"Italian monophonic synthesizer equipped with CV gate in perfect working conditions.
There are two VCOs with triangular, sawtooth, symmetric square and three asymmetric square waves. The octave switch is very convenient and allows the guitarist to place the synthesizer above and below the frequency produced by the string.The two oscillators have separate volume controls. An LFO (low frequency oscillator) has a triangular wave, sawtooth, inverted sawtooth, square and two asymmetric squares. It can control VCO (vibrato), VCF (wha-wha), VCA (tremolo). It can be overridden using the supplied footswitch. The filter (VCF) is equipped with frequency, cutoff and resonance adjustment, its performance is in line with the rest of the equipment."
"Elka Synthex - Jen Syntar - Welson Syntex and Davoli Drum Synth plays with Music Pattern Generator
MPG is a fantastic Euclidean online Midi Pattern Generator plays on Chrome
Elka Synthex is a Midi retrofit official version
Welson Syntex and Jen Syntar are custom retrofit handmade by Mirko Trentin
Davoli Drum Synth play with a Midi to Trigger module by Elby Designs - Laurie Biddulph (Australia)
"VSMIproject comes back!! The new studio is on!
Jen Syntar GS3000, 1978 two oscillators guitar synth Made in Italy, midi mod by Mirco Trentin TLab. control by Aphelian seq on IPad in random mode thru Echopad and Audioverb, Godwin DrumMaker32 samples on Arturia ISpark drum machine... first Live Jam as is in the new studio! dedicated to Berend... he bought me this wonderful synth in Holland some years ago... (RIP)"
"Hello everybody , my Hobby it's restore the old Combo organ and Synