauled

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"For sale is the Kawai SX-240, a classic, very rare and unique sounding dual DCO multi-waveform Analog Synthesizer (made in 1984) with SAW, SQUARE, PULSE (2nd LFO), BRASS (Ring Modulation) waveform, 8-voices of polyphony, an additional SUB Oscillator, Poly8/4/mono modes, a super-warm, lush, on-board chorus/ensemble effect, 8-SSM 2044 filters (used on Korg Mono/poly, Korg Trident, Korg Polysix, Kawai SX-210, Kawai K3 etc), a general LFO that can be routed everywhere in the DCO, VCF and the VCA, MIDI In/Out/Through, Portamento, Glissando, a 8-digits LED screen for editing the parameters and the option of being placed in Split or Dual patch modes. In Split mode you can assign two patches to be played in a split on the keyboard. In Dual mode two patches can be played at the same time for a rich, warm and layered sound, not very common in Analog Synthesizers. It has also a built-in, real time 1,500 note sequencer and chord memory.

Kawai SX-240 has a great rich, lush and unique analog sound to it that can't be reproduced by today's modern synthesizers.

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Linndrum LM2 Vintage Drum Machine & Kawai SX-240 Track

Published on Feb 23, 2015 Sjobeck7

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And a track featuring this LinnDrum with the Kawai SX-240:

Kawai SX-240 Linn LM2 Drum Machine

Published on Apr 6, 2012 Sjobeck7

"Kawai SX-240 on custom dual mode Mono/String Patch with hovering "heavenly" preset patch on Ensoniq SQ-1 With custom, punchy Linn-Drum pattern repeating over top secret erractic late night neurotic mix down so not to forget the best nightmare I ever had~..."

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"This is an amazing drum machine!!! And yet, like a lot of vintage gear it seems, it has its good days and bad days... Well , to be perfectly frank, mostly bad days lately! : / It always powers up and always makes drum sounds, which is good, but it sometimes won't save your drum patterns for very long after you power off, and is VERY glitchy! Tempo knob works fine, but it is hard to understand what your tempo reading is! LED matrix is screwy! Most all of the LED's light up, but some are less persistent while others just don't want to do anything it seems! However, ALL the Individual outputs, tuning, mixer section, triggers inputs and outs, jacks, and all the drum sounds are all good to go! This Linndrum is in beautiful physical condition!!! Very few, scuff marks or scratches, no major blemishes. All sliders work great too!
Honestly, this is the best sounding drum machine I have ever owned! I've owned about 25 or so drum machines through the years, mostly vintage kits! It is just a pity, it can't save the patterns. :(
2-23 -2015 I did play it last night for nearly 2 hours and it was working a bit better. It actually saved my patterns for an entire night, as they were still there when I powered it on this afternoon. You can also save them to your computer. (created drum patterns and songs) Last night, I also triggered it out into an Arpeggiator on a Korg Poly 61 and it worked great! I discovered too that tuning down the low Congo gives you an insanely fat bass drum! THIS LINNDRUM WILL NEED REPAIR! It is strictly being sold as/is for parts or repair. No Refunds!"

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KAWAI SX-240 - VINTAGE ANALOG POLYPHONIC 8 VOICE SYNTHESIZER

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"The Kawai SX-240 is an eight voice, fully programmable polyphonic analog synthesizer released in 1984 as a follow up to the Kawai SX-210. It was manufactured by Kawai but originally released under the Teisco brand-name in Japan when Kawai bought out Teisco. The Kawai SX-240 and the Kawai SX-210 never got much attention due to entering the market during the time of the digital revolution and poor marketing. Its main analog competitors of the time were the Korg Polysix and the Roland Juno 6/60."

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Kawai SX-240 SN 8748 w/ Original Box & Cassettes

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"- 1985 Kawai SX-240 8-Voice Analog Synthesizer Keyboard

- This Exceptional Example, Serial Number K8748, Remains in Near Mint All Original Condition and Includes the Original Shipping Box and Sealed SX-240 Cassette!

- Somewhat of a Sleeper, the SX-240 is a Dynamic, Rich, and Superb Sounding Analog Synth

- Intuitive, Easy to Use, and a Viable Alternative to Many Mid-80’s Analog Keyboards, the SX-240 is One of Japan’s Best Synths"

Pics of the inside below.

