MOTM / Synthesis Technology's Paul Schreiber Has Passed Away

Paul Schreiber at CONTROL in 2018


It has come to my attention that Paul Schreiber has passed away.

Pictured: Paul Schreiber at the 2006 NAMM show. Top from this previous post (pic by fr1zz), and bottom from this post (pic by Synthtopia) - this is the first image of Paul on the site. There is one comment in that post: "He's a good guy." Indeed.

Readers of the site should be familiar with his work. He was the man behind MOTM and Synthesis Technology.

To say Paul was one of the greats to influence the synth community would be an understatement. He was pivital to the rebirth of modular synthesizers. He started when modular as we know it today was in its infancy, as one of a very small group of large format DIY modular manufacturers along with Blacet, Modcan, Cynthia, Wiard, Oakley, STG, Catgirl/CGS, Tellun/Lower West Side Studio YuSynth, Jurgen Haible, and of course DIY staples like Thomas Henry/ MFOS, Ray Wilson and PAiA (see this post for some modular formats back in 2007). I focused mainly on those offering DIY. There were other manufacturers including Synthesizers.com, Club of the Knobs, MOS-LAB, Moon Modular, MacBeth, CMS, and more. Feel free to mention others in the comments. This post is about Paul, but I think it's important to reflect on some of the large format modular manufactures he was amongst at the time.

Paul created the MOTM format of 5U modules in 1998. MOTM stood for Module of the Month offering monthly DIY kits. From Wikipedia: "MOTM was created by Paul Schreiber in 1998. The system was created in part due to the renewed interest in large-format analog modular systems that occurred in the late 1990s. Between 1998 and 2021, over 8000 modules were sold. The company, Synthesis Technology, also offered a limited number of modules in Eurorack[2] and Frac[3] format."

He was also helped design the Moog/Realistic MG-1. From Wikipedia: "In 1980, Moog Music was seeking to contract manufacture a mass-marketable synthesizer which could be sold via a large retailer. Moog representatives secured an appointment at the Radio Shack corporate offices for a 5-minute demonstration. Radio Shack approved the concept, and Paul Schreiber (then employed by Tandy Systems Development) worked together with Moog on the synthesizer's design to achieve Radio Shack's price requirements.[2][3]"

He later joined the eurorack scene with Synthesis Technology branded modules. FYI, his site for MOTM was always http://www.synthtech.com/, short for Synthesis Technology. The first post to mention Paul and MOTM was posted just under twenty years ago here on MATRIXSYNTH back on August 26, 2005. If you click through you will see it was a post announcing the MOTM/synthtech.com site was going down for the weekend. He announced he was retiring from the synthesizer business in August of 2023.

I beleive the first synthtech eurorack module was the MOTM E340 Cloud Generator. The first demos were posted on July 14, 2009, followed by a mockup of the front panel on July 20. The first post to mention Synthesis Technology was an Epic Son track by John L Rice in August of 2011. Since then there has been approximately 845 posts to feature MOTM, and at least 398 Synthtech.

You can find a number of interviews with Paul in previous posts here.

It's worth repeating, Paul Schreiber was one of the key figures that brought modular back to the masses. He was both respected and loved by the synth community. It's impossible to overstate his influence. He will be missed.

The following are the first the last video interviews with Paul to be featured on the site:

The SynthSummitShow Episode 2: Paul Schreiber (Synthesis Technology) and A.Dapt (music producer) ...

Streamed live on Oct 2, 2015 Flux302 of Fluxwithit.com. Details previously posted here.

SysEx Dumpster - Episode 44 - a conversation with Paul Schreiber
video upload by Sysex Dumpster on Jul 30, 2023. Details previously posted here.

The first videos to feature Paul presenting a module was back on January 3, 2010, and the first interview on SoundCloud in 2013, and he was of course featured in the modular documentary film I Dream of Wires.

Spectral Sample Pack by Fans of Collision Sounds

video upload by Ross Totino and Fans of Collision

"Spectral Pads Sample Pack available at:

https://rtotino.gumroad.com/l/pazvmr for Logic EXS

https://rtotino.gumroad.com/l/jolvy for NI Kontakt

https://rtotino.gumroad.com/l/oohve for UVI Falcon

Nine multi-sampled instruments were created using a modular system that includes a Blacet MiniWave module, analog and digital Noise Generators, audio rate PWM, and a Yamaha FS1R as sound sources. The package contains 2GB of sample data and is available for purchase at Fans of Collision Sounds (link provided in the description)."

Nonlinearcircuits MACRAME | LOGORRHEA | VCF 1

video upload by cirtcele

"Macrame is a 6 channel mixer with voltage controlled level and panning. It uses two SSI2190 chips to do all the work.

You can use the SET pots to operate the level and pan manually, or use CV to get things moving around and up and down.

