"Wersi WERSI MATIC CX1 is a programmable rhythm machine / accompaniment from Germany.
The Wersi CX-1 is a Preset Rhythm Accompaniment and Drum Computer. It offers 64 presets with analog based sounds for drums and rhythm accompaniment. It has 3 sounds for bass, 5 for rhythms and 5 for accompaniment sequences. There is no sound editing of the internal synthesizer but the rhythm and drum sequences are user programmable and can be stored internally or via tape interface.
The CX1 has preset rhythms and is also programmable. It has analog sound generation for the drums and the accompaniment. Tape interface for storing own patterns onto tape – like on analog synths as Korg Polysix or Roland Juno-60. The drums sound a bit like the Korg KR-55.
The CX1 was also included in Wersi organs of the day.
"Demo of a Wersi CX1 I just serviced. Showcasing the general functionality of the instrument by fiddling with some presets I made.
This unit is actually more a CX2 since it was upgraded at some point to a CX2. This was a possibility given by Wersi when they released the CX2 not too long after the CX1. Basically it replaced the full analog drum sounds with 12 bit PCM drum samples. Otherwise the CX1 and CX2 shared the same analog arranger and programming unit.
There are still 4 analog drum synthesized sounds in the CX (maracas, claves, tambourine and "synthdrum", the latter being only manually triggered).
The CXs also have 3 SSM2044 filters for the 3 analog parts (bass, chord and arpeggio) and it features a great Wersivoice BBD triple chorus card to give that ensemble sound to the string presets sounds (check my videos about these units if you dont know how they sound).
Both drum and arranger parts are programmable and you can store your own 16 presets, in top of the 48 builtin presets.
Instant 80s and italo disco sound with this unit. Very close in philosphy and sound to the mlighty Bohm Digital Drums, with the latter being a much more advanced unit though."
"Sorry about the long title, but the problem in saying that you play a Wersi organ is that they all came in several versions. Most of them were sold as kits that you assembled yourself and often people upgraded them with new circuitry that Wersi released over the production run.
The Comet was initially released with another drum machine called Wersimatic IV and no 'Magic Fingers', which is a unit that adds arpeggio, automatic chords, and a (primitive) sequencer to the organ. I demonstrated that in an earlier video • Wersi Comet Magic Fingers MFX 5 demo [below]
In this demo I play eight songs using a reasonable amount of the features in the Comet. I am not using multitrack so everything is played 'straight'. I did make quite a few edits along the way, as I am not capable of playing eleven minutes without goofing up something. But it is possible to play the entire demo as it is, because I have added drum fill-ins that are long enough to make it possible to change the settings between songs - the Comet doesn't have user presets, so if there isn't one of the 20 'Wersi Registrier System' fixed presets that suits the song, you have to press a lot of buttons to change the sound.
The songs I play are:
Abracadabra (Steve Miller)
Här kommer Pippi Långstrump (Astrid Lindgren / Jan Johansson)
Τα Παιδιά του Πειραιά / Never on a Sunday (Μάνος Χατζιδάκις)
Chattanooga Choo Choo (Harry Warren / Mack Gordon)
Gungorna och karusellen / Gyngerne og karrusellen (Karl Gerhard / Dix Dennie / Herbert Steen)
Kald det Kærlighed (Lars Lilholt)
Krummes sang (Michael Hardinger / Rasmus Schwenger)
Flower-Power-Kleid / Flower power tøj (Hans Christian Bruhn / Georg Buschor)"
"Since my Wersi Comet started to come back to life again there are three questions I have been asked surprisingly often in the comments: "Does your Comet have a 'Magic Fingers' MFX5 module, does it work, and what does it actually do?"
The first part was easy to answer: Yes, it does have an MFX5. However, until recently it seemed like it wasn't working and I nearly gave up on trying to repair it. But then I noticed a wire that had detached from one of the plugs on the backside of the MFX5 circuit boards in a hard to see and even harder to reach place.
After reattaching it the magic started - once I found a cryptic German user manual online. And so to answer the third part of the question I have now made this video where I go through the things it can do:
Arpeggiator 0:00 Song: "Da' Ya' Think I'm Sexy" (Rod Stewart/Carmine Appice/Duane Hitchings) 2:30 Marimba effect 3:50 Song: "Blue Spanish eyes" (Kämpfert/Singleton/Snyder) 4:35 Automatic Organ Chords 6:13 Song: "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" (Frederick Loewe/ Alan Jay Lerner) 6:55 Sequencer 9:00 Song: "Tjo Och Tjim Och Inget Annat" (Ulf Peder Olrog) 11:05
The only things I don't demonstrate is step-recording of a sequence - which is basically entering the notes one by one followed by a tap on a pedal, and saving/loading from a cassette. I cannot do that because the cassette interface plug is connected to the drum machine and I don't have the instructions on how to connect the MFX5 module to a cassette recorder. The person who build the organ just left the connections on the circuit boards unconnected."
In the beginning of the video I added a little reverb from a Dynacord DRP20 on the drums, all other effects came from the CX1 itself.
Wersi WERSI MATIC CX1 is a programmable rhythm machine / accompaniment from Germany.
The CX1 has preset rhythms and is also programmable. It has analog sound generation for the drums and the accompaniment. Tape interface for storing own patterns onto tape - like on analog synths as Korg Polysix or Roland Juno-60. The drums sound a bit like the Korg KR-55.
The CX1 was also included in Wersi organs of the day."
In the beginning of the video I added a little reverb from a Lexicon MPX500 on the drums, all other sounds came directly dry from the CX2.
Wersi WERSI MATIC CX2 is a programmable rhythm machine / accompaniment from Germany.
The CX2 has preset rhythms and is also programmable. The drums are digital 8-bit samples of real drums. The CX2 It's micro processor controlled, but it has analog sound generation for the accompaniment. A kind of "solina string ensemble" is also on board. Tape interface for storing own patterns onto tape - like on analog synths as Korg Polysix or Roland Juno-60. The Wersi CX2 is the successor of the CX1, which is essentially the same, except the drums. The earlier CX1 has fully analog drum sounds, whereas the CX2 uses digital samples.
The CX2 was also included in Wersi organs of the day. It's similar to the 'Böhm Digital Drums'."
"Wonderful analog Groovebox/Drum Machine/Sequencer/etc/etc from 1982. The later CX2 would replace the sounds with digital samples, but this is the earlier, fully analog model - and you can hear it! Deep, warm, rich and powerful tones - that's how I would describe it! Check the video or YouTube for a demonstration - there are some pretty good examples on there. This thing really grooves effortlessly. There is a fully-programmable sequencer inside too, as well as the in-build rhythms. A 'Super Sequence' mode can be used during playing which runs through all of the stored sequences (which could be up to 512 bars) lasting possibly 20-30 minutes."
"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."
Service:
Recap of PSU
Voltage regulators (7815/7915) are replaced by new ones.
The keyboard contacts were serviced.
Push switches were serviced with IPA.
Several suspicious looking solder joints were reflown.
A better power cable was installed.
220V/50 Hz.
"Wersi WERSI MATIC CX1 is a programmable rhythm machine / accompaniment from Germany.
