"Extremely rare 360 Systems Digital Keyboard. This was the first sample playback instrument and intended to be a "digital Mellotron". It has a warmth and character all it's own.
These instruments are super rare. Less than 200 were made. This one includes MIDI which wasn't standard back in the day. The keyboard is a little sticky, but all keys work. I've been using MIDI to control it.
Check out the YouTube video for a demonstration of the keyboard and the sounds included.
The instrument is heavy and delicate, so shipping is not an option. Local pickup is in Brooklyn, NY.
Apparently the 360 was used for the sax sound on "Gold Digger" by Kanye.
Update: New video for those that missed it the first time.
Tweaked the mix a bit.
Car Wash: Splash and Dash, Atlantic City, New Jersey
Synthesizer: Sequential Take 5
Visual Effects: Frame Buffer by Signal Culture
"I recorded this version of "Utopia Parkway" for a special tribute to the late Adam Schlesinger organized by his Fountains Of Wayne bandmate, Jody Stephens. Adam was a dear friend and a partner in my piano bar in NYC, Sid Gold's Request Room. He passed away due to complications from COVID-19 on April 1, 2020 and the world lost an incredible talent. Please check out Fountains Of Wayne, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, 'That Thing You Do' and his many other musical accomplishments. I played this live into ProTools with no overdubs. Equipment: Yamaha CP-25 electric piano with Stromer Mutronics Super Fuzz and the Moog Analog Delay. Sequential Pro 3 Roland CR-5000 CompuRhythm Liven 8 Bit Warps Korg MS-20 controlled by the Korg SQ-1 sequencer Note: I got the CompuRhythm synced up to the 8 Bit and the SQ-1 by feeding the trigger out of the CR-5000 into the sync input of the 8 Bit Warps (line in) and taking the MIDI out of the 8 Bit into the SQ-1."
"Just having a little improv with the Yamaha CP25 and the Audio Damage ENSO looper. It's a bit loose and sloppy, but I was holding the camera with my left hand and trying to demonstrate the different sounds available.
The CP25 was originally sold back in 1981, and is fully electronic, not electro-mechanical, like a Rhodes or a Wurlitzer. Still, you can get pretty close to a Rhodes or a Wurli, and you can also get some cool clavinet, harpsichord, organ and vibe sounds.
Drums are a simple loop from the AudioThing SR-88, an inexpensive drum machine plug-in. Recorded straight into my phone camera.
Here's something a little different. A cover of Barry Manilow's by Joe McGinty joemcgintymusic.com.
"Julian Velard on vocals: https://julianvelard.com/ He’s a super talented NYC pianist and songwriter.
The drum beat is from the Casio MT-52. Later in the song the MPC One does the 80s sounding drums...
The 'whistle' sound at the top is the Pro 3, and the main string pads are the OB-6. The high strings are the Blofeld. Vibes are from the Kurzweil K1000 and the electric piano is the Yamaha CP-25. Bass is the Korg MS-20 (original, not reissue). If you listen closely, you’ll hear vocoded vocals as it fades. It’s the new Arturia vocoder."
"Recorded in honor of the recent passing of Rita Houston and also dedicated to the memory of Mike McPadden.
Written by Christian Arnold, Geoff Morrow, David Martin
Preview of The Captain and Neil, a conceptual covers collaboration between Julian Velard and Joe McGinty.
Some synth spotting in via Joe McGinty: "I watched the Bee Gees doc last night, and they have a short clip of them recording “Tragedy”, and Blue Weaver playing an Oberheim 8 Voice, Yamaha CS-80 and an ARP 2600."
The video description:
"Reelin’ In The Years Productions has available for licensing over 20,000 hours of music footage spanning 90 years. Additionally, we have more than 7,000 of hours of in-depth interviews with the 20th century’s icons of Film and Television, Politics, Comedy, Literature, Art, Science, Fashion and Sports.
To search for footage please visit our online database at http://reelinintheyears.com. Note: these clips are available on YouTube for producers, directors, researchers and clearance companies for potential use in their projects. Our website on the screen is to protect the footage from being used without our consent and so industry professionals can find us to properly license the footage."
