Update: the samples appear to be of the Kinetic Sound System. I thought it was just the maker of the disk and it slipped my mind. Thanks goes to swissdoc for catching it.
This is one of those things likely I only found interesting. Note the Roland logo. First, it reminded me of Duran Duran's 1st album & early singles during the Planet Earth period. Just thought it was interesting from a design perspective. Where did it originate? Second, I don't recall seeing this particular Roland logo before. I was curious if this was a valid Roland logo or one made up by someone for the CD. I have no idea if it is an official CD from Roland. I ran a quick search on Roland logos and found it, but... It appears to be associated with their printer products? Via Sign Shop: "Currently celebrating its thirtieth anniversary, Roland DGA Corp. has once again been recognized by InfoTrends, Inc. as the leading North American provider of digital printers for the durable graphics market. According to the InfoTrends 2010 Quarterly Wide-Format Tracking Shipping Project report, Roland sold nearly twice as many printers in 2010 priced under $30,000 into the North American marketplace as its nearest competitors."
I didn't know Roland made printers.
Anyway, consider this your random synth trivia for the day...
If you've seen this particular logo used for other Roland synth products, feel free to leave a comment.
"Some of my patches, which I programmed after I discovered my purchased Modal 002 these days. No internal or external FX used. It is just the Modal 002 pure without any mastering."
"What does not come out on this rendering; - at the Schmidt you can adjust the color and intensity for all Leds (collected) and for the display accentuating free and above all floating over the complete spectrum by knobs. This is a very fine feature that always hits bright enthusiasm"
Update: according to Swissdoc, this was one of the initial design renderings of the Schmidt shared by Axel Hartmann on FB thread and not new: "the picture shown by Axel Hartmann is one of the first renderings he did for the Schmidt about 10 years ago. So that is nothing new. Very similar to the Little Phatty. Design was changed to what we know by today."
"If funding reaches $25k we will be offering parts & assemblies for a full rack enclosure, front end, and power supply to build your own *OBX rack. We have already developed a front end for testing our *OBX parts but need to raise enough funds to make it worthwhile to dedicate resources to finish development on the full kit.
The *OBX rack kit will consist of the following:
Rack Enclosure with front panel
Panelboard PCB & BOM for building the front end
Motherboard PCB Assemblies for rack version
I/O board PCB Assembly
Power Supply Assembly
Estimated budget for these parts & assemblies is $995.
Do Not purchase *OBX Motherboards if looking to build the rack version, alternate motherboards would be used.
Disclaimer: We are offering these parts for the vintage Oberheim OB-X Synthesizer. The current status of the ownership of the original Oberheim name, logo, and the "OB-X" name are not known. Gibson, the most recent owner, is now in bankruptcy and is owned by a group of financial companies. We have specifically avoided using the original company name "Oberheim" and original model name "OB-X" in the naming of our parts. It may also be necessary to remove the brand and model name from the production PCB's."
Update: (in via swissdoc)
"Answers to questions regarding the stretch goal.
Q) The Rack Option would be the only thing of interest to me. Since you write "Do Not purchase *OBX Motherboards if looking to build the rack version, alternate motherboards would be used.", what would I order to get the Rack OB-X with 8 voices?
a) You would pledge only one item at this time - *OBX Voice Card Assembly (8-pack) $1750. But please keep in mind if the goal is reached the remaining assemblies will cost about $1000 when ready to ship.
Q) Is it possible to get a more clear picture of the front panel?
a) Below is a link, Kickstarter compresses and resizes images. Please note this image is a render. The test control board we currently use does not conform to 3U size and would need to be laid out.
Q) If the *OBX Rack becomes available will the boards be bare or assembled?
a) Either. There would be a BOM but an assembled version would be available as well.
Q) Will the proposed *OBX rack have MIDI.
a) yes, USB and DIN MIDI.
Q) Will the proposed *OBX rack have patch storage?
a) There is no patch storage on the prototype (it does have autotune). Patch storage can be included but the price would likely increase somewhat. We would decide as a community which option to pursue. If it ended up with patch storage the enclosure would be 4U with 12 additional buttons for selection of 120 patches."
"It seems that this machine is the expander version of the Hohner Companion HK 5000 digital synthesizer released only 500 copies around 1986.
