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video upload by ohm_studi_ohm
"demo mainly intented to show the Roland CR8000 and Teisco Vocal 120 i'm selling in action.
The Teisco is a nice 5 channel mixing amplifier. It's very nice used as a submixer to add some character and spring reverb to keys and drum machines as you can hear. Simple Treble / Bass EQ that sounds very musical, and a 3 stage gain attenuator that can make the input just slighthly overdriven and compressed to totally smashed. Channels are transistor based, not op amp.
The CR8000 is a classic groovey programmable Roland drum machine, 2 step away from the CR78 and 1 step from the TR808."
"This is probably the rarest and strangest bird I've met. You may think it's a kind of simple monophonic analog 1 oscillator synth like the Roland SH 2000, but there is more than meets the eye. It took me some time to understand what's going on and to this day I am still not sure exactly how it works but it looks like the oscillator is a kind of very early FM based oscillator. Check the video, especially the "bell" presets and you'll know what I mean.
Tone is shaped by 3 faders labelled "Fundamental", "Overtone" and "Brillance", and these are interconnected. There is a simple envelope which works as attack decay (labelled "attack" and "sustain") by default but can be switched to attack release by the push of a button ("sustain long"). Funny thing is the attack fader is inverted compared to classic synth topology: when raising the fader the attack gets shorter. All the presets have their own envelope setting and depending on the presets the attack and decay faders do not behave exactly the same, ie the envelope faders do not totally overide the presets envelope. You can also have the envelope assigned to the filter by switching on "VCF expand", and control the envelope to VCF amount with the "Expand" fader. The "Expand Envelope" seems to invert the VCF envelope. It's quite efficient on some presets and not on others. "Touch portamento" switch is actually a key retrigger option. When activated envelope retriggers on every key stroke (low note priority) otherwise the envelope is legato. So it has nothing to do with the "portamento" fader which is indeed a portamento effect. "Gride" is basically a pitch bend (upwards only). "Growl" switch adds... growl: it adds a kind of brassy attack to the sound. Not efficient on every preset but can add to the realism of the sound on others. There is also a LFO which can be delayed (it's more like a slow attack then a proper delay), consisting of either pulse or triangle wave shape, that can be assign to "vibrato", "wow", "chorus", "tremolo", and you can have the envelope repeat on the lfo speed thanx to the "repeat" switch. And finally there is a noise generator with dedicated fader level and a "Noise only" switch that is self-explanatory. This makes for a uncommon and interesting monophonic synthesizer. Very expressive in my opinion, once you managed to tame it.
I did service this one as much as I could but without any information and service manual it's hard to be sure it's sounding as it should. There are like 15 trimpots inside to calibrate the synth and you definitely can hear most are changing tone and harmonics. Anyway it seems to fully function, it's scaled and tuned and it sounds great but again I can not be 100% sure it's sounding as it was intended.
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."
"This is a rare DDR analog phaser based on the classic TCA350Y Bucket Brigade Device.
The unit is in fully working order and in good cosmetic condition.
Original DIN sockets were replaced by more convenient jack ones."
"Here is a demo of a quite rare Jen SM 2007 string machine. Unit was fully serviced and is for sale. Get in touch if interested.
The SM 2007 is a very nice stringer for whomever like these classic sounds. Very compact and lightweight and still gifted with quite a number of features.
There are 3 strings sounds (cello, viola and violin) that can be individually mixed, variable attack and sustain, a tone control and of course a triple BBD chorus.
The later has 3 presets: ensemble, solo and organ that are basically different setting of the chorus effect, 'ensemble' being the full triple chorus, 'solo' uses only 2 of the choruses for a less dense sound and "organ" is the dry sound of the string sounds, thus enabling to use external fx with more flexibility.
"Auto sustain" switch makes it possible for sustain notes either to be cut when new ones are played or be left to release. And the sustain length can be massive !
Soundwise it is silky and lush, the closest I can think of is the Logan/Hohner string melody. A bit like Elka rhapsody too but denser since it has triple chorus, not a double one.
Recorded dry with no treatment."
And some pics. Note the stand is not original. Perfect fit though.
"Quick demo of an Elka Drummer One I just serviced. Every single electrolytic capacitors were replaced. You really HAVE to do it on those units, otherwise it doesn't sound like it should, and deserve. There is no way the bad quality capacitors italian manufacturers used in the 60s and 70s could still be in shape 50 years after. And it impacts the sound a lot in those analog drum machine, especially the attack and decay of the sounds. Apart from that and trimmers that need attention it is a quite well built unit and easy to service. I tuned the sound with quite long decay, I like when the sound, especially toms and congas, are bouncy. You could of course make them tighter if you like. It's a pity the unit doesn't have more patterns that use the Cowbell and Conga sound. There is only one pattern using them each. It is however easy to add MIDI or trigger input should you want to play the sounds as a regular drum expander.