From the ep Kiss Me, Stupid (Sydney) by Joe McGinty
Filmed at the Sydney Opera House by JDW
Music by Joe McGinty
(c) Tralfaz (ASCAP)
with:
Gotye, Ondioline
Eleanor Norton, cello
---
See if you can make out the Ondioline. It really stands out around 1:46 on.
"I created a synthesizer score for David Černý's "K." which is located in the Quadrio shopping center in Prague. He has a similar sculpture, METALmorphosis in Charlotte, North Carolina (which is the inspiration for the title). I tried to film one 360º rotation from front to back.
All sounds (except the vocoder at the end) are from Sequential's Pro 3 with no external effects, recorded directly into Logic. The Pro 3 is a great sounding synthesizer and a lot of fun to edit. I used some of the factory presets (which are great), but also created some variations on them to suit the piece. The vocoder is Izotope's Vocal Synth.
"I just received the Sequential Pro 3 and I really love this synth. Another great synth from Dave Smith! It's pretty much my only synth during this lockdown time. I'm going to have a lot of fun exploring it.
Here's a short improv playing through bank 4 of the Sequential Pro3 factory presets. I hadn't played through all the presets, so there was an element of uncertainty (hence the random sequences near the end). Recording was straight into ProTools (no outboard effects) with looping by Enso from Audio Damage. Drum beat is from Funkbox on the iPad. Video effects by Signal Culture's Maelstrom virtual video synthesizer."
A short improv "In C" on the Baldwin Syntha Sound, stepping through some of the presets. It's an unusual synth that actually sounds pretty cool! And fun to play!
Rhythm loop by the "Rollin' Easy" Optigan disk played by the Panoptigan disk player.
Baldwin synth looping by the incredibly versatile Enso looping software by Audio Damage.
Video effects by Signal Culture's "Frame Buffer".
Panoptigon: https://www.quilterlabs.com/index.php...
Enso by Audio Damage: https://www.audiodamage.com/products/...
Frame Buffer by Signal Culture: http://signalculture.org/frame-buffer...
"Wonderful Analogue Systems French Connection controller, inspired by the Ondes Martenot. Incredibly expressive and interfaces well with modular synths. Used very sparingly in my smoke free studio."
"For your consideration is an extremely rare EML Polybox. The Polybox allows you to play chords on your monophonic synthesizer. It is in very good working condition. It has been serviced by Ake Stromer of Stromertronics in Brooklyn. It includes the owner's manual and schematic."
"We have a superb issue for you this month. And that’s not only because we have an exclusive interview with Kraftwerk main man Ralf Hütter, although since Hütter rarely talks to the press that is clearly something a bit special.
Our cover feature details the history of EMS, the legendary UK synthesiser company founded by Peter Zinovieff, Tristram Cary and David Cockerell in 1969. What started out as a vehicle to fund Zinovieff’s studio became a decade-long adventure in synthesis with a very British sense of innovation about it. EMS machines like the VCS 3 and the Synthi AKS were responsible for some of the best known electronic music of the 1970s – from the Radiophonic Workshop to Brian Eno to Pink Floyd.
We also have a weighty report on the recent Bluedot Festival, featuring Kraftwerk, New Order, Jon Hopkins, John Grant and more. Our interview with Ralf Hütter took place backstage after the Kraftwerk set, with Hütter radiating urbane charm and wry humour as he chatted about music and science and sampling and cycling. “We are not a museum, so let’s play what we do,” he declares. “My art is music.”
Other interviews this issue include Haiku Salut, Eric Random, Jah Wobble & Bill Laswell, Paranoid London, Rolo McGinty from The Woodentops. Plus, of course, we have our packed front section, our ace regular columnists, and our usual exotic feast of new album reviews. Hit the link to order your copy straight away!
Limited Edition CD Album: ‘The Sounds of EMS’
This month’s audio accompaniment is ‘The Sounds Of EMS’, a fascinating 45-minute CD of music made either by the people responsible for EMS, or by the machines they built. You can almost smell the dust burning as the old circuits start warming up! The CD has two pieces by Peter Zinovieff and another from Tristram Cary, the latter with a spoken explanation of what he wanted to achieve with the piece. There are also tracks by David Vorhaus (who founded the cult electronic group White Noise with Delia Derbyshire), Mike Hankinson (another early adopter of the VCS 3), Benge from Wrangler and Jack Dangers from Meat Beat Manifesto.
