"Super rare RSF Kobol Expander 2. Approx Only +-200 units built. Not serviced, but fully functional, in good condition (just a few small aesthetic scraches). Powersuply is 220V.(Europe)
If you own a Kobol expander 1 The Expander2 gives you a full ADSR, S&H, an extra LFO, Lag & noise, ring mod, etc.
It can also be combined with other machines.
Comes with power chord
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
The rsf's are powerfull synthesizers, built in France in the end of 70's begining 80's, with a HUGE and beautiful, super warm and wide sound.
The Kobol can be coupled with the Kobol Expander 2 and the programmer ( very very rare amazing sequencer ).
These beautiful machines are rare because they were produced by hand by two brothers for only a couple of years."
Note the above is a playlist featuring 4 videos. You can use the player controls to skip through them or just watch them all in order.
Details on Synth Anthology 4 follow:
The authentic sound of 200 synthesizers, from vintage to modern
4,000+ presets and layers deliver incredible sound with hardware soul
Feature-packed dual-layer engine with fx, arpeggiator and more
Rebuilt from the ground-up, Synth Anthology 4 now features the authentic hardware sound of 200 vintage and modern synthesizers, a fully redesigned engine with powerful features, fx, arpeggiator, smart sound suggestion engine, native MPE support, and more.
A dreamlike collection!
Video credits: Anthony Hak
Music Credits: Théo & Thomas
"The Best Keeps Getting Better
What's new in version 4?
Almost everything!
We've rebuilt the engine from the ground-up, added more synths, more presets, more effects, more filters, more modulation, a dedicated browser, a second fully-customizable layer for creating hybrid and blended timbres, an all-new smart suggestion engine that helps you quickly find similar sounds, a more powerful arpeggiator/phraser, bus effects, native MPE support, and more!
Real Hardware Sounds
There is something unmistakable about the sound of a real hardware synth, from subtle differences between voice circuits and drift to the varied way filters bite into the sound; there's a distinct character and energy. Synth Anthology 4 delivers the authentic and uncompromising hardware sound with all the conveniences of a modern software instrument.
Every piece of hardware represents a unique creative vision, sonic character, innovations, and strengths. Whatever you're looking for, from analog to digital, vintage classic to future classic, you will find it here. Synth Anthology 4 delivers an incredible collection of hardware, every major manufacturer, every type of synthesis, every era, 200 synthesizers in all.
You won't find a more complete collection anywhere else."
"A stunning recreation of the RFS Kobol Expander synth, made by the genius company MOS-LAB. Everyone who used this along the original RSF Kobol side by side says they sound absolutely spot on. There's on Kobol Expander being sold at 10K on Reverb right now... This one is even more rare, as only about 30 were ever made.
Super snappy, big bass and morphable waveforms. Since the waveform morphing is made with a discrete waveshaper, the volume isn't consistent during the sweep. The original responds like this, too, but it got me by surprise so I'm mentioning it, so that you don't have to do your research ;-) The filter is super smooth and liquidy.
The synth comes in a Moon Modular rack, with a standard PSU."
"Here's an AS250-Seq expander driving a vintage synth (RSF Kobol Expander I). The AS250-Seq fits seamlessly into your analogue synth studio and works well with most vintage and current analogue synthesizers that accept CV control.
Tom Carpenter is excited to introduce Colossus Quartz, an exciting new range of add-on synth expanders, part of the Colossus range.
Colossus Quartz is the Colossus Slim split into quarters. This allows you to build the whole system one quarter at a time, spreading the cost, or, to just have single sections to use as expanders alongside your existing modular synthesizers.
Several benefits:
It enables you to buy one quarter at a time, so you can spread the cost eventually building up a complete Colossus System.
They can be used as expanders for Colossus.
And they can be used as expanders and used with other modular set-ups (Eurorack, 5U, etc).
Each quarter has a specific range of general features:
AS250-VCO This has a bank of 12 vernier VCOs, plus 2 Noise Generators, Random Voltage, Sample and Hold, Matrix Panel.
AS250-Mod This features 4 VCAs, 4 Envelopes, 2 LFOs, LCD Dual Channel Oscilloscope (can be upgraded to single channel CRT), Touch Keyboard / Sequencer.
AS250-VCF This has 8 Filters (4x SEM type, 4x Moog type), 8 VCAs, 2 real Spring Reverbs, 2 Ring Mods, 2 Slew Generators, Matrix Panel.
AS250-Seq This features a 64-step analogue sequencer, 4 Moving Coil Meters, Stereo Mixer, 2 Joysticks, 2 Multiples, 2 Sub-mixers.
All systems feature a full set of 3.5mm jack sockets for patching.
All the voice and modulation circuits are of course 100% analogue. We purposely steered away from digital, it doesn’t even have MIDI or USB (there are plenty of MIDI converter boxes out there should you need that facility). There are of course digital elements to the sequencer control - that is unavoidable - even classic analogue sequencers like the ARP sequencer used digital logic chips. In fact the EMS Synthi 100 features a digital sequencer.
Colossus is large scale, featuring large knobs that control metal shaft potentiometers. VCOs have multi-turn verniers. The two enormous pin matrix panels dominate the panels - these are incredibly expensive Swiss-made broadcast-quality signal routers.
There are two spring reverbs, touch keyboard, step sequencer, moving coil meters, joysticks and so much more. An immense expanse of jack sockets for additional patching within or without the system.
