WERSI Max 1 . Digital space music

video upload by KPProd Music

"This small vintage sound module from Germany has got amazingly warm and thick timbres"

WERSI M.A.X 1 MAX-1 Sound Module

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See this post for a demo.

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Wersi M.A.X.1 Max German Sound Drum Synth Module w/ Original Box

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You can find a couple of demos in previous posts here.

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Final Set of A-Z of Analogue Synthesisers

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The listing is from the author Peter Forrest who states this is likely the last set.  These are great books and imo the most comprehensive.  Click on the pics to get an idea of what they are like.  Peter also has other items listed including The Museum of Synthesizer Technology and Synthesizer von Gestern II.

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"Spacelab" - with CoolEdit vocoder

Published on Oct 8, 2012 by organfairy

"After discovering that there is a vocoder effect in the multitrack part of CoolEdit pro I have thought about how I could use it. And then a couple of months ago someone suggested to me that I should play something by Kraftwerk.

And now I have added these two factors together and played the classic track "Spacelab" that was originally recorded back in 1978 on the album Man Machine.

Apart from the vocoder software and the old Telefunken microphone I use Yamaha HE-8 and Technics SX-C600 organs, Roland SH-2000, Korg Poly 800, and Roland JX-8P synthesizers, and finally the little Wersi M.A.X.1 module for the rhythm.

Most of the sounds are only treated with some reverb or echo. But I had to speed up the sequence in the beginning in post production because that was the only way I could do that particular sound.

And sorry about the goofy face. I am not used to singing on camera but I wanted to show that it is really me that sings - allthough in a modulated fashion :-)"

WERSI MK1 SII Stage Performer Videos

Published on Apr 9, 2012 by tubical71

Playlist:
WERSI MK1 SII Stage Performer - fully expanded
MK1 Soundengine Showcase Part One: Factory VS. Self-Made Sounds
WERSI MK1 Soundengine Programming Part One
MK1 Soundengine Showcase Part Two: Self-Made Motion Sounds
Wersi MK1 S2 Soundengine Showcase Part Three HQ-Audio
Wersi MK1 S2 Soundengine Showcase Part Four HQ-Audio

"My Wersi MK1 SII need some repairs, and I now have a DigiCam with a video funktion so let´s do a litle video, since I did not find any MK1 videos here in YT.
And sorry for my bad spoken english. This vid is only quick&dirty try to present the MK1.
The cams´ sound quality is not as good as I imagined, therefore i´ll do another one which covers the soundengine of the Synth in a seperate soundfile.

Brief overview of the MK1:
Full programmable Fourier sound synthesis with max. 32nd harmonics using the little sliders underneath the display
20 Voices max. polyphony. Each MK1 voice consist of a independent Preprogrammed Z80-style CPU - Back in the mid 1980 very expensive....
The price of a MK1 started at around 1500DM these days. What you get was only the MK1 and 4 voices - no extras. The "WersiVoice" and the VCF "Sounderweiterung" are only options and costs aux money..;)
A fully expanded version was around 8000DM, one voiceboard costs 249DM and the "effectsboard" was around 800DM back than, equals to $4000...in the mid/end 80th a huge amount of cash.
Ok Back to the MK1: the main strength was the complex VCA envelope. It has 8 "slots", 6 for "attack" modules and one for the sustain and the last for the release phase of the sound.
Each slot can load a module out of 18(!) types, like ramp,linear,expo all with or without dynamic control via the keyboard, wheels or external control. Additional a loop and some step funktions, a vibrato and noise(=random at low rates) module is available.
-pretty neat-
But simple ASDR is also here - but who´ll use this....? ;)
And futhermore all the same is possible for the pitch envelope - way cool -

Doing your own sounds isn´t very easy. In fact it´s -by far- more complicated than DX7 sound programming. Without the manual nothing is possible since the display just reads numbers, numbers and numbers -- for example programming the VCA:

Type Complex
1 NEW = 2048
2 NEW = 1024
....
15 NEW = 4095 (this is the sustain level)
16 NEW = 512 (release)

Ah...ok...no manual no idea...And you´ll need the overlays for the "funktion-matrix" on the most right of the machine only to get to the right place otherwhise you´ll may format the internal RAM instead of programming the VCA envelope...uups... happend to me some times...great to have them back´pd in a cardridge...:D"

"Baby Baby - let me love you" - with Wersi M.A.X.1

YouTube Uploaded by organfairy on Dec 12, 2011

"It doesn't get more 1980's than this!

The Danish singer Danielle Deneuve (actually her name is Dorthe Kristensen but I guess she wanted to sound more "international") had a hit in 1984 with this song. The original is also here one YT so you can judge by yourself.

I play it on Yamaha PSR-78 and Roland E-15 keyboards. I have used the little Wersi M.A.X.1 synthesizer for the rhythm and some of the instruments all controlled by a MIDI file. This MIDI file also controls the JX-8P bass sound and finally the Yamaha and Technics organs are used for the chords."

"Guilty" - on Wersi M.A.X.1

YouTube Uploaded by organfairy on Apr 19, 2011

"As I mentioned earlier I bought a box of old Wersi devices and circuit boards. Amongst the items were also this little thing: A complete preset synthesizer or sound module designed for use with Wersi's organs or - as in this case - Wersi's owm controller keyboard. They came three sizes and I believe the one I got is the MT-72 (the name tag is missing but it has 72 keys so MT-72 would be the logical guess :-)).

Most of the arrangement for this song runs as a MIDI file that controls the synthesizer. I had to record it in two layers as the synthesizer is only 16 voice polyphonic so I sometimes ran out of voices if I tried to do it all at once. The melody is played in real-time though. I have also sneaked the Technics SX-C600 organ in as I like the string pads and the chorused organ - which I in this song referred to as the Draw-Barrys - of the analog organ better than the digital Wersi organ presets.

The pictures were some I took when I repaired the unit. There was nothing seriously wrong with it. But the front was falling apart because the plastic had cracked were the screws were attached. So I had to get creative with some glue. It wasn't succesfull though. It came apart again so now I have drilled some small holes and assembled it using metal stags and screws from the front as well as the back. Not as elegant as I could wish but now it stays together.

The song is written by the Gibb brothers and was originally performed by Barbra Streisand and Barry Gibb in 1980."