01. PETER ZINOVIEFF – ‘A LOLLIPOP FOR PAPA’
02. TRISTRAM CARY – ‘ 3, 4, 5 – A STUDY IN LIMITED RESOURCES’
03. BENGE – ‘1969 EMS VCS3’
04. DAVID VORHAUS – ‘THING FOR TWO VCS3S’
05. JACK DANGERS @ TAPE LAB – ‘SYNTHI 100-PIECE 1’
06. MIKE HANKINSON – ‘JS BACH’S FUGUE AND TOCCATA IN D MINOR’
07. PETER ZINOVIEFF – ‘JANUARY TENSIONS’ (EXCERPT)
08. TRISTRAM CARY – ‘3, 4 , 5 – A STUDY IN LIMITED RESOURCES’ (TALK)"
"Just received the Low Frequency Expander for the OB-6 (and Prophet 6) and doing some experimentation. Here, LFO 1 controls filter frequency, LFO 2 controls resonance and LFO 3 controls distortion amount. The envelope adds a subtle scoop in pitch to Osc 2. This module adds an incredible amount of flexibility to the OB-6. Thanks, Steve Hunt!"
"Joe McGinty (Loser's Lounge, The Psychedelic Furs) gives us a tour of his vintage keyboard collection at Carousel Studio in Brooklyn, New York. Includes an original MiniMoog, a demo of his Oberheim Matrix 12 and Therevox ET-4 controlling a Moog Model 15 modular synthesizer. [DSI Sequential OB-6 also gets a mention as his favorite new synth]
Klaviphon: Vintage Czech Electric Piano Improvisation Published on Oct 20, 2018 Joseph McGinty
Great discovery and story by Joe McGinty. Joe McGinty, btw, was the keyboardist for The Psychedelic Furs. He has also worked with Ryan Adams, The Ramones, Nada Surf, Kevin Ayers, Martha Wainwright, Die Monster Die, Devendra Banhart, Ronnie Spector, Jesse Malin, Amy Rigby, Space Hog and others. And of course, he has also been featured here on MATRIXSYNTH numerous times. :)
Video description: "A short improvisation on the Klaviphon Electric Piano, a rare electric piano from Czechoslovakia. I traded a broken Czech wrist watch for this keyboard at a small shop in Prague. At the shop, there was no way to test it but I could hear the reeds 'acoustically' so I figured it was cool enough to gamble on it. It sounds sort of like a Pianet.
The electric piano is going through a Moogerfooger Analog Delay, an Electro Harmonix 16 Second Delay and a Roland Jazz Chorus. Audio is from the iPhone. Video effects are from Maelstrom from Signal Culture."
And the story of how Joe McGinty acquired the Klaviphon:
"The Broken Watch and The Klaviphon
This is a story that starts with a wristwatch purchase and ends with me owning a rare, vintage Czech electric piano. “When in Prague”, my friend Cathy wrote, “check out Prague Antiques. It’s full of bric-a-brac and the owner is a Serbian man who is married to a Croatian woman”. When traveling, Amy and I always look for vintage stores, thrift stores, record stores and any place that might have some obscure vintage instruments. I had found a record store, but no luck with vintage instruments. Cathy’s recommendation was perfect, so we added it to our Saturday plan. I have to say Prague Antiques did not disappoint. The store was chock-a-block with cool knick knacks from the communist era.
We wanted to bring back a souvenir from Prague, but it was kind of overwhelming. Finally, we saw a display counter with vintage Czech wristwatches. They were all beautiful. Amy and I each picked one out. “Remember”, the shopkeeper explained, “these are vintage watches. They need to be wound. Young people come in here, buy the watch and come back a few hours later, claiming it’s broken. They don’t know about winding the watch”. Of course, we know about winding wristwatches (we’re old).
Later, we’re wandering around Holesovice, a very cool neighborhood. We stop to eat at the cafe at Cross Club, a multidisciplinary art and performance space. There are incredible sculptures there, and vintage czech radios hanging from the ceiling. I notice my watch has stopped. I wind it up, making fun of the youngsters who thought their watch was broken. Well, needless to say, a few hours later the watch stopped. And then it stopped again. So I realize, yes, my watch doesn’t work. Harrumph.