There are no gimmicks - this is pure synthesiser. A huge sound enclosed in a solid metal case wrapped in wood. No expense has been spared to bring this incredible machine to life.
Synthesisers like this only come around once in a decade, or possibly a generation."
"The Kobol synthesizer is a true legendary synthesizer, designed by the long extinct company RSF. It's so addictive that you'll never want to put it down. It has amazing morphing features, but also full patch memory.
Get ready to rock out with the Kobol and unleash your inner musician!
The Kobol is now fully developed and scheduled for production. We’re super excited 🙂 "
"This unit works 100 percent and is in a very good condition. The RSF Kobol was the French synth company's first compact keyboard synthesizer. It is a monophonic analog synthesizer with traditional controls, knobs, switches and two oscillators for a good solid analog synth sound. Unique are the 16 memory slots for saving your sounds and the built in sequencer.
Although it is mostly a traditional analog synth with stable oscillators and lots of knobs that allow you to control the ADS envelope, the filter section and the nice LFO, it did offer some unique features for its time. Most notably, the oscillator waveforms can be continuously swept across for a very cool morph from square to saw to pulse, etc. This, as well as note on/off and other parameters can be controlled via CV/gate. External sounds can be processed through the delicious SSM Kobol filter and envelope sections too."
"Extremely rare italian string machine, built by Elex (ELettronica EXcelsior), also sold by Hohner at some point.
Very close in sound to the Crumar Performer or Elka Rhapsody.
It offers Strings and Brass section, with independent volume for each instruments, a very nice filter in the brass section, as well as vibrato, and the string section has long crescendo and sustain settings.
Unit was serviced and is in very good working order except for the attack in the Brass section that doesn't work.
This synth use a very rare SSM2050 chipset as the enveloppe generator on the brass section. This is the same chip used in the Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 and the RSF Kobol for instance. It simply can't be found anywhere. But if you are lucky to own one you can most probably fix the attack on the brass section ;-)
Apart from that everything is working. Capacitor in the power supply were replaced and synth was calibrated.
It uses the typical "ensemble" effect based on a triple BBD chorus, with the same TCA350 chipsets you have in the Eminent Solina, Crumar Performer, Logan String Melody and so many more classic string synths.
Cosmetic wise the synth is in good condition, especially considering the rather cheap build quality. But of course it has some scuffs here and there."
"Another rarity from the halls of EMEAPP, here we have the ultra-rare RSF Blackbox from the late 70s. While it doesn't look like much on the outside, it is capable of a pretty amazing task: it can turn a monosynth into a polysynth by using it's CV/gate output. Intended as a peripheral device for the RSF Kobol monosynth, the Blackbox is compatible with a plethora of other vintage monosynths. In this video, electronic music pioneer Don Slepian will demonstrate the Blackbox's capabilities as a stand-alone instrument.
You can find us at www.emeapp.org where we invite you to join us as a FREE member."
"The rack version of the RSF Kobol with a great sounding and very snappy SSM filter. The Kobol Rack (Expander I) was essentially only the VCO/VCF/VCA/LFO sections of the Kobol in a rack module. The Expander 2 was an add-on to the Kobol that added some new processing modules such as ring modulation, sample-hold, andenvelope followers as well as extra VCA and LFO modules.
The Kobol looked and sounded great, andwas quickly snapped up by the big names in synthesizers of the time. But beinga small French company, RSF were never able to truly mass produce these. About 800 Kobol Racks were made, 200 Expander 2's. This makes them quite rare!
They have been used by Vince Clarke,Vangelis, Jean-Michel Jarre, Depeche Mode, Peter Gabriel and Hans Zimmer.
The RSF Expander II rack mount modular synth was manufactured as a companionoption module for the Kobol Expander I synthesizer. The19" 3 U space unit features a Ring Modulator, Envelope, a VCA, an LFO,Mixer with 3 inputs and 1 output. Additionally it has a Sample & Holdmodule with internal or external clock, a Noise Generator, Voltage processorthat is delectable Linear or Logarithmic, Voltage Inverter, Gate Delay, anEnvelope Follower, Lag Generator, and finally 2 multiples."
"Track found in my archives. Composed around 2015, but I lost the Cubase project. So, this song will therefore not be completely finished until I have found the audio files. Fortunately, I had, at the time, the good idea to produce a wav file of the final mix.
I used mainly PPG 1020 and PPG Wave 2.3 ,
and RSF Kobol keyboard (only for one bass line)
Video : extract from the movie Tron : l'Héritage (2010)"
"Buy any 2 used Northern Light Modular modules and receive a free h-Bracket."
"The h series modules require a h bracket to be mounted in a 1U space"
You can find videos featuring Northern Light Modular in previous posts here.
Pictured:
Voltage Circus – Model hVC
Trommelmaschine – Model hTM
Morphing Mixer – Model hMM
Electric Dompteur – Model hED
Time and Triggers – Model hTT
Classic Oscillator – Model hCO
The Voltage Circus consists of two rows of 3 voltage inputs and outputs that can be chained together.
Voltages can be added , subtracted or an offset can be applied per channel.
The inputs and outputs are buffered and can be connected with shorting bars.
A switch limits each rom to provide 100% or 33% to the mixer channel to make subtraction possible or prevent clipping.
One use of the hVC is for example transposing of sequences, adding subtle animation to pitch signals or mix wild CVs to provide complex noise sources