Please note there is a slight distortion at some point in the video, it doesn't come from the Elka but from the Teisco Vocal 120 mixer it is plugged in, which has some very dirty gain attenuator switches i never manage to really clean, so eventually i'll replace them. Anyway, here is the Elka Drummer One. Listen with headphones or decent speakers !"
Here is a demo of the Roland DC-50 with a Juno 106.
I use a footswitch to turn the effect on/off and also compare it to the built in Juno chorus to give you an idea how they differ.
Main difference is the DC-50 is mono of course, but it can do echo. Also chorus effect is much more pronouced than the Juno one and depth can be adjusted.
Recorded straight with no treatment nor eq."
"Quick demo of a custom made ensemble FX box based on a Farfisa analog Bucket Brigade Device triple chorus. Basically it's the ensemble fxfrom the Farfisa Synthorchestra 4.
Introduced by Eminent in their Solina String Ensemble, the triple chorus is what makes in most part for that luscious string machine sound typical of the 70s, and these fx have been built in all the major string synthesizers, from the italian ones (Crumar, Logan, Elka etc) to the Japanese ones (Roland RS 505, Korg Poly Ensemble etc), and to the american ones (Arp Omnis, Moog Opus 3 etc) with minor differences in design.
As you can hear you can turn any synth sound in a gorgeous string sound.
I built unit like these from time to time so if you’re interested in buying one get in touch."
Here is an overview of this singular analog delay. The EC280 was allegedly the very first bucket brigade device delay around. I don't know about that but it was the first Dynacord released and it paved the way for their futur classic units like VRS 23, SRS 56 or TAM 19 / 21.
What makes this unit special is the use of BBD chipsets to create reverb spaces. The result are totally unatural reverbs but that are extremely deep and beautiful. The sound is dark and dense, and a bit gritty, you wont't get very define repetition out of this echo unit but it really glues the instrument you run into it.
It further has a 'chorus" level that acts peculiarly too since you can't set the time of the chorus, it is tied to the delay 'speed'. With this chorus knob, fast speed setting and high feedback level ('regeneration') you almost go to flanger territories.
A very unique device it is."
"This is the rare first non tape delay produced by Dynacord. It uses 8 Philips TDA 1022 bucket brigade device chipsets and offers echo and reverb mode, along with some kind of modulation labelled chorus, very much like the modulation that will be found later on in units like Dynacord VRS23, Yamaha E1010 or Ibanez AD202, here in its simpliest form, the speed of the modulation cannot be set and is tied to the speed of the delay, thus giving some very strange possible effect. The sound is very deep and dark, the reverb mode in particular is magnificient.
The unit was serviced: every single electrolityc capacitors were replaced, everything was cleaned and it is calibrated. It is in fully working order and in very good cosmetic condition, with only minor signs of wear."
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video upload by ohm_studi_ohm
"Quick 80s inspired tune mainly to demonstrate the MIDI sync capabilities of the Tauntek MIDI kit. (http://www.tauntek.com/Poly61.htm)
It's a basic MIDI kit that adds MIDI IN notes and Arp Sync control to the Poly 61, as well as MIDI receive channel. These features makes already a big differrence over a stock Poly 61, or over a Poly 61M which though has MIDI implemented only works in OMNI mode and don't let you sync the arp over MIDI.
All synth sound are from the Poly 61, drums and MIDI clock are provided by the Oberheim DX."
"6 voices analog polysynth, serviced and upgraded with a Tauntek Midi interface.
The upgrade lets you play notes over midi and also synchronise the built-in arpeggiator to MIDI clock !
Unit was serviced and is in fully working condition. It did suffer the classic battery leaking but was fixed and a brand new battery was fitted, along with factory presets.
Cosmetic is overall very good, except for the side cheeks that are damaged, and a key that was glued but barely noticeable, see pictures. Otherwise a very clean unit."
"Very quick demo of a custom built Wersi Wersivoice analog triple chorus i'm selling just to showcase once again how lush these boxes sound and how they transform any synth in a great string synth.
I adressed the Wersivoice and it's cousin the Böhm Phasing Rotor in more lengthy and detailed videos [posted here] if you're curious about these units."