It would be a workstation acting as a drum machine, polyphonic synth and sequencer, with supreme luxury, a memory cartridge stuck in the middle of the control panel.
There are 3 MIDI jacks, and several outputs 6.35 jack separated.
Besides the fact that it was made in France Semur En Auxois (yes Madam!), The other feature of this device is the use of digital synthesis variable speed also called synthesis MEG invented by the French engineer Christian Deforeit of which Hohner had bought the patents.
Regarding the sound and interest of the thing, I do not know, mine is out of order, but it remains a collector's item given the few copies produced."
When you check out the picutres, you will see, that is has 8 Filter boards, most likely analog. One screen shows the sound architecture, so 2x DCO, 3x Wave and 1x VCF. A second screen shows the envelope editor. The keyboard version has some "Custom" buttons. I miss to find any dedicated edit buttons, but based on the screen content, I assume the sounds could be edited. At least modified and new stuff could be loaded from cartridge most likely.
Looks to be a hybrid approach then, maybe similar to some of the Wersi stuff (Stageperformer and the related organs and rack units).
Here's something you don't see often. A Waldorf synth that sits in a PC drive bay.
The Waldorf microWavePC or micro WavePC. Curious what the EWS stands for. Electronic Wavetable Synthesizer? Excellent Waldorfian Supersynth?
P.S. I swear I've seen one before, but this just might be the first one to be featured on the site.
Update via Swissdoc:
"It [EWS] stands for Eierlegende WollmilchSau. Terratec used the EWS name for a series of soundcards.
The term 'eierlegende Wollmilchsau' is often used to describe product, which can do everything and more. It describes an animal, which is a hybrid out of chicken (can lay eggs), sheep (produces wool), cow (gives milk) and pig (in German Sau or Schwein). Translated it would then be: egg-laying wool-milk-pig. This is not working out in English, since the English language is missing the option of composing new words out of existing. Like Donaudampfschif...
Coming back to the Terratec microWave PC. This a special version of the Microwave II/XT, but it runs a different OS. The latest OS for Microwave II/XT was not ported over back in time, so the Terratec microWave PC lacks a few features. On Sequencer.de there was a recent thread about soundsets for the Terratec microWave PC, where forum member Summa posted some converted banks. I made it available for download."
Note the "Digital Excellence" DX logo on the left. The DX is in Yamaha font. The red orange stripe is reminiscent of Roland.
Update: You can find one sitting on top of a Kawai DX800 Digital Organ in this video. Considering the name, I am again curious if there is any relation to Yamaha. I checked Wikipedia and found the following:
"Koichi Kawai, the company founder, was born in Hamamatsu, Japan in 1886. As the son of a wagon maker, Kawai developed an ability to create mechanical devices and inventions as young boy. His neighbor, Torakusu Yamaha, a watchmaker and reed organ builder, noticed Koichi riding past on a unique pedal-driven cart he built himself. Impressed, Yamaha, who was struggling to build his first upright pianos, took the early-teenager in as an apprentice. While just a young man, he became a key member of the research and development team that first introduced pianos to his country. He proved to be a gifted inventor who became the first to design and build a complete piano action in Japan. He was awarded many patents for his designs and inventions.[1]"
Fascinating bit of synth history.
Update2 via swissdoc: " With a bit of Google I could spot this document in French, which reveals the function of it
It is to store registration settings of the organ. It can save to magnetic card. Thats it. Nothing fancy."
"BOUM is a full analog stereo warming unit, combining an easy-to-use compressor, a versatile distortion generator and a smooth low-pass filter. BOUM is the perfect tool when you need to add warmth, thickness, and character to your sounds, but also apply severe distortion and extreme compression treatments.
BOUM is based on an original and unique circuit, including the following stages :
INPUT GAIN : boost your signal up to +18db to adapt BOUM to various signal levels, and also improve the distortion content and the compression sensitivity.
COMPRESSOR : with a single knob, control the 3 essential parameters of a compressor, threshold, ratio and makeup gain, without thinking about how a compressor works ! The ratio ranges from 1:1 (no compression) to inf. :1 (limiter), but also negative compression up to 1: -1!
