ARP Omni-2 - the classic Joy Division keyboard

YouTube Published on May 19, 2012 by SynthManiaDotCom

"When I was a teenager in the mid-1980s, like many of my teenager friends I was very fascinated by Joy Division, in particular by their album "Closer". I remember that in those days I used to put Closer on the turntable, turn off the lights in my room, and fall asleep to the music. The music from Closer was very beautiful and hypnotic, and left a big impression on me. In particular I loved the synth strings used in that album. It was the ARP Omni-2, also used in other songs by the band. A great album, a great performance by the band, a masterful production by Martin Hannett, and a big influence for my music since those days.."

EMS Powertran Transcendent 2000 Analog Vintage Synth

via this auction

"Ok here is a bit of an oddity its a boxed Transcendent 2000 synth which was designed by EMS and sold mainly in kit form in the late 70s. This unit comes in original box with filtersweep pedal. This synth was used by many UK acts including Joy Division - there is actually a picture of Bernard Sumner and Martin Hannett using one in the studio - in the 70s. This one is in excellent cosmetic condition although it has lost many of the silver caps on the knobs and two knobs are missing (easy to buy new ones from Maplin of course!!!). Performance wise its a bit quirky - the original owner had it stored since the 80s, I bought it for a studio session now completed - all knobs work and effect the sound and all keys trigger although the filter section is a bit iffy as it cuts out at times, it needs a proper service to get the best from it. That said it can produce some truly evil sub frequencies and ridiculous Hawkwind-like pink noise sweeps. You can get some great lead sounds on it too. Inside everything is clean and it has been neatly put together. There are schematics online and loads of mod options for those adept with a soldering iron."

Powertran Transcendant 2000

via this auction

"As used by Joy division on "insight" 1979

Heres a link to a photo of the Legend "Martin Hannett" playing around with the synth"

Powertran Transcendent 2000 Synthesiser Demo

via this auction
"It is an unusual single-oscillator fully analogue monosynth produced in kit form by Powertran, UK in the late 1970s. It was used by legendary producer Martin "Zero" Hannett on Joy Division's "Unknown Pleasures" album - mostobviously on the track "Insight" where it can be heard wibbling away over Peter Hook's bassline.

As befitting a synthesiser designed by Tim Orr, the man behind the extraordinary EMS Synthi, the Transcendent 2000 has a couple of little surprises up its sleeve, namely:
1. The ADSR envelope generator can be set to repeat mode, turning the envelopes into a second (low-range) LFO
2. The ADSR envelope generator can be bypassed, allowing the oscillator to sound indefinitely, perfect for drones, wind noises etc
3. The oscillator has 2 waveforms, a variable square and a triangle. Somewhat unusually, the later's shape is adjustable from a ramp to a sawtooth allowing some rather subtle, delicate timbres to be created.
4. There is also VCF input that takes the supplied expression pedal, allowing the filter's cutoff to be played like a wah-wah. Talking of which, the filter can self-resonate with the best of them and can be switched between bp and lp modes.

Sound-wise, this synth excels at abstract drones and soundscapes, random machine noises, flowing leads and rather haunting solo violin type sounds. It's certainly no Synthi but it capable of far more sonic goodness than its simple architecture might suggest!"

Powertran Transcendent 2000 Demo by The Purple People Strings
"All sounds (including drums and percussion) generated by my Transcendent 2000. Recorded in Reaper with a little delay and reverb added afterwards.

The Transcendent 2000 was an English single oscillator monosynth produced in kit form in the late 1970s. Designed by Tim Orr of EMS, the synth was used by Joy Division on their debut album "Unknown Pleasures". Examples are now extremely rare."