"Quick video of a SIEL Orchestra I just serviced, in order to demonstrate the differents sounds you can get out of this instrument.
Also sold as the ARP Quartet this keyboard offers 4 parts: Brass / Strings / Reed / Piano
Nice filter on the brass part and strings sounds are not too bad either. They do use the same TCA350 BBD chipsets as other classic string machines like the Eminent Solina, Logan String Melody or Crumar Performer.
I use a sustain, pedal as some point, mainly on the piano part.
Recorded dry and no treatment."
"The Korg Rhythm 55 (KR-55) is a very nice and punchy sounding rhythm unit that is also very easily modifiable. Adding clock sync, trigger inputs and audio outputs is really just a matter of soldering some wires in the right places and connecting them to sockets. (well if you want a proprer 24 PPQN DinSync you need to add some components for the clocking part).
Here is a demo of a unit that has 10 trigger inputs sequenced by the Roland TR-8s and which audio is running into the TR-8s too in order to add FX.
All drum sounds are from the KR-55.
You can also still have the built in KR-55 patterns running and play/record some more parts on top of them if you like. So sync and play at the same time.
By enabling external sequencing the trigger inputs mod broadens the KR-55 territory and you can hear that is can easily fit into contemporary musical genres.
One peculiar thing about this unit is that it has 12 sounds but only 10 trigger possibilities. Indeed the 2 toms and 2 congas share the same trigger so there is no way in this unit to have both toms and congas sound at the same time.
There is a very nice technical article about this drum machine if you’re interested in such knowledge here: https://electricdruid.net/analogue-dr..."
I've serviced several Wilgamat and I noticed that sometimes you can miss some minor issues in an otherwise working unit, mainly in the bass accompaniement arpeggios: missing notes, wrong pitched notes, double trigger notes...
These issues (as most of the issues in this instruments) are caused by faulty CMOS chipsets. These are cheap and easy to replace. Issue can however be in the AY-1-1313 chipsets (Priority Latching Network chipset) and these are harder to find.
Here you can listen to a fullly working and proper sounding unit and compare it to yours. Pay particular attention to the bass part, especially in "walking bass" mode. If one or more patterns do not sound like these then you have some faulty chipsets somewhere.
There is a non intended use of these unit I like: when playing in "key" start mode with lowest tempo, you can use this unit as a simple bass or synth keyboard.
Depending on the pattern selected you don't get the same result. With a little pratice it can turn as a nice simple bass keyboard.
Also note the bass section only spans over 1 octave whereas the accompanient sections spans over 2."
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video upload by ohm_studi_ohm
"very short video to demo the trigger input mod added to the Boss DR-110.
It enables the drum machine to be played with external gear. Any positive pulse trigger from 1v to 20v would do the trick, you can even trig the sounds manually with a AA battery if you like !"
"Portable programmable analog drum machine from the early 80s.
Unit was modded to add trigger inputs so that now you can sequence the 6 sounds and accent with external gear.
It uses optocouplers so any positive voltage pulse would trigger the sounds (v-trigger for instance). You could even trig the sound manually with a battery cell !
Unit is in fully working order. it comes with its original carrying case.
It runs on batteries or power adpater (not included). If you want to run it on power supply you'd need to get the boss PSA-120 power supply, other power adapters brings background noises.'
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video upload by ohm_studi_ohm
This appears to be the first one to be featured on the site.
"this is a quite rare spring reverb built by Dynacord in the late 60s.
As minimal as it can possibly be: a black box with only a socket (input/output) and a gain level. Not even a power switch !
This particular unit was fully recapped and it sounds very nice, deep but quite bright for a spring reverb. Tank is a Accutronics one and electronics is only transistor based.
The pot is not a blend pot but a gain level. As you can hear you can get the unit to overdrive quite easily.
You need to set the unit as an aux to your mixing desk or soundcard. If you plug an instrument directly you will get wet sound only. In this demo it is connected to a RME babyface as an aux, and I used a Korg Mini Pops 120 (btw for sale here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/305744488287) and a Roland SH-101 as source materials"
"classic Korg Minipops 120, the last drum machine from the Mini Pops serie.
Unit was serviced, partially recapped and calibrated. It's in fully working order.
Unit was also slightly modded: the balance knob which originally acted as a kind of EQ (boosting bass on the left side and high on the right side) is now acting as a HI Hats / Cymbal volume (like it should have IMO) so you can totally dialed off the hi hats / cymbal and it allows for more rhythmic variations, perfect for those breaks."