We had a sightseeing plan for the next day, our last day in Prague. Do we go back to the shop to return it? Or do I accept that I possibly have been swindled? We decide to start the day off at the shop, return the watch, and continue with our sightseeing plan.
The next day, we arrive at the shop to a sign on the door: “Please come to our sister shop, around the corner”. “Oh, great”, I’m thinking. We’ve definitely been swindled. However, the shop around the corner is much bigger. And it’s a different man in charge. I show him the watch and explain that it’s broken. He takes it behind the counter, looks at it for a while, and confirms in a thick accent, “you’re right. It is broken. My friend, he doesn’t know”. Chatting with him for a while, he tells us of his Croation wife, and we realize that he is the owner.
He is super nice and helpful and explains that we can exchange it for anything in the store of similar value. Amy asks if he has any musical instruments. Keyboards, perhaps? And I’m thinking to myself, that it would be a stretch. I see a few toy pianos. He brings out a melodica. Some harmonicas. “One more thing”, he tells us. He leads us to a corner in the back. Underneath a random assortment of figurines and statuettes is some kind of keyboard. It looks “vintage”, but it’s unclear what it is. I assume it’s some sort of air organ. He removes the statuettes and places it on a table. It looks cool, but what is it?
There’s no way to test it. I don’t see a connection for a power cord, and there’s some sort of weird banana jack for audio. Playing it, I can faintly hear tines being struck, so maybe it’s some sort of electric piano? I’m reluctant: “How can we possibly bring it back?”. But Amy is persistent. The owner says that he has bubble wrap. “But what about our sightseeing plans?” Amy says not to worry about it, we’ll find a box to bring it on the plane. She has Platinum Status on Delta, which allows for a free checked item. But one of this size?
Back at the hotel, Amy calls Delta. The representative says that they have a 50 pound maximum for checked baggage. Rut roh. Not discouraged, she does further research. On the Delta website, they allow 165 pounds for musical instruments. “Phew”.
OK, off on our mission to find a way to transport the piano. We decide that a gig bag would be better than a box, to make it clear that it’s an “instrument” that we are checking. Next, we need to find a music store in Prague that has a gig bag that’s big enough. On a Sunday. Not an easy task, but we find one just on the outskirts of the city. And then to a mall where we can buy more packing materials. Well, that’s how we spent our “sightseeing” Sunday! The keyboard fits in the gig bag, and we fill it out with our clothes for extra padding. It’s now Sunday evening, and I’m determined to find any information at all about this mysterious instrument.
I’m trying all sorts of Google searches. “Eastern European Electric Pianos”, “Czech Electric Pianos”. Maybe it’s from Russia? East Germany? Nothing is coming up, not even on the definitive Simon’s Hall of Electric Pianos. Further Googling leads me to a website devoted to Czech keyboards. Finally! It’s a Klaviphon. And, wow, there are a lot of other cool Czech keyboards that I knew nothing about. I learn that Plastic People of The Universe used this instrument! Cool! In an interview with the keyboardist, Pepa Janicek, it says that his instrument was “bruised by a dog”. Huh? Google Translate in action. Another article with better translation says that a dog chewed the wires. Oh, OK. Makes more sense. There’s a nice Klaviphon close up from a pro-communist TV show, The Thirty Cases Of Major Zeman. The band is a faux hippie rock band intended to be a parody of the “Plastic People”. In the show, they are drug addicts that hijack a plane. Apparently based on a true story. Except that the plane was not hijacked by heroin-addicted psychedelic rock musicians.
I get further sidetracked reading about the Resonet, possibly one of the first electric pianos, invented in Czechoslovakia by Ladislav Korner. He was sentenced to 18 years for treason for trying to sell his patent to Canada and Australia. The story has a happy ending, as he ended up emigrating to the U.S. where, among other things, he designed groundbreaking technology for submarines (and custom work for Jacques Cousteau). It’s a fascinating story. If you’re interested, you can read more about it here and here. Side note: In the early days of the Beatles, George Harrison played a Resonet Futurama.
