Raymond Scott Clavivox electronic performance instrument leaflet, addressed to Thomas L. Rhea

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via this Reverb listing

This one appears to have been listed back in 2017.

"Selling this very rare small leaflet of the Raymond Scott Clavivox performance instrument, addressed to Thomas L. Rhea in Nashville. The Clavivox is the brother of the Raymond Scott Electronium, also a super rare synthesizer.

Note the small imperfection on the photo of the Clavivox instrument on this leaflet. The overall condition is great."

You can find a few posts mentioning Thomas Rhea here.

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Moog Sonic Six mk2 vintage analog synthesizer + handbook + brochure

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via this auction

"Up for sale is a hard to find vintage Moog Sonic Six synthesizer. It's the later version with 4-pole Moog ladder filter which has the fattest sound. In our opinion the Sonic Six is the best sounding portable vintage Moog ever made. It's really, really an amazing synth!

This Sonic Six is been serviced in June 2018. The service report is part of the sale. Everything is working fine. Cosmetically it's in very nice condition as well. All the original knobs are there, the front panel is extremely clean, the keys are looking good and so on. The hardcase has signs of use: some scratches, wear and tear and the latches are have little rusty spots on them. Please check all the photos to get a complete overall impression of the condition.

The brochure (1974) and instruction book by Thomas L. Rhea (1972) are included in the sale.The Sonic Six is working on 230v. A power cord with European plug is included. The serial number is: 1653."

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Original Raymond Scott Clavivox Brochure from the 60s

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via this auction

"This is your chance to own this vintage Clavivox Brochure with all the information about the vintage Raymond Scott Clavivox . This brochure has an original stamp of Thomas L Rhea on it. This brochure contains 2 pages.

This is a must-have for any vintage synthesizer collector as these are getting very hard/impossible to find these days.

This brochure has no highlighting or underlining . This catalog is in very good condition , see the picture's for more detail."

Update: I originally tagged this as from the 70s. Make that the 60s, via @_Raymond_Scott of the Raymond Scott Archives (check out the Raymond Scott timeline here):

".Circa late-1960s"

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WDR Radio Program on Harald Bode October 8

This one in via John Levin:

"Here's the info which was forwarded to me by some of the people involved in producing the program:

'On 10/08/11 at 23.05 European time it´s finally Part two of the Harald Bode story: Westdeutscher Rundfunk 3 Cologne will present "Music Is My Field- Harald Bode: The Art of Engineering and Homestudio Music" It is about traces of his work in different musical styles from the thirties til the eighties, - from "Melodium" melodies to "BarberPolePhaser" sound. And it´s about his own music. If you go to http://www.wdr3.de/open-freiraum/aktuell.html and click "stream"(rechts in der Mitte), you will find the right player for your OS Or: Below stream you will find the "Radiorecorder" ("Stream" and "Radiorecorder" are provided by WDR 3. Sorry I can´t give any support. I recommend "radiorecorder" though for better sound quality.)

Here the announcement by the editor WDR 3 Markus Heuger:
"The story of the inventor of many electronic instruments, one of which was the inspiration for the first Moog Modulars, is also the story of the myth around Electronic sound. In the beginning it was mostly seen as a technological gimmick or miracle, or as a danger for culture itself. Electronic sound since has become an everyday´s part of our musical life. Harald Bode was admidst this evolution. He invented seventeen instruments between 1937 and 1984. You can hear them in academic music of the Fifties, as well as in Disco music of the 80ties. WDR 3 open: FreiRaum presents the witchkitchen of the inventor and "soundpractioner", who lived until 1987. He called his own music "commercial ". His studio and instruments he called "only means ". "What miraculous means!"

Here the announcement by the editor WDR 3 Markus Heuger:
This work was made possible through through support & help by: Peer Bode, Rebekkah Palov, Devin Henry, Andrew Deutsch, Chris McDaniel (Institute of Electronic Arts, Alfred University, Bode Archive/Alfred und Hornell/ USA), Silke Berdux (Deutsches Museum München), Dr Wilhelm Füssl und den Mitarbeitern des Archivs Deutsches Museum Jan Groth, Goethe Schiller Archive Weimar (Germany), Jan Groth, Frau Harting (Bundesarchiv / German State Archiv), Herrn Fritsche und Herrn Rieden (University Bonn), Leslie Bellavance (Dean at School of Art and Design, NYSCC at Alfred University, Alfred USA). Stephan Kühmayer(WAST), Hans-Joachim Maempel (Technical University, Berlin), Gisela Simons (Sound Archive Bayerischer Rundfunk), Elena Ungeheuer (Technical University, Berlin), Thomas Rhea (Berklee College of Music, Boston, MA,USA), Dietmar Schenk und all Co-Workers (Archivs of University of Arts Berlin, Georg und Hanne Steinmeyer (Estey Organ Museum, Brattleboro, VT, USA ), Elena Ungeheuer (Technical University Berlin) Woody and Steina Vasulka (Alburuerque, NM, USA) and the sound archive of Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln.'"