It has two synth level outputs, two line level ¼” jack outputs and a stereo line output (which works fine with most headphones too).

For some reason, probably because I was slightly askew on post-op painkillers when designing this, the panel is 21HP. I guess this means I need to release more odd HP modules to avoid gaps in cases."


LOGORRHEA

video upload by cirtcele

"Logorrhea is kind of a vocal filter; basically it is the back half of a vocoder crammed into 8HP. There are two inputs, 10 filter channels, a white noise channel and a thru channel, to feed thru the original signal(s). It uses two SSI2190 chips to do all the work.

There are no knobs.

To use, patch in one or two audio signals. Ones with lots of harmonics sound best, pulses, squares or wave-folder outputs, not sinewaves.

Patch in a bunch of CVs to set up your sounds, it expects 0-5V CV signals.

OUT is all channels mixed together.

OUT A is thru, LP (low pass), BP2, BP4, BP6 and BP8 (BP = bandpass).

OUT B is noise, BP1, BP3, BP5, BP7 and HP (high pass).

Using OUT A and OUT B in a stereo mixer (such as NLC Macramé) is nice with panning to move the sounds around."


FAST AND BULBOUS VCF
video upload by cirtcele

"This module uses the SSI2140 chip which is based on the SSM2040 VCF, tho with a few updates.

My first thought when I read the datasheets was that it would be great to design a module that could switch between a phaser and a VCF. Looking back at old SSM2040 designs, it seems most of the usual suspects (T. Henry, J. Blacet, C. Anderton et al) had much the same idea.

This module is based on Anderton’s design in Device 1-6 (yes, I spotted the error) with modifications to suit the SSI2140 and Eurorack.

There are 4 switches, one for each OTA stage, to select between (all pass (phaser) and low pass filter mode. You can have quite a lot of fun with 2-3 switches in one mode and 1-2 in the other.

There is a dry mix pot to mix the incoming signals into the OUT signal, which is taken from the 4th OTA stage. This is probably more commonly used in Phaser mode, but there are no rules, so do whatever you like.

POLES is a weighted mix of the outputs of each pole, it is a bit shy when all switches are turned to Low Pass but perks up very nicely when one or more switches turned to Phaser.

The SSI chip is a bit tight to solder, have your bottle of flux ready, otherwise it is a pretty easy build."

Blacet Research Frac Rack Modular Synth System w/7 Modules & SKB Rack

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this listing, also on Reverb

"Tested and functioning as intended. Includes SKB rack and owner's manuals for 6 of the 7 modules.

Modules are:
BZ2300 Binary Zone
VCO2100 VCO
EG12070 ADSR/AD/LFO
VCA2200 Quad VCA/Mixer
MODEL2040 Mixer/Processor
FF2030 Low Pass/Notch Filter
DSC2000 Dark Star Chaos"

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Paia 2720 + 4700 (1970's DIY modular synthesizers)

video upload by Tinfoil Cat

"I've been telling myself for too long that I should post more Paia videos. This is an old video shot before I fixed the keyboard on the 2720 (broken sample and hold as you might hear). The main part is 4700, the 2720 helps out with a fourth VCO. The spring reverb is a little noisy.

These were available as kits from Paia starting in the 1970's. The 2720 is closely related to the 2700 that arrived on the market over 50 years ago!"

Interesting side note via sdiy.info:

"Frac rack, FracRak or Frac, from Fractional Rack, is the modular synthesizer format designed by John Simonton of PAiA. It has a mainly USA following largely through the popularity of Blacet modules.

Like the Eurorack format, Frac is considered a 3U format..."

Blacet Research 2090 Mini Wave wavetable frac rack modular Grant Richter / Wiard

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

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"Blacet Research 2090 Mini Wave. Classic wavetable module designed by Grant Richter. Factory build. Cosmetically in excellent condition with a small amount of rack rash. Tested, working exactly as it should."

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Modways by Benge

video upload by zack dagoba

"A simple sequencer sketch on the Modcan A Series, using the ever-wonderful Modcan Wiard/Blacet Mini-Wave wavetable VCO"

Blacet Modular System Fracrack Synthesizer System

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

Additional Tone Tweakers Listings, also on Reverb

"This is a 3 rack set of hard to find pre-assembled Blacet Modular frac rack compatible modules. Fracrack or fractional rack modules were the precursor to eurorack modulars, and some feel they sound better than the euro rack standard. Some of these modules were factory assembled and some were not. There are a couple partially cut wires in the non-factory assembled modules that we will probably remove entirely before shipping. All modules were tested individually in another system and determined to be working properly. Power supply and and rack enclosure are not included. If you need a power supply, please email us as we may be able to provide one for an additional cost.

