Kurzweil VA1

2004 Kurzweil VA1 Musikmesse Video Demos

Published on Nov 16, 2015 matrixsynth

"A collection of short demos of the Kurzweil VA1 at the 2004 Musikmesse. The synthesizer never made it into production. The engine instead made it into the PC3X."

Original post from 2005:

The synth that wasn't. It was shown by Kurzweil at either NAMM or the Musikmesse. I forget which. Check out the display. It was a working model and people at the show heard it. The thought at the time was that it needed some polishing and the MSRP was going to be a bit pricey, but people were excited. We haven't heard from Kurweil since as far as I Know.

Update: Thought the following in the comments below was worth putting up in the main post. Thanks Mike. I agree that the competition combined with price at the time is what probably shelved it. It's too bad as it looked like it had a bit of potential. I wonder what the inside word at Kurzweil was; what would the engineers and the team working on this have to say. It's an amazing bit of synth history nonetheless.

"I saw and played the prototype on the 2004 Musikmesse in Frankfurt. It was still in Beta as many features were not working, but it sounded ok, though not spectacular as far as i remember.

Maybe they discontinued it, regarding the competetive market of Va's these days.

However, it's a shame that a manufacturer like Kurzweil seems not to be able to release "their statement" of a 21th century synth. Especially considering the undoubtable genius of Mr. Ray Kurzweil. Maybe it just get's overhauled and will find it's way to the market at one point. But guys, you have to throw something more in there to catch interest. The usual 2 OSC, 2Env one DCF isn't enough these days...

Cheers,

Mike"

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Octave The Cat

New Octave Cat fansite. Great, now I'm going to be reverring to the synth as Octave the Cat. Cool site including samples. Very Goth.

Clone of the Knobs

I previously posted about Club of the Knobs. Title link takes you to some interesting info on them. Remember ARP cloned the Moog filter and backed off, the Octave CAT was perceived as a clone of the ARP Odyssey, and there are plenty of Minimoog clones out there. The line for me is when you one, give due credit and respect to the original (don't hide anything) and two you get the blessing from the original creator if that creator is still in business or owns the design. A clone should be a compliment or a tribute to the original, not a rip off.

Speak and Roil

Flash based Speak and Spell. Title takes you there. Reminds me of the flash based Drum Machines I posted on earlier. Imagineif you were able to sync these online devices. That would be interesting. I can just see the live performance now. The network is down! The network is down! Hey, can you move over a bit, your blocking my wifi.

Breakaway Vocalizer 1000

Via GetLoFi. Interesting. Like a digital vocoder of sorts. Well, more like vocal processor, but still it does look interesting. Click here for a list of programs and some samples. Title link takes you to GetLoFi with some more shots and a link to one for auction.

Remember to use your synths

That might sound odd, but seriously, how many of you have an extra synth or two that doesn't get much attention; just sitting there waiting for the right mood? Well, make sure to turn them on, dust them and tweak them now and then. A common problem is just plain dust setting on contacts and pots. I sometimes find the best fix for a stuck key or scratchy pot is to just use it a bit. The problem sometimes goes away. The title link takes you to a post on Vintage Synth Explorer, where a tech actually says to try using the gear a bit first. Makes you think twice about that "mint" synth on the 'bay that has been locked in storage for years. : )

Ultravox Gear P*rn

Yowsa! I posted earlier on Ultravox, well looks like the thread has updated and there are some amazing live shots of the band's performance in Live Aid '85 and Top of the Pops. I remember staying up all night to see them perform on Live Aid. It was amazing. I'll never forget when Billie Currie whips out the violin during Vienna. Wow. I remember the thing that bothered me at the time was that Midge Ure was the other half setting up Live Aid with Bob Geldof, but it seemed like he got zero credit. I heard he worked a bit on Live 8 with Bob again, but I heard zilch - just a rumor on a blog somewhere. I still need to look it up and confirm. Anyway, Title link takes you to the thread with more shots. If they go down for whatever reason, post a comment in this thread and I'll put them up here. I saved them just in case.

Howard Jones' Prodigy on the 'bay

Update: Via Synthmatic on AH

"Hi,
The Prodigy differences are as follows:

Serial numbers below 4160 have the single audio output and are difficult to
modify.

Serial numbers from 4161 to 8077 are easier to modify and have a newer
printed circuit board which accommodates the appropriate interfacing pads. They
have the single audio output.

Serial numbers 8078 and above have the S-Trig out, Kybd In/Out, OSC In, VCF
In, Sync In, Audio Out jacks.

Moog Music had two kits for the modifications. One was for serial numbers
below 8078 (9 additional jacks) and the other was for serial numbers 8078 and
above (4 additional jacks).
They both had the same overlay in the kits. you just used half of it for
serial numbers 8078 and above.
I have installed the mod for the additional 4 jacks and found it quite
simple. It looked really good too!
Below is the list of jacks from left to right on the rear panel:

[GATE OUT, GATE IN, AUDIO IN, KYBD IN][S-TRIG IN/OUT, KYBD IN/OUT, OSC IN,
VCF IN, SYNC IN] AUDIO OUT

Hope this helps.

DW"

Update: In this shot http://www.matrixsynth.com/blog/media/Moog/howardjonesprodigy/b1_3.jpg it looks like the updated prodigy with extra jacks. You can see the new faceplate.

Update: Multiple sources say the model in the Howard Jones shots is not the factory model with the extra ins and outs, but rather this is:

More pics below.

Update: via AH, there are two models of the Prodigy. The latter had additional inputs and outputs for pitch, VCF, and sync control.

This is an interesting one. In via Vintage Synth Explorer. Click here for the auction. Title link takes you to the larger auction shots saved for posterity.

So, my question is why are these two Prodigies different in the back? See the update above.

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PSP Rhythm Composer Update

I posted about the PSP Rhythm Composer on 8/14. The problem with the Rhythm Composer was that it only works on OS 1.0 and OS 1.50. 1.52 and 2.0 aren't supported. Well, Make just put up a post on how to downgrade from 2.0 to 1.50 for anyone that cares to try. Title link takes you there. I'm going to pass myself and hope the recent OS 2.0 cracks will eventually lead to the PSP Rhythm Composer making it's way to 2.0. BTW, looks like PSP Rhythm Composer also got a new GUI update (pictured below). Compare to the earlier post.

Load of PPGs for sale

You don't see this everyday. Title link takes you to the post.