PAIA Stereo Chord Egg (3790)

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via this auction

"This is a legendary PAIA Stereo Chord Egg from the 1970's. When powered with 12v (e.g. 8 x 1.5v batteries), it generates a rising and falling swell of harmonious chords and notes that will calm your alpha waves and bring peace to your soul. Or, at least, it will sound pretty cool.

I built this from the PAIA kit. It works. And, did I mention it's cool? But, it's time for it to find a new home.

Comes with the board and original instruction booklet (as shown). Book was slightly annotated and marked as I followed the build procedure.

These are extremely rare. And, ones that work are even more rare.

Note: If you purchase this, you should be comfortable putting together and connecting a power supply for this (e.g. connecting it to a battery holder with the correct polarity) and handling a circuit board (static can damage some of the chips). Or, at least, you should have a friend who is."

You can find a few in the archives including some demos here.

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HOMEMADE DIY 70s VINTAGE ANALOG SYNTH

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via this auction

Anyone recognize the PCB? PAiA?

Details via the listing: "Home made synthesizer based on the SN76477 chip. Has a look from the 60's because of the salvaged parts but is no earlier than 1978. Smartly built into the cover of an old RCA *STEREO* record player with all sorts of flying part connections inside. Kind of an adult busy box but it really has stereo output with tone control.

Looks to be a variant of the turbo-encabulator without the dingle arms but certainly still crudely conceived. Jam pins are present but were never part of the original design. A shaded pole motor is wired in without the armature and I have no clue why this is. I bet you could still wire in the Selenium rectifier to create a rotten egg smell if you pleased.

Remember the black vinyl label makers? Must have been a lot of super duper fun-fun. Tons of them on this baby! Has mounting bolts on each side near the top so you could put a strap on this and wear it like Harold from the Red Green show. Could this really have been that far ahead of its time?

Judging by the amply judicious use of telephone wire this may explain your dial up BBS modem interruptions back in the late 1980's.

Sold as-is and non-working. Please see my other listing for a bit more well made Theremins and Harmonic Percolators!"

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PAiA Stereo Chord Egg 3790 from 1976

via this auction
"There are getting pretty hard to find. I have actually never seen another one. EGG stands for 'encephalo-gratification generator.' Wooooh...

In spite of the rather bloppy soldering job done originally, this circuit board worked for many years, but was put away in storage for the last couple of decades. Now, for whatever reason, it has stopped working. I have no idea why and just don't have time to try to fix it. It is time for someone else to experiment with this. The instructions give many ideas for modifications for different results. DIY fun.

It is a pretty cool synth, randomly selecting from 3 chords (I, IV, V) and fading them in and out by the individual notes. With a stereo effect from the filtering. The most fun I had with it was when I effectively overdubbed it 100 times, layering it up with my old 1/2" 4 Track. Quite a sound, like hearing a cloud."

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PAIA Stereo Chord EGG

YouTube via Zolophile
"The EGG produces only sound. It is running through an Atari Video music to generate the color patterns.

'The EGG plugs into any stereo Amplifier to create soothing flowing environmental sound textures - and through headphones it's incredible. The chords and notes EXIST in your mind, they pan and swell and phase their way through your psyche in unpredictable patterns, never repeating.

The combination of LSI organ technology with synthesizer type processing and digital randomizing/control elements make the EGG an altogether intriguing package from either technological or metaphysical viewpoints.'"

Paia 3790 Stereo Chord EGG

YouTube via ZonkOut. via ZonkOut in the comments of this post.

"The EGG plugs into any stereo Amplifier to create soothing flowing environmental sound textures - and through headphones it's incredible. The chords and notes EXIST in your mind, they pan and swell and phase their way through your psyche in unpredictable patterns, never repeating.

The combination of LSI organ technology with synthesizer type processing and digital randomizing/control elements make the EGG an altogether intriguing package from either technological or metaphysical viewpoints."

Paia oddity (the 3790 EEG)

You can find an mp3 demo here.

Remember the 3790 from this post?

Here's some more info via Lee:

"Attached is a photo of the device with its new case, scan of the ad in the 1978 Paia catalogue and a mp3 (2 mins.)of its sound.

I bought it in 1978 from the Paia catalogue and have had enjoyed its soothing tones ever since.

The Stereo Chord EGG (Encephalo-Gratification Generator) is really cool. It generates a swirling, relaxing pattern of C chords, F chords, and G chords. The individual notes drift in and out, and the chords change very smoothly.

It's supposed to create low frequency beat frequencies around three or four hertz that will subconsciously entrain your brain waves to a delta state.

It only has one control pot, all the way to the left is more panning less filter, all the way to the right is more filter less panning. The MP3 is at the mid setting.

I sometimes have it on very low playing through my stereo. Once somebody asked me "Is there something wrong with your refrigerator?"

Back in 1999 I called PAIA to get the value of a resistor that I thought was burned out and John Simonton answered the phone. He said " You actually still have one of these!" When I said yes he laughed out loud for several seconds. Link to the manual

Cheers,
Lee"