This sale includes the following:

3 racks

Rack 1:
STG multiples
Blacet Research VCO 2100
Blacet Research Dual Filter 2420
Blacet Research Final Filtre 2030
Blacet Research EG1 2070
Blacet Research Dual Lin VCA 2410

Rack 2:
STG multiples
Blacet Research VCO 2100
Blacet Research Dual Filter 2420
Blacet Research Final Filtre 2030
Blacet Research EG1 2070
Blacet Research Dual Lin VCA 2410

Rack 3:
Blacet Research Stonz 2440
Blacet Research Window Comparator 2700
Blacet Research Dual Filter 2420
Blacet Research Klang Werk 2010
Blacet Research Time Machine 2050

15 frac rack power cables"

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BLACET Frac Synth with 10 Modules and Case

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.
Blacet Research MD2600/2650 Module Tutorial video upload by jblacetIII

From the listing:

"SCANNER

This selects three inputs via a control voltage and sends it to the output. Musically interesting, and you can see the YouTube video on how this one's designed."

via this auction

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Blacet Research Frac Format Modules

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via these listings

Blacet Research 2310 Filthy Filtre frac modular multi-mode VCF

Blacet Research 2000 Dark Star Chaos frac rack modular very rare first run Rev 0 module

Blacet Research 2010 Klang Werk frac modular complex ring modulator

Blacet Research 2200 VCA Quad Mix frac modular voltage controlled mixer / VCA

Blacet Research 2070 EG1 voltage controlled ADSR/AD/LFO frac rack modular

Blacet Research 2410 Dual Linear VCA frac rack modular

Blacet Research 2210 Multiple/Attenuator frac rack modular

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3am - Stumble

video upload by justin3am

"A self-playing patch featuring Serge, Lorre-Mill, Blacet/Frac and Bugbrand modular synths and ZOIA Euroburo from Empress FX. Bad lighting but some neat sounds. Probably longer than it needs to be, lol."

Blacet Research Audio Synth Modules

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

"Blacet Research Audio Synth Modules, set of 6, FRAC Rack compatible, with 15v power supply. Everything powers up and is working just fine, but see detailed description below. FRAC rack modules are sized the same as Eurorack and API 500 series, but have 15v power requirement. The sale here includes a complete analog synth set, with the power supply. One of the six modules though (the chaos noise module) does not have a power supply base connector, so some electrical wiring is needed to power that one. The included power supply here has leads that plug directly into each of the other five modules, so those five are ready to "plug and play." Your on your own though as far as figuring out how to power up the Dark Star Chaos module.

Manuals for operating each of the six modules are included.

I believe you can mount these modules in a number of different types of racks. I used a 3-unit 19" wide audio rack, plus I had rails with mounts for the modules and rack ears to attach to that standard 19" audio rack. No mounting material is included with this sale, but it's easy enough to get that stuff. Check at Blacet.com if you have doubts.

From Blacet.com, you can get more info. Here is a general comment from their FAQ:

"ARE USED BLACET MODULES A GOOD BUY?" WE DON'T PRODUCE HUNDREDS OF ANY ONE MODULE, SO THE USED DEPARTMENT IS PRETTY SLIM. DON'T EXPECT MANY BARGAINS... THE EURO MODULES TEND TO USE +/-12V POWER; THE AMERICAN, +/-15V. OUR +/-15V AND POWER CONNECTOR SYSTEM IS FULLY COMPATIBLE WITH SYNTHESIS TECHNOLOGY (MOTM). THE NEW PAIA MODULES CAN BE RUN OFF OUR +/-15V SUPPLY BY USING A PAIA TO BLACET CABLE AND REMOVING OR JUMPERING THE PAIA MODULE POWER INPUT RESISTORS. SEE THE PAIA SITE FOR MORE INFO. OTHER MAKERS SUCH AS WIARD AND METALBOX ALSO USE OUR CONNECTOR."

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Wiard 300 System

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

"Wiard 300 system comprising one each of the original eight modules. Assembled by Grant Richter. Original owner.

341 Classic VCO
342 Waveform City
321 Sequantizer
331 Dual Envelator
351 Omni Filter
371 Woggle Bug
352 Borg Filters
361 Dual Mixolator
19” Rack Mounting Frame (Blue)
Blacet P500 Power Supply (x2)
Power cables"

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Synton 3000 frame with CGS Serge, Blacet and Jurgen Hailble modules

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

"The Synton modules were expertly rebuilt and all the pots are a year old. The CGS Serge, Jurgen Haible Frequency shifter modules and Blacet were built and re-paneled by the same engineer who worked on the Synton 3000 only 6 months ago. It really does sounds great. If I were to keep it I would replace the PS with a nice linear supply but works fine as-is.