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Kawai SX-240 Synthesizer Keyboard

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"Offered for sale is the Kawai SX-240, a classic very rare and unique sounding dual DCO multi-waveform Analog Synthesizer (made in 1984) with SAW, SQUARE, PULSE (2nd LFO), BRASS (Ring Modulation) waveforms, 8-voices of polyphony, an additional SUB Oscillator, Poly8/4/mono modes, a super-warm, lush, on-board chorus/ensemble effect, 8-SSM 2044 filters (used on PPG-Wave 2.2, Korg Mono/Poly, Korg Trident, Korg Polysix, Kawai SX-210, Kawai K3 etc), a LFO that can be routed everywhere in the DCO, VCF and the VCA, MIDI In/Out/Through, Portamento, Glissando, a 8-digits LED screen for editing the parameters and the option of being placed in Split or Dual patch modes. In Split mode you can assign two patches to be played in a split on the keyboard. In Dual mode two patches can be played at the same time for a rich, warm and layered sound, not very common in Analog Synthesizers. It has also a built-in, real time 1,500 note sequencer and chord memory. This is a very useful synth!

Kawai SX-240 has a great rich, lush and unique analog sound to it that can't be reproduced by today's modern synthesizers. Cuts through the mix in a unique way, and due to its rarity will not end up sounding like other analogs of the era. Sonically it is somewhere between Korg Polysix and Roland Juno-60."

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Modded Kawai SX-240 with Reverse Bass Keys

flickr set By kb_cheapmods
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"This is the Kawai SX-240, an 8-voice, 2DCO hybrid analog synthesizer from the early-mid-1980's. The layout and color scheme are very attractive, but the sound is even better. The only limitations I can see for this synth are: 1. DCO2 is square wave only; 2. there is only an alpha dial for altering sounds (not so bad); 3. the MIDI spec is very limited.

Because they are rare and there are no pics of the internals on Flickr, I wanted to photographically document it. I wish I had a better camera, though!

I got this off ebay for relatively cheap. Was stuck on one sound, had a tweaked bender, and missing the large rotary knob. It was pretty dirty when it arrived, so I cleaned it up. The electrical problem was due to two open traces on the digital board from slight battery corrosion. I removed the old NiCd battery, thoroughly cleaned off the PCB, and jumpered the open traces. I replaced the battery with an Li-ion CR2032 (first installing a diode to disallow charging when plugged in). I then restored the presets and voila - back to life!

Other mods I made were to replace the dedicated power cord with a 3-prong IEC socket. I also used a very nice big aluminum rotary knob to replace the missing plastic alpha-type knob.

Update: I recently made some changes to the SX-240. First, those wood end cheeks are really lame: plastic laminated particle board - horrible for such a great sounding synth, so I bought some nice walnut and had them cut to fit. Second, the SX-240 can have a keyboard split at a fixed point on the keys, and since the split marking is a bit subtle (for me anyhow), I decided to make the lower 2 octaves reverse keys. Finally, a lot of the panel tact switches were dodgy, so I went in and replaced them all. I think it looks nicer and certainly more unique!"

KAWAI SX-240 | Analog Synthesizer 1985 | HD DEMO

AnalogAudio1

"(c) 2020 by AnalogAudio1

Synthesizer demo of the analog synthesizer Kawai SX-240 from 1985.

I used an original Korg SDD-3000 for delay effects. All the sounds were programmed by me.

The Kawai SX-240 is a nice fully programmable polysynth with interesting analog sounds. Decent Japanese quality from the mid eighties era.
It has MIDI, 2 DCOs, 1 LFO, lowpass filters, 1 Highpass filter, 2 ADSR envelopes and noise. Ensemble effect (chorus), which make full string sounds possible. Useful unisono modes like Poly-8, Poly-4 or monophonic. Split and Layer capabilities. Built in sequencer. The filters are based on SSM chips as the Korg Polysix. Very underrated, it's capable of excellent synth sounds!"

