Deck the Halls - Mannheim Steamroller Cover

video upload by Brian Seemann

Deck the Halls
arr. by Chip Davis

Performed on:
Schulmerich Handbells
Schulmerich Silver Melody Bells
Sequential Prophet 600
Roland JX-3P
Korg ARP Odyssey
Korg DW-8000
Kawai K3
Korg Mono/Poly

Vintage Schulmerich Carillon Bells

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction



I spotted the keyboard and decided to post it. I searched YouTube for demos and couldn't find one, but I did find demos for the other models above. I then found the Model 110 and Model 36-192 and figured I should capture them as well, especially with how the Model 110 to the left lives in a giant metal locker. Kind of a Dr. Who/Tardis/Phone Booth vibe going. Open the unasuming locker and inside you find an eccentric world of audio.

If you are curious what these are, they produce bell chime sounds, mainly for church use. I thought the keyboard version was interesting, and could make for a unique tool in the studio. I guess the larger models could as well. Definitely a talking piece. The vacuum tube logo is pretty cool. It looks like an old school rocket ship!

BTW, it turns out this isn't the first Schulmerich post on the site. There were a few others you can find here, including a demo of a three tier keyboard model here.

Although not technically test equipment, I'm giving it the label as those looking for test equipment sound sources might find these interesting. They are also borderline synth rorschachs, but skipping that label as these do indeed produce sound.

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Rare Vintage Maas-Rowe Vibrachord Electronic Carillon Keyboard

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

Here's something you don't see every day. This is the first Maas-Rowe post on the site. There was a UCSD Geisel Library Carillon posted here, but I am not aware if they are related.

Via the listing: "The Maas-Rowe Vibrachord is a rare electromechanical instrument made in the 1960s that was manufactured to emulate the sounds of a harp, vibraphone, and orchestra bells, so that piano and organ players could have such sounds at their fingertips. The keyboard triggers a set of solenoids, which launch striker pieces upward to play uniquely-shaped circular bell bars, the sound of which is then amplified through the Vibrachord's tube amp (which features tremolo) and accompanying speaker. The bells have a very sweet and round sound that is unique; if I were to associate it with the sound of another musical instrument, one most likely would say that a vibraphone sounds closest to its sound. It has five voices: celesta, harp, muted harp, vibrachord, orchestra bells, and features a volume-adjustable tremolo circuit and a sustain pedal system (not shown in pictures, but included). The instrument consists of the bell cabinet, an amplifier, a control panel unit, a keyboard, and a speaker cabinet.

This instrument also looks incredibly cool, thanks to the Moog-like keyboard with adjacent control unit and the matching colors of the bell cabinet and speaker cabinet. It has plenty of cabling, as this is a purely electromechanical (vs. electronic) instrument.

This instrument is in excellent functional condition. We actually put over $1000 of parts and labor into fixing this. These are impossible to find in fully functional condition. I've seen several for sale over the years, but never a working one. Keep in mind that if you have this shipped, it is possible that something could shift during shipment that might effect its perfect functionality, so please note that we can only guarantee its 100% functionality if you pick up in person. Otherwise we guarantee that it will arrive in great shape overall, but not necessarily perfect upon arrival. The $225 freight quote is for shipping this LTL, which is the safest economical mode of transportation.

Maas-Rowe is a manufacturer of electronic keyboard carillons, which are keyboard instruments that emulate the sound of church bells, so that a church does not have buy actual huge bronze bells to achieve a realistic sound from a bell tower.

The bench on which it sits in the pictures it is not original to it, but the color matches and we can throw it in for free if you pay for the additional shipping cost.

We'll include a copy of a Maas-Rowe bells/carillon catalog and a copy of a Schulmerich bells/carillon catalog for the winning bidder."

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Happy New Year! The Year in Synths 2013

Happy New Year Everyone!

What a busy year it has been in the world of synths.

This is going to be one doozy of a post, so bear with me. This post is a review of the year in synths for 2013. We begin with Tributes to Those We Lost This Year, followed by New Manufacturers & Makers, Older Manufacturers Added to the Site, New Gear Announcements, Top 10 Posts by Traffic,  My Standout Posts for the Year, and finally This Years' Synth Events. I did my best to keep things as short and concise as possible.

Let's begin with the hardest part of the post.

Tributes to Those We Lost This Year

RIP Bernard Parmegiani - Electronic & Acoustic Composer
Lou Reed RIP
RIP Dick Raaymakers aka Kid Baltan
RIP George Duke - DreamWeaver
RIP Ralph Dyck, Sept 28, 1941 – May 20, 2013
RIP Ray Manzarek

All missed and never to be forgotten. Take a moment to remember them.