Check this out. The sliders and buttons match up perfectly, including the red and white. Star Trek VI came out in 1991. The DX came out in 1982. Be sure to also check out the Synths in TV and Film posted back in 2007.
Update via electrongate in the comments: "The prop seems to have seven columns of three buttons. Too many for a DX, not enough for a DMX. Possibly a cut-down DMX."
You might remember the Shear Electronics Relic, OB-X based analog hardware synth from last year's NAMM. If you were wondering what happened to it, the following is an update from Shear sent our way via swissdoc.
"Happy New Year from both of us at Shear Electronics!
2017 was an exciting year for us, and I hope you all had a wonderful year as well. With all the speculation about our radio silence since February, we figured it was about time for an update.
Most of you probably heard about our demo at NAMM 2017. Here’s how it played out for me:
I bolted together our first prototype at 2 AM on Tuesday morning. At 8 AM, I flew back to Los Angeles (I had classes all week). Wednesday at 6 PM, I was testing broken cables in our booth at the Anaheim convention center. Sunday morning, camera crews found their way to our booth. Monday morning, I was watching myself on YouTube. I felt a little behind the times... 11,000 people saw the Sonicstate interview before I did! We were getting a hundred emails a day. On YouTube, a thousand likes before our first dislike.
So I was sitting in my dorm room, and I thought this was some pretty phenomenal demand for a garage prototype. For two weeks, I read every single thing anyone said about the synthesizer. I would like to issue my deepest and most heartfelt thanks for your epic worldwide focus group.
After a few months went by, many of you began to speculate that we gave up or sold out. I understand your skepticism. But there’s a reason I’ve kept quiet. For one thing, I’ve never been the type to dwell on public relations. I spent three years on this project before announcing anything.
More importantly, I’ve been hard at work. The reality is that our design is among the most complicated and extravagant systems ever proposed in the history of analog synthesizers. We are going to succeed in this market for one reason—we put everything we’ve got into the product.
If you thought that the “essential components of great-sounding synths aren’t available anymore,” you might be right. But the “missing link” to the golden age of synthesis isn’t some elusive old- stock field-effect transistor. It’s the essence of old-school design philosophy. In today’s world, the pursuit of perfection loses to the bottom line. 2,584 components on our voice cards. 97 suppliers on speed dial. And all this in a culture that scoffs at the price of monophonic synthesizers?
We doubled down and committed to delivering a machine worthy of your love. Yes, we’re still building a discrete analog polyphonic synthesizer. And yes, we’re still building the exact same audio path as the legendary OB-X. But thanks to your input, it’s going to be a lot better than the first prototype.
Every detail was given a closer inspection. It starts with a hard anodized aircraft-grade aluminum top panel. The indicators shine through panes of chemically strengthened anti-reflective glass. We miniaturized the light bar technology to allow individual bars for every encoder. Top-shelf optical encoders will prevent mechanical wear and tear. The figured hardwood side panels are matte- finished in tiger rose black. Software upgrades can be done at home with a MIDI cable.
Sorry for the six-month silence. We haven’t focused enough on public relations or business decisions, we’ve been focused on the product. But from now on, we’re committing to regular updates.
The new Relic is amazing, but it isn’t quite ready for production. We won’t have a booth at NAMM 2018, but we will be at the Anaheim Convention Center anyway. If you’ve got any questions, or just want to say hi, come find me at the Synth Section anytime Saturday afternoon. If you want to talk, feel free to send me an email. I’d love to meet you!
Finally, I’d like to thank every single one of you for the overwhelming wave of support for the Relic.
It's an online patch database. What makes it different is there are audio demos for the patches. It looks like the site is just getting started so there isn't much currently there. There are some live though.
Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.
Pics from a couple of listings in Switzerland, spotted by swissdoc. You don't see these often.
The CTS-1000 G SN 0049 listed here is a preset rack version of the CTS-2000 synth and the CTS-5000 R SN 0206 listed here is the rack version of the CTS-5000 Electronic Piano.
I believe this is the first time some, if not all, have appeared online. They include a flyer for the Waldorf Wave, a Preliminary Wave info sheet, and TSI Musikmesse flyers. TSi GmbH were the distributors for Waldorf. They later distributed Access Music and Novation as well. Wolfgang Düren, the chairman of Waldorf, was the man behind TSi. He partnered with PPG before Waldorf. See this post for some additional details on him.