Kawai SX-240 soundscape V - Gone away

video upload by MIDERA

"Tonight, my daughter called for me after I put her to bed. It's unusual that she calls for me now as she's gotten older. I used to find it so irritating to get these calls, sometimes 3-4 times a night ("Papaaaaaaaaaa... uhm, I love you"). Now it seems to happen once every few months and is usually something more serious (at least to her), so I run up. She's sitting up in bed telling me about how she was terrified I had "gone away." I think she was just afraid I was going to die (of course, we all are going to some day), but it was hard to get that out of her. Usually the harder days are the days she has the most fun, I guess (maybe creating a lot of memories?). I know we're slowly descending into fewer and fewer days to be together, fewer chances to snuggle before bed, to tell 'Kwazii stories.'

I did tell her that some day I will die - and that I hope that day comes long before her time comes. That I won't be feeling anything when I'm gone, and that I would be happier if it were me and not her. That, of course, didn't really make her feel much better. Me staring at her boogery nose and making a face did. She started giggling, and I knew I had cracked the sadness, which faded, and we could say our good nights.

If you remember me saying the other day I had a financial problem - well, it was that I plugged the Kawai SX-240 back in to play it and it was dead. Nothing would happen. I was miserable, because I was planning to sell it and of course it would die before I could! Well, I managed to fix it. If you ever look up the service manual for this thing, it's horrible. I didn't realize how bad it was until I messaged Bob Grieb about his Tauntek eprom update (thinking maybe a bad eprom was the problem). He said it wasn't likely the problem, but sent me his version of the service manual and you can actually see the traces on it (the online version is so bad it didn't even pick up half the traces!). From there, I could see there was a bad solder joint between Pin 3 of the EPROM (I was right, something was wrong with the EPROM!) and Pin 2 of an adjacent IC. And - well, I brought it back to life. Another successful repair.

Kawai SX-240 and Fractal Audio FM3 for FX."

Kawai SX240

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Reflective tape on the case above the keys.

"The Kawai SX-240 is an eight voice, fully programmable polyphonic analog synthesizer released in 1984 as a follow up to the Kawai SX-210. It was manufactured by Kawai but originally released under the Teisco brand-name in Japan when Kawai bought out Teisco. The Kawai SX-240 and the Kawai SX-210 never got much attention due to entering the market during the time of the digital revolution and poor marketing. Its main analog competitors of the time were the Korg Polysix and the Roland Juno 6/60."

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KAWAI TEISCO SX-240 w/ Tauntek OS & Stereoping Controller

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"RARE - KAWAI SX-240 8 VOICE POLYPHONIC SYNTHESIZER w/ built in Sequencer, DUAL/SPLIT/LAYRING abilities, TAUNTEK OS and NEW MEMORY BATTERY! Also included is a BRAND NEW Stereoping SX-240 Synth Controller "Knob Box"!

Approximately 950 of these synths were ever made and these are quite rare and desirable. Many people (including myself) prefer the SX-240 over the Juno's from way back when.

This is a very super clean, excellent condition keyboard, I have literally owned it since I bought it brand new in 1984 from Gamble Music Co. in Galesburg IL."

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Kawai SX-240 Sample

Ever wonder what the Kawai SX240 sounded like? Click here for a sample from WC Olo Garg. It sounds surprisingly like an Akai AX60 or AX80 to me. WC Olo Garb sent me the link to the sample and his SX-240 page. Rather than point directly to that page and risk missing all of the other synth content on his site, I thought I'd link to his gear page instead. Scroll down for the Kawai SX-240, and while there, make sure to browse around. There are some great synth pics and samples. BTW, I thought I recognized the site; I previously posted on it here and here.

Kawai SX-240 (1984) 8 voice analog synthesizer

Published on Apr 16, 2016 Eyepatch Entertainment

"All sounds created on the Kawai SX-240 analog synthesizer.

This isn't greatest rendition of this song, but every part comes from the SX-240.

The sound is like if you crossed a Roland Juno and a Korg Polysix. The oscillators are fat with detuning, and even more so using split mode. Soundwise it is just the best DCO outside of a

The design is wonderful and the synth is small and really well built outside of the battery.

The display is the best part combined with a real keyboard input it has the best patch naming system ever invented.

The analog ensemble is also top notch. Better than the ensemble in the polysix and probably any effects unit in another DCO synth."

Kawai SX-240 with full MIDI CC!

Published on Mar 25, 2017 Sean Ober

"Thanks to the fine folks at tauntek.com, this minty Kawai SX-240 now responds to MIDI CC. Burned a couple new firmware EPROMs, removed about 8 screws, swapped the chips and done! Such an easy, rewarding mod.