Magnificent R.A. Moog modular (60s)

via Vemia

"One of the five or so most important items we have ever had in VEMIA: a large R.A. Moog modular hand-made for one client in stages from 1968-1970, in excellent condition and complete working order. This wonderful instrument is being serviced and renovated by Stephen Masucci, one of the very top Moog restorers, as recommended by Dr Thomas Rhea of Moog fame. The current photos were taken before that renovation, and it will be even more beautiful once Stephen has finished with it. It will also sound superb, with its early 901 oscillators etc., etc.. It consists of four beautiful original cabinets, a superb pair of original keyboards, and what could well be unique: a fixed-filter-bank switching device which has all the hallmarks of a Bob Moog one-off. The modules are:- (3) 901 Voltage Controlled Oscillators (1) 901 A Oscillator Controller (4) 901 B Oscillators (3) 902 Voltage Controlled Amplifiers (1) 903 White Sound Source (2) 904 A Voltage Controlled Low Pass Filters (1) 904 B Voltage Controlled High Pass Filter (1) 904 C Filter Coupler (2) 905 Reverberation Units (1) 905 B Scale Programmer (1) 907 Fixed Filter Bank with in/out switch for each filter (1) 910 Power supply circa 1974 (3) 911 Envelope Generators (1) 911 A Dual Trigger Delay (1) 912 Envelope Follower (2) 950 Stacked Keyboards (1) 960 Sequential Controller (1) 961 Sequencer Interface (1) 962 Sequential Switch (1) 4 Input active line level mixer with click filter (1) 4 Input passive line level mixer with low & high pass filters (1) Various patch points including trunk lines and 4 sets of multiples The last two digits of module serial numbers have been removed in the photos because the owner values his privacy. Remember the photos were taken before the roughly $5000 Stephen Masucci restoration. We have asked Mr Masucci for a written appraisal of this instrument, including its condition and the reason why it is important in Moog history - to follow, I hope. The instrument will be packed and shipped from his workshop, so this will be done by someone with much experience of shipping instruments of this size, weight, and quality (including Dr Rhea's own modular). **The restoration is going well as of 13/4/10, but because of Stephen's other commitments for the rest of the month the likely completion date is not till May 7. That will give the winning bidder a few more days to complete the payment.** **If it is bought by someone outside the USA there may be tax / duty to pay by the importer. In the UK, for instance, there would currently be duty at around 3.2% and VAT at 17.5%.**"

Synth Books

See the Synth Books label for more.
Also see the scans label for more synth documentation.


The A-X of Analogue Synthesizers by Peter Forest


Vintage Synthesizers by Mark Vail


Essential Retro by James Grahame

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Synthmas Presents

And I'm back. Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. I thought I'd put up a post on the synth goodies I got for xmas this year. Belated xmas presents on my list are James Grahame's Essential Retro, Peter Forests revised A-Z Books and the Analogue Heaven Synthesizer Museum book, and finally the Moog DVD.

Different Skies Arcs & Angles DVD
Synth centered music performance that happened this year. I put up a few posts including this one when I heard about it. I can't wait to check out this performance.


Learning Music With Synthesizers
Cool book about sound synthesis authored by David Friend and Alan R. Pearlman of ARP as well as Thomas D. Piggott. Not sure if Piggott was part of ARP; if you know feel free to comment. The book came out in 1974 and uses the ARP Odyssey as an example to demonstrate creating different types of sounds.


Synthesizer Basics
Haven't had a chance to flip through this one yet, but it looks good. Features Bob Moog, Roger Powell, Tom Rhea and Steve Porcaro. Volume 1 put out by Keyboard Magazine back in 1984.



Analog Days
This one is coming in the mail. I posted on this earlier as well. I can't wait to read this one as it will be more about the history of synthesis and should be a great read.


Real World Digital Audio
I also received a copy of Peter Kirn's Real World Digital Audio. I'm hearing it's a great book and just looking through the chapters I'm looking forward to it.


Oh, and of course there was this amazing surprise. : )