The next day, at the airport, the gig bag is checked without a problem. Thank you, Delta! And thanks to our super packing job, it arrives in perfect shape. A few days later, at my studio in Brooklyn, there’s still no way to test this piano. I run into my friend, Mike Buffington on Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint. And because he restores vintage theremins, he has a cable that could work for the Klaviphon. Testing it out, we hear nothing but a loud hum. I call Steve Masucci. Steve has rescued and restored vintage Ondiolines. If there’s anyone that can revive this instrument, it’s Steve. He tells me that he’ll figure out a way to get it working. While working on the instrument, he finds all sorts of random parts, including sewing machine pins. I guess they didn’t have a lot to work with in the Eastern Bloc in the 60s. A few weeks later, Steve returns the Klaviphon to the studio. We plug it in, and it actually works! The sound? It’s a bit noisy, and it’s not going to replace a Rhodes or a Wurlitzer, but it sounds pretty cool. And it’s certainly a conversation piece. I’ll be so ready for the Plastic People Of The Universe tribute. Here’s a short improvisation using an Electro Harmonix 16 Second Delay.
Directed by Amy Hobby
Edited by Isaac Royffe
Starring:
Biet Simkin
Joe McGinty
Leon Dewan
Features vintage Super 8 footage of the Traymore Hotel demolition
Composed by Joe McGinty
Performed by Circuit Parade
Circuit Parade:
Joe McGinty, vocals, keyboards
Mike McGinnis, woodwinds
Julia Kent, cello
Leon Dewan, Swarmatron, Melody Gin
Produced by Joe McGinty
Engineered by Bryce Goggin
Album available for download: https://circuitparade.bandcamp.com/
One more:
Circuit Parade: "Million Dollar Mermaid" Coney Island Tribute
Published on Aug 9, 2018 Joseph McGinty
"Million Dollar Mermaid" by Circuit Parade
Directed by Edward McGinty
Composed by Joe McGinty
Featuring:
Circuit Parade:
Joe McGinty, vocals, keyboards
Mike McGinnis, woodwinds
Julia Kent, cello (recording)
Leah Coloff, cello (video)
Leon Dewan, Swarmatron, Melody Gin
Available for download at: https://circuitparade.bandcamp.com/
"At Moogfest 2017, Gotye will present a tribute to Jean-Jacques Perrey. Jean-Jacques Perrey (1929-2016) was an alternative pop visionary, a pioneer of rhythmic tape editing techniques, and a virtuoso of the rare French electronic musical instrument, the Ondioline. Gotye, a long-time Perrey fan and a budding Ondiolinist, has assembled the Ondioline Orchestra, an ensemble dedicated to reviving the spirit of this rare and unusually expressive early synthesizer. The ensemble features thereminist/keyboardist Rob Schwimmer, vintage synth specialist and ex-Psychedelic Furs member Joe McGinty, as well as members of acclaimed alternative band Zammuto. Perrey’s best-known songs will be celebrated alongside ultra rare pieces co-written with Angelo Badalamenti and Billy Goldenberg in an eclectic set juxtaposing Perrey’s joyful and boisterous pop with more reflective work spanning three decades of his career. Ondioline Orchestra perform all sounds live, including Perrey’s signature sample sounds, classic Moog patches, and a rich variety of Ondioline timbres on fully-restored original instruments. This show is a rare opportunity for fans of early electronic pop music to celebrate this influential producer/performer’s wonderfully inventive studio work in a live environment."
How cool is that? I had no idea Gotye was into the Ondioline and Jean-Jacques Perrey.
Jean-Jacques Perrey has been featured here on MATRIXSYNTH numerous times in the past. I was fortunate enough to see him perform live back in 2006. I'll never forget that show. It was pure magic. That image to the left was from it. That's Jean-Jacques Perrey on the left and Dana Countryman on the right.
"Improvisation with the Sequential Circuits OB-6 and the Signal Culture SSSCan Video Synthesizer app.
Video effects were controlled by the OB-6 via MIDI.
All sounds from the OB-6, no effects, no sequencing.
I improvised a first take while filming. Video effects were done in real time while at the same time manipulating the OB-6 patch.
After that, I did my best to follow whatever it was that I did and added some overdubs."
"Extremely rare 360 Systems Digital Keyboard. This was the first sample playback instrument and intended to be a "digital Mellotron". It has a warmth and character all it's own.