Early stages of this available firmware but damn-near complete... hat's off to tauntek.com This is one of only a few SX-240's in the world, this powerful ;o) Shoot, only about 1000 of these boards might have been made and many, many of those died due to battery leaks. Talk about a rare bird.

I also would like to thank Jordan from Cuff Lynx for selling me this bad boy! Thanks and Save The Wave... SynthWave that is!!!"

http://www.tauntek.com/KawaiSX240.htm

KAWAI SX-240

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"The Kawai SX-240 is a 61 key, eight voice, fully programmable polyphonic analogue synthesiser released in 1984 as a follow up to the Kawai SX-210. It boasts has a wide, full analog sound, courtesy of its two analogue DCOs and one sub-osc per voice. You have the options of poly-8, poly-4 and mono modes. In mono mode it is possible to have all 24 oscillators stacked into one for an extremely powerful sound. A rare find these days as well as one of the most aesthetically cool synths out there."

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KAWAI SX-240: Live Deep Dive into this RARE Analog Synthesizer!

video upload by Vulture Culture

"In this livestream we'll deep dive into the extremely rare Kawai SX-240, the king of Kawai's analog synthesizers! We'll cover the patches, as well as sound design with the oscillators and glorious analog filter (SSM2044 - the same filter as the Sequential Prophet 5 rev 1 & 2, Korg Trident / Polysix / Mono/Poly, PPG Wave and Octave Cat Rev2!)"

Kawai SX-240 vintage analog synthesizer

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"Vintage japan analog synthesizer - Kawai SX-240. It is 8 voice polysynth with good sounding DCO and nice SSM filters. So, it is big and good looking machine, with cool led display, which displays the name of patch and some other additional info. The sound itself is wide and big, and you can add onboard quality stereo chorus effect. It has stereo outs, so you can get real stereo chorus sound, or just two separate synth sounds from left and right channels, that is synth is bitimbral. You can split keyboard for two zones, to get one sound from one zone and other sound from other zone. You can even layer one sound on the other sound on all keyboard, to get some complex analog sounds in stereo, really imressive possibility. It has solid bass due to sub osc in dco section. Also there is the "brass" effect which is just ring modulation in fact, so you can extend your sonic palette here. It has onboard MIDI interface. For backup of patches there are tape interface, you can easy make bank of your patches as .wav files on your pc. Patch editing is quite easy and quick, there is one data wheel for data entry, and 4 buttons for goes from one parameter to another, and every parameter indicates by dedicated led. Also there is joystick for sound tweaking, you can point it to bend dco and\or to filter cutoff.

Synth professionally serviced, it is in fully working order, cr2032 battery with socket installed, so no problems with leaking battery in future. Cosmetically it is in exellent shape, just few dings on the sides. There is original Kawai soft bag also, i can include it if you want. AC voltage for synth is 100/110 volt."

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Salyut space child (Sneaky Alien) Kawai SX-240 Synthesizer.

Sneaky Alien

"Slow breaks/abstract type intro/interlude, made using one of my fave Synthesizers - The 1980's Kawai SX240. (C)2020 Porter."

Typo in the original title for the video. It's Kawai SX-240 not Kaiwa.

Kawai SX-240 w/ Tauntek Firmware & Stereoping Midi Controller

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"This SX-240 is in amazing condition. It was completely serviced and calibrated about 3 years ago. I changed the battery a couple years back as well as upgraded with the Tauntek firmware which allows full midi control over all parameters. There are some great max for live devices if you use ableton live. Also included is the Stereoping SX-240 midi controller which gives you quick control over just about everything."

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Unending | Sequential Prophet VS improvisation

video upload by MIDERA

"I was playing the Kawai SX-240 against the Jupiter 6 tonight and started to realize "wow, the Jupiter's filter is really quite 'thin' compared to the SX-240. It's impressive how much better the SX-240 sounds to my ears... so then I pulled out the Sequential Prophet VS and was kind of blown away by how good it and its filters sound. Certainly it is in a class all its own. I found this patch and just really enjoyed improvising.

And this patch was just really inharmonic and just fit these notes…

Sequential Prophet VS
Fractal Audio FM3 for FX"