1977 ROLAND GR-500 Synthesizer-Mindblower Print Ad

via this auction

SUIKO ST-10

via this auction

"SUIKO ST-10 is extremely rare and most strange japanese electronic musical instruments originally made for japanese traditinal music circa. 1980. left side has digital data cassette deck! and right side has internal speaker it has built in 2 way early digital sequencer,digital data cassette and internal memory SUIKO ST-10 is one of the most strange design model from the SUIKO line up.

ST-10 is monophonic instrument and has 2 rows of white square button keyboards. this keyboards specially designed for playing glissando easily like koto(japanese harp) front row of the keyboard is japanese scale,so just playing randomly you can easily get exotic japanese melody! three sounds are selectable,shakuhachi(japanese bamboo flute), koto (japanese harp) and pipe organ. sounds are very analog, warm and strange! there are various switches and knobs for special japanese tuning, sustain, volume, memory controls,etc.. back side panel has AUDIO OUT and AC cable. ST10 has 2 ways of recording memory section,digital data cassette memory and digital internal memory. cassette deck of left side is not a usual analog recorder,it's a digital data recorder such kind of digital data recorder often used with early personal computer in '80s but I have not ever seen used in electronic instruments usage is almost same as a usual cassette recoder but you can change the sound while playback(e.g. koto to shakuhachi) because it just records playing data like sequencer. other recording section is a digital internal memory it's a simple early digital sequencer you can record your play by realtime or note,timing separately"

NAMM: Winter NAMM 2010: Analogue Haven

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http://analoguehaven.com/
Booth featured:
Bubblesound
Cwejman
Doepfer (Dieter Doepfer)
Elektron
Flight of Harmony
Jomox
Livewire (Mike Brown)
Make Noise (Tony Rolando)
Monorocket (Steve Rightnour)
Mungo Enterprises (John Pillans)
STG Soundlabs
The Harvestman (Scott Jaeger)
NIIO analog
Tiptop Audio (Gur Milstein)

This was another case of having too little time. I was only able to take a few shots and one video before NAMM started shutting down for the day. I briefly spoke to a number of people at the booth including Mike Brown of Livewire and Gur of Tiptop Audio. It was nice to finally meet them. I later saw Scott of the harvestman, Dieter of Doepfer as well as Don Hume of NIIO Analog at the TRASH_AUDIO BBQ. Great times. There are two shots in the set of a mini euro-rack modular. I'm sure you'll know which ones they are. :)

Be sure to see this vid and search for some of the manufacturers listed for video.

NAMM: Kurzweil

Just one quick shot rushing by the booth. So little time... If you go NAMM, don't make my mistake and give yourself more than one day. That or move quick. ;)

http://kurzweil.com/

NAMM: Winter NAMM 2010: Access Music

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http://www.access-music.de/

NAMM: Winter NAMM 2010: Big City Music

Pics of the Big City Music at NAMM 2010

Featured:
http://bigcitymusic.com/
Booth included:
4ms Pedals
Analogue Systems
Cwejman
Dewanatron
Diabolical Devices
Dirty Boy Pedals
Eowave
flight of harmony
Ham Heart
Jomox
Mellotron

Metasonix (Eric Barbour)
Sherman
Signal Arts
Surfin Kangaro
Malekko / Wiard

If I missed any, let me know! I forget the name of the orange red device in the bottom image. I've posted it a number of times. It's on the tip of my tounge, but I can't freakin remember. It's driving me crazy! :)

Update via Josh Humphrey and Dan in the comments: It's the 4ms Bend Matrix Joy Toy. Some previous posts including video here.

I met Roger Cordell owner of Big City Music, Josh Humphrey of Big City Music, Eric Barbour of Metasonix, Shagghie, and Wolfgang Michalowicz of Surfin Kangaroo. All great people. Be sure to see this video on the Surfin Kangaroo and this video on the Metasonix D-1000. Click here for a search on bigcitymusic which will bring up more videos of what was shown at NAMM.

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NAMM: Winter NAMM 2010: Way Out Ware

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Jim Heintz of Way Out Ware

Jim showed my his iSample sampler / recorder / looper for the iPhone. It's currently available on iTunes here. He also brought us the TimewARP 2600 and Kick Axxe, both highly acclaimed emulations. iSample is very, very slick. This actually got me pretty excited. One of the things I am eagerly looking forward to is the new Apple tablet to be announced on the 26th. I spoke to Jim a bit about it and if it has the horsepower and capability he will be interested in developing for it. I can't wait to see what comes from him next.

Be sure to see this demo video.

NAMM: Winter NAMM 2010: Radikal Technologies

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Radikal Technologies

Shot of Jörg Schaaf of Radikal Technologies playing his Spectralis 2 taken from the Noisebug booth next door. The Spectralis 2 is on fine sounding synth. I'll have some video of it at NAMM coming up in the next couple of days. I had a fun talk with Jörg. I love his synths, both the Spectralis line and the Quasimidi Polymorph which I own.

NAMM: Winter NAMM 2010: Noisebug

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http://noisebug.net/
Booth included:
Analogue Solutions (Tom Carpenter)
Buchla and Associates (Don Buchla)
Moonmodular (Gert Jalass)

I met Gert Jalass and Don and Ezra Buchla briefly. All super nice. Gert gave me an overview of his Moonmodular system and I was given a brief overview of the Buchla 200e system.

Note the Analogue Solutions business card below. Click on the image and read it. It's an actual LFO! Apparently it will work if you build it.

Europa 2010 prototype and Leipzig below.

NAMM: Winter NAMM 2010: Waldorf

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I had an enjoyable talk with Stefan Stenzel.

I posted this in the comments, but thought I'd put it up here as well: I didn't ask when it would be available. I was more curious what led them to the Zarenbourg. Stefan said they wanted to do something new and there was just something about the immediacy of the interface. It is real and it is coming. The unit wasn't producing sound and some of the knobs were not working but you could get a feel for it. The effect lights have two levels of luminosity, dim if active and bright if selected. You can have any combination of the effects.

We also talked a little about previous Waldorf synths and Largo. I told him I'd love Largo on the upcoming Apple slate. :) We'll see...