------

New Manufacturers & Makers

Starting last January, I decided to keep a running list of every new manufacturer and maker introduced to the site during the year.  This is something I haven't done before and I thought it would be interesting to see how many there were in the year.   It's easy to focus on the big synth announcements throughout the year, but what about all the new makers and brands? I shouln't have to go considerably into the significance of new designers on the scene, so I'll just say two things regarding them.  One, the number of new makers is a direct reflection on the interest in our scene, and two, these are the creators of new gear which directly translate into new designs not previously available to us.  Think about that for a moment.  These are makers and designs that did not exist before.  They are part of our synth history.  So what is the total count of new synth designers for the year? A whopping 113. Think about that a bit. One hundred and thirteen new synth designers and brands this year alone.

Here they are (note a handful date back to 2012, but 2013 marked their momentum and availability):

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Schulmerich Americana Carillon Electronic Bell, Chime Instrument for Auction

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Published on Feb 11, 2013 AntiquityMusicLLC·13 videos

Stone Mountain Park Carillon-Mabel Sansing Sharp Carillonneur

Uploaded on Apr 4, 2010 stevethrasher·156 videos

"For over three decades carillonneur, Mabel Sansing Sharp has treated audiences to spectacular performances of the songs "Clare Delune", "Chattanooga Choo Choo", "Amazing Grace" and "Georgia" along with many other songs and hymns. A very special thank you to Ms. Mabel for all of the wonderful memories!

For those of you not familiar with the Stone Mountain Carillon, the instrument was built by Schulmerich Carillons in Sellersville, PA for the Coco-Cola Pavilion 1964 World's Fair in New York.
The 732-bell carillon is located lakeside in the heart of beautiful Stone Mountain Park, Georgia. This amazing bell tower structure provides daily concerts to those young and old for reflection and inspiration. The carillon is the heaviest of all musical instruments and probably one of the most interesting by design."

via this auction

This one spotted by Evan of Antiquity Music, makers of The Wheel Harp. It appears to be electronic based as you can see from the pics.

"For your consideration is an extremely rare Schumerich Americana carillon, one of Schulmerich's flagship carillons from the 1960s. Most of these carillons have been destroyed or salvaged for their amplifier parts, and finding one of these very nice models is extremely unusual. Buying a new digital Schulmerich carillon costs over $35,000 today, but these analog carillons have an even more beautiful, breathtaking sound. This particular carillon came from Weber State University in Utah, and cost over $25,000 in the early 1960s, which equates to over $180,000 in today's dollars.

We have fully restored this carillon's wiring, adding connectors (DB25, XLR, RCA etc.), so that the carillon can easily be moved around (all Schulmerich Americana carillons were originally hard-wired on-site when installed, so when removed, over 400 individual cables had to be cut, making restoration extremely costly and time-consuming). This required soldering over 800 individual cables!!!!! The restoration work on this carillon has cost us over $4000 in technicians' time.

Of course, the carillon comes with all of its original schematics and instructions.

This particular carillon has the following bells/voices, each of which has its own manual on the keyboard console:
61-note Flemish bells/voices (contained in the 5 chime boxes)
61-note Harp bells/voices (contained in the chime tower)
61-note Celesta bells/voices (contained in the chime tower)

This carillon has three 19" rack towers: (1) a power amplifier tower, (2) a timer/clock tower and (3) a chime tower

The keyboard console has a speaker in it, but the system also has an original Schulmerich satellite/external speaker. It also still has the original a paper roll player and a box of over one dozen original rolls.

Here is a video that we made when testing out this exact carillon's Harp and Celesta voices (because the volume was too loud for the camera microphone, it sounds distorted in the recording, but it is not in reality) [1st video above]

Here is a video that shows what one of these flagship Schulmerich carillons sounds like when restored (note that the carillon in the video is a different carillon, a Schulmerich Mark V, but the voices played in the video are all present and the same as those on this carillon) [2nd video above]

This instrument is perfect for the musician who loves rare bell/tine keyboards, as you can't get this sound anywhere else without paying tens of thousands of dollars for a new digital Schulmerich carillon. It even comes with Fender Rhodes sustain pedal and a Maas-Rowe Vibrachord carillon harp if you Buy-It-Now! The Rhodes pedal and Maas-Rowe Vibrachord harp, both of which are not shown in the pictures, came with a lot of equipment that we bought along with this carillon several years ago..." SNs 122-S, G339 & 30

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Vintage Schulmerich Carillon Bells Synthesizer Keyboard

via this auction

"Keyboard from a Schulmerich Carillon Bells which was a type of early synthesizer. It is in an oak case which measures 17-1/2" by 12-1/2" by 6-3/4". There are two octaves or 25 keys. There is a contact switch for each key and some other electronic parts inside. I believe this dates from the 1940's. It is marked: A Product of Schulmerich Electronics Inc. Sellersville, Pa. Any mad scientists out there need the start of a cool project?..."

Update via daden in the comments: "it is not a kind ofg synthesizer it's a remote for the motors of the carillon hammers..."

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