3017 VCF (2 pole state variable filter)
3224 Hi/Low Pass VCF
3005 EGR (ADSR)
3010 VC-EGR (VC-ADSR)
3218 INV / SLR (Dual inverter/offset and slew limiter)
3233 S&H / LFO
3235 ENV / CPR (Envelope follower, comparator, and trigger delay)
Blacet 2100 VCO
Blacet / Wiard Miniwave with Socket Rocket
CGS Serge WAD (Wilson Analog Delay)
Jurgen Haible FS-1A Frequency Shifter
CGS Serge Dual Pre-amp
Blacet Power-supply and distro unit

All housed in a 6u 13" deep steel Hammond rack."

PAIA 2700/4700 MODULAR ANALOG SYNTHESIZER

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

"A few years ago I decide to take my 1974ish PAiA synthesizer and rebuild it. I researched components by consulting with Scott Lee of PAiA. I designed custom panels through Front Panel Express. To keep the engraving costs down I went with a minimalistic look that was reminiscent of PAiA yet totally original with a vintage vibe, especially the knobs.

I had Steve Wood, a former PAiA Tech from back in the day, do all the module refurbishing. Most of the major components on the boards were replaced & all ICs socketed. The audio path has upgraded caps and Burr-Brown op-amps. All front panel parts and hardware are new. Taking Marvin Jones’ advice, I replaced all the control voltage “pin jacks” with 3.5mm audio jacks. These are grounded so I could interface the PAiA with my other modular gear.

Multi-turn pots are used for VCO frequency tuning (they look like the pots on the old “Putney” synth!). The “bouncy” push button switches are replaced by momentary toggle switches and all of the switches are now toggle switches with vintage looking paddles.

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John Blacet's Blacet Research Modular

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

"Blacet Research Analogue Synthesizer Rack:

14 analogue synthesizer modules mounted in a "Frac Rack" type cabinet:

2 VCOs, 4-tap control voltage delay and digital noise generator, MIDI to control voltage/gate/sequencer, wavetable VCO, voltage controlled LFO, Delay/Attack/Decay LFO Envelope module, Dual VCA, Multi attenuator, IEC-type removable 120VAC power cable, 2 dozen assorted patch cables, extra power supply harness. User manuals for all modules, full documentation (manual, parts list, assembly instructions, schematic) for eight modules.

John Blacet was an electronic engineer, designer and all around smart guy who invented and manufactured music synthesizer building block modules in kit form for 37 years. This one was his own."

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Wiard 300 Modular Synthesizer

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

"Up for grabs is an amazing and legendary modular synthesizer system. If you are looking at this I’m sure you have a sense about how special these systems are.

2x Classic VCO
2x Envelator
Mixolator
Borg Filter
311a Joystick Controller
Rack Frame
Blacet psu"

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Blacet Filthy Filtre VCF Frac Format

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

"12 dB State Variable design
Voltage control of frequency and Q
Two position Q switch: "Filthy: X10, X100"
+/- CV mod attenuator with switchable destination: Freq or Q
VC mode select: switch or morph (LP, BP, HP, All Pass)!
Plus separate mode outs: LP, BP, HP, Notch

This is a 12dB/octave response voltage controlled filter. The design is based on the classic State Variable configuration that provides simultaneous low pass, band pass and high pass outputs. In addition, the Filthy Filtre has notch and all pass (phase shift) outputs.Voltage controlled Q is also provided with a special dual range feedback circuit that gives maximum total crunchy mind warping self oscillation. Beware your ear drums, amps and tweeters at high levels! An additional modulation input, routable to either frequency or Q through a bipolar attenuator, is a handy feature.The mode or filter type is also voltage controllable, allowing switching or morphing between low pass, band pass, high pass and all pass filter types. Separate audio outs for most filter types are also found at the module bottom.

Note : as this is a Frac module it is not power-compatible with eurorack systems (ie this needs +- 15V)

if you have a frac system however it is patch compatible with a eurorack system"

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Synton 3000 Modular w/ 8 Modules

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

"recently serviced / rebuilt lot of eight Synton 3000 modules housed in a Blacet frame and power. The modules have MXR style knobs to fit with my Fenix I due to not being able to source the originals.

3005 EGR (ADSR)
3006 MPL (1 CV in to 4 CV out with attenuators)
3010 VC-EGR (VC-ADSR)
3017 VCF (2 pole state variable filter)
3218 INV / SLR (Dual inverter/offset and slew limiter)
3224 Hi/Low Pass VCF
3233 S&H / LFO
3235 ENV / CPR (Envelope follower, comparator, and trigger delay)

Everything works great and there’s not a scratchy knob to be found. The two CEMs have the AS variants, but if you really want the OG CEMs, they are socketed and could easily swap them out of you wish."

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5U Modular Synth Cat

Modules in this system are actually going up for sale. The first two just posted below.

Moon Modular 568 Trigger Sequencer + 568A Assistant & 568P Programmer Synth

Blacet Time Machine Delay TM2050 Dotcom / MU Modular Synthesizer SN 10000126