Saga - Jim Gilmour Demo - Musikmesse Frankfurt 1993 1992 Published on May 12, 2013 MadSevenFilms
"Jim Gilmour ( Saga keyboardist) in a demo at the Waldorf stand during the musikmesse in Germany.
Humble Stance, Wind Him up, Don't be late, Careful where you step, On the loose,etc ...."
Update: according the swissdoc, these videos are actually from 1992. That would make the appearance of the prototype Wave in 1992, not 1993. This post has been updated to reflect that. Note swissdoc's write-ups are from 1993 as you can see in the datestamps for the links, and I believe the production model Wave was indeed released in 1993.
Here's a blast from the past featuring a bit of Waldorf history in via swissdoc. This may very well be the only Waldorf footage from the event. Check out the non-working prototype of the Waldorf Wave in the background. 1992 was the year it made its first appearance to be released in 1993. Note the Microwave rack was released earlier in 1989. Further below you will find some notes on Musikmesse 1993 (the following year after these videos) from swissdoc, followed by a transcription of the Wave flyer. This is a fascinating look back on synth history. But first, one more video from the 1992 Musikmesse.
Update2 via swissdoc: "In addition, for those who can read and understand German, there is a big series of three articles available for download (email has to be provided) from the German Keyboards magazine. Inside Wave. Amazing level of detail plus in part three an interview with developers and users plus additional interviews with the people behind the Wave.
Update3: The following scans have been added to the bottom of this post:
Messe.1992.TSI.Messeinformation
Messe.1992.Preliminary.Wave.Info
Messe.1993.TSI.Show.Information
Messe.1993.Wave.Flyer
Saga - Jim Gilmour Scratching the surface - Musikmesse Frankfurt 1993 1992
Published on May 13, 2013 MadSevenFilms
"Jim Gilmour ( Saga keyboardist) in a demo at the Waldorf stand during the musikmesse in Germany.
Scratching the surface"
---
The following is a Musikmesse 1993 recap via swissdoc aka George Mueller, who attended, from way back in 1993 (you'll find a transcript of the Waldorf Wave flyer text further below). P.S. for a quick look at the gear released at the 1993 Musikmesse see here and here, both from swissdoc.
"Before I go into this Wave stuff, I'd like to tell you a little about the Frankfurt Musik Messe. Those restless gear junkies, skip the next 24 lines.
The Frankfurt International Music Fair was held for the 14th time and was attended by a record number of exhibitors: 1194 from 40 contries. So it's the leading event for the music business.
The Messe Frankfurt has 10 halls of different sizes, three of them are used by the Musik Messe. Hall 9.0 is the most interesting, it's for electronic instruments, 9.1 is for guitars and amps, 9.2 is for stage light, sound and mixers. These halls are middle in size, rows range from A to F, with booth numbers up to 90 each. Hall 8 is for acoustic instruments and publishers; it's funny, all that noise from test-playing violins, flutes and so on. This is the biggest hall, rows from A to P. The monster booth of Yamaha is in the back of this hall with all their synths, FXs and personal keyboards. So it's a long walk to Yamaha. It's a bit risky in this hall, if you enter one booth, browse thru the pages of some book, after talking to the salesman you probably lost your orientation. Hall 10.1 is reserved for grand pianos and uprights. No elctricity allowed there.
It's funny, when you change from 9.0 to 9.1, all those long haired heavy metal guys. One amp or guitar company has a Hard Rock Cafe at their booth, evertime overcrowded with guys drinking cocktails or beer.
So, here we are, the promised report on the TSI shows WAVE MUSIC DEMO and INSIDE THE WAVE.
"The June-60 Chorus is modeled after the chorus section of the vintage Roland Juno-106 synthesizer. You've heard some pretty incredible records this was used on, so hit up TC Electronic and let them know if you'd be interested if they put it out to the public. Hit em up with what you want to see, a user on my Instagram mentioned a stereo output like the original thing. Let your voice be heard!"
I was't able to locate it on the TC Electronic website for any additional details, but I did find the demo below on YouTube.
Checking out TC Electronic JUNE-60 Chorus at GuitCon 2017