"Here is another 'one man band' from the 70s I just serviced. Many dead CMOS chipsets, lots of bad connections on the motherboard daughterboards sockets (broken pins, bad solder joint) and a dying voltage regulator, among other things.
Custom built keyboard to trigger the accompaniment unit, with jack socket input for pedal that introduce drum breaks.
A different flavor than the Welson Ritmo I recently demoed but definitely in the same mood.
Recorded through a Teisco 120 to add some reverb."
This appears to be the first post to feature the Elka Wilgamat 1. Note the "1" on the right. The Elka Wilgamat minus the "1" has been featured on the site before in previous posts here. Which came first? :) You can find additional Elka Wilgamat models here.
Update: according to Ohm Studio: "Electronics are exactly the same. I think this one is later and was an add for some Elka organ, maybe Concorde or something. The black color is I think factory since it’s all over the case even inside. It’s clearly the same fake wood as the original but painted black, probably to better match the organ aesthetics. I definitely remember seeing auctions with Elka organ and this wilgamat unit bundle. Also the complete wilgamat electronics and controls are fitted in some Elka organ, spinet and combo. Don’t remember which model but I did scavenged à spinet one to retrieve all the pcbs."
This Wersivoice unit is based on later revision model that uses 3x Panasonic MN3004 Bucket Brigade Device chipsets, the same chipsets used on Roland VP330 or Jupiter 4 chorus for instance, instead of the more classic Philips TDA1022 you find in earlier Wersivoice units.
No fuzz in this unit, it only does the string ensemble effect. Mono input / mono output. 3 positions switch with true bypass and mute position. Unit has a built in power supply that runs on 230v.
Case is DIY so don't expect manufacture quality.
Works perfectly of course.
"Demo of a Wersi CX1 I just serviced. Showcasing the general functionality of the instrument by fiddling with some presets I made.
This unit is actually more a CX2 since it was upgraded at some point to a CX2. This was a possibility given by Wersi when they released the CX2 not too long after the CX1. Basically it replaced the full analog drum sounds with 12 bit PCM drum samples. Otherwise the CX1 and CX2 shared the same analog arranger and programming unit.
There are still 4 analog drum synthesized sounds in the CX (maracas, claves, tambourine and "synthdrum", the latter being only manually triggered).
The CXs also have 3 SSM2044 filters for the 3 analog parts (bass, chord and arpeggio) and it features a great Wersivoice BBD triple chorus card to give that ensemble sound to the string presets sounds (check my videos about these units if you dont know how they sound).
Both drum and arranger parts are programmable and you can store your own 16 presets, in top of the 48 builtin presets.
Instant 80s and italo disco sound with this unit. Very close in philosphy and sound to the mlighty Bohm Digital Drums, with the latter being a much more advanced unit though."
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video upload by ohm_studi_ohm
"Very nice analog preset rhythm unit from the late 60s. It features 12 patterns that can be combined and 4 manual trigger sounds (snare roll, claves, tom 1 and tom 2), very much like the Farfisa Rhythm 10.
On the back of the unit you can set the 'impedance' and the "tone" of the unit. Also a pedal input is availbale for start stop.
intro synth used is a Korg Poly 61. Drum and synth recorded through a Teisco Vocal 120 in order to add spring reverb."
Since they look so similiar it was too tempting to compare those 2 classic rhythm units. Despite their similar design they are quite different, and the comparision is not really fair to the Korg since the Roland has programing abiltities. The CR-5000 would have been a closer contender but I don't own one so it is the 8000.
Though the Korg Rhythm 55 has less features and sounds than the Roland it has more patterns (48 patterns wheras the Roland features 24 preset patterns and 8 user ones) and a tighter, punchier sound.
Overall I prefer the Roland, especially for percussive sound (cowbell, claves, tom, rimshot and that amazing clap) but the kick, snare and hi hats of the Korg are very nice.
The Korg was fitted with a 24 ppq clock input so it can easily be synced to other gear in the studio, as it is the case here, slaved to the Roland.
The Roland had it's Kick, Snare and Toms sounds modified slightly. The kick is lower and boomier than it originally is and the snare is way snappier than it originally is. The Tom had the white noise part removed to have a more round sound."
Unit was serviced and is in fully working order.
It was fitted with a 3,5mm jack clock input. It works on 24 PPQ so like most of the gear you will have in your studio and much easier to sync than the 8 PPQ the unit internally runs on. Check the video, as it is synced to the Roland CR-8000
Cosmetic is fair with some cracks on the case and bumps here and there, see pictures."
