The First Roland to Have MIDI?

So was it the Jupiter 6 or the JX3P? I was always under the impression that it was the JX3P, shown at NAMM in 1983, hooked up to the Sequential Circuits Prophet 600. On Dave Smith Instrument's Museum page it states that the JX3P was the synth hooked up to the Prophet 600. "First shipped in December 1982, it was successfully connected to a Roland JX-3P at the January 1983 NAMM show, the first time two MIDI instruments were joined. Look what has happened since!" BTW, as many of you already know, the Prophet 600 is credited as the first synth with MIDI introduced by Dave Smith, the man behind the MIDI spec in 1981. You can read more about MIDI and it's history on wikipedia.

I recently read an article on the Juno 6, 60 and 106 in the July '06 issue of Keyboard Magazine. In it Mr. K of Roland is quoted as saying the Jupiter 6 was the first Roland synth with MIDI and it was the Jupiter 6 shown connected to the Prophet 600 at NAMM.

So I shot an email off to Analog Heaven (AH). Someone there must know. A few interesting replies came in. According to the Keyboard Museum Roland Timeline, the Jupiter 6 came out in 1982 and the JX3P came out in 1983. If this is correct, not only did the Jupiter 6 predate the JX3P, but it would have had to come out in December shortly after the Prophet 600, unless there was an original version without MIDI. If anyone knows, feel free to comment. Someone that joined Roland later that year believes it was the JX3P that came first and was hooked up to the Prophet 600, and one of the employees he worked with claimed to have the JX3P that was shown at NAMM. Finally the shot in this post was sent in. Looking at both synths it is clear that the synth on the right is the Prophet 600 and the one center is the Jupiter 6. The shot is from this Mix Online Article. The caption reads, "Dave Smith (in plaid) demos a Sequential Circuits Prophet 600 controlling a Roland Jupiter-6 at the 1983 NAMM show." So I'm left thinking it was the Jupiter 6, unless of course both were shown at Winter NAMM that year and both were hooked up during the show. And then there was always Summer NAMM.

If anyone out there knows conclusively, please comment.

ZO Waveforms

Title link takes you to shots posted on a new Yahoo! group for Cynthia's Zeroscillator, pronounced "zeeroscillator." Yes you have to join to see the shots. I pulled one for the post. It kind of reminded me of the bat signal. Come to think of it the Zeroscillator kind of reminds me of Batman. Hmm... Not so sure I should be sharing these things...

Update: Ok, just look at them below. They have Batman written all over them. hmm... conspiracy...

Bailey - New Flickr Shot

flickr by weepingrocksins.

Tom gives you pink panties, I give you a plaid synth skirt. Somehow I think I just won the synth geek award of the century.

Plan B Model 24 Heisenberg Generator

Title link takes you there.

Fully voltage controllable random events with independent Stepped and Smooth functions

Computer-generated random source replicates MM5837 noise chip at 16bit

Accepts external sampling voltage and clocks -or- generates it's own random voltage and musical timings

Multifunctional: Smooth/Stepped Random, Noise Source, Slew Limiter, S+H

Update via the man behind Plan B, Peter Grenader, himself:

"The Model 24 Heisenberg Generator is a dual random voltage processor - one side producing smooth (as Ezra Buchla put it - wiggly) random voltage, the other side doing stepped random. It runs off it's own random source, or can be used to process external signals, meaning it can operate as a VC Sample and Hold or Slew Generator. I slipped this one into production when no one was looking, - there was no advance notification. PCBs and faceplates are already on order, most of the parts are already here. Shipping to our dealers will commence in about a month's time.

The M24 uses an Amtel 2051 micro-controller to generate its triggers and internal gate signals (which in some cases are processed into noise in the same manner as the extinct MM5837 noise chip). There are specific reasons why I elected to use a microP for these functions. Details are on the EAR site.

As a further note, shipments of the Model 10 Polyphonic Envelope ($185 retail) and Model 14 Dual Processor ($225 retail) will commence next week.

There are three other products coming in short time. One is long overdue - the four channel stereo mixer/panner. The Model 16 Spectral Mutliplexer is next. The other one has not yet been announced and I'm going to keep it under my belt for a bit longer. All I can mention is it's an Evil Twin.

Evil twin of what will remain a mystery...for now!

peace,

- P"

Sealed's New Roland U-110 Page

Title link takes you to Sealed's new Roland U-110 page with info and samples. It sounds a bit like a Korg Wavestation to me.

The Free Information Society - Schematics

Title link takes you to The Free Information Society Audio Electronic Circuit Schematics page. Synths are on the list.

via Dave

Analoghell - New Flickr Set

flickr by analoghell.

Title link takes you to the set.

"Memorymoog, Jupiter 8 and Waldorf Wave"

Update: The shot belongs to the Turnkey flickr set, so I'm guessing that is where it's from. Can anyone confirm? I heard Turnkey had a room filled with vintage gear but I didn't realize it looked this nice. I also heard most of the gear came from The Museum of Synthesizer Technology and Turnkey has indeed sold most of it off: link to a previous post on the Museum and Turnkey.

Update via GRONDO 2001 in the comments:
"This huge collection used to be there at the bottom floor, but it's been gone for the last 3 years. They used to offer some time in this 'lab' when you bought a hardware sampler, otherwise you couldn't access it. When they got rid of it, they didn't say anything, it was just gone one day, and today it's just another show room."

Update via anonymous in the comments:
"On a number of occasions they would shoot interviews there - anyone who remembers the C4 series "The Shape of Things That Hum" would remember Nick Rhodes being interviewed in there from the Fairlight episode... "

Phillip Werren - Electronic Music (1968-1971)

For those of you wanting to hear some Buchla. Title link takes to more info including a sample.

"In 1971 Phillip Werren released a 4 Lp box through Simon Fraser University of his early Electronic Work which was recorded at S.F.U., McGill University & Radio Warzawa, Poland. Only 100 copies where ever made. A few years ago I discovered this record and was completly blown away. The Lp has heavy elements of tape collage, Modular Synthisis, voice, and experimental thought. Some of the pieces where conceived by psychedelic and occult influences. Much of the record was done with a Buchla System 100,the first of their modular synthesizers. I tracked down Phil in Toronto where's he's been living a number of years. Phil taught music composition and theory at York University in Toronto from 1977 to 1997,where he headed York's Electronic Music Studio."

via Paul Sop.

Two Wasps and a Spider

shots via this auction.

Tiny Little Synths

Title link takes you to a bunch of tiny little synth pictures. via this VSE post. Apologies for this one. I just like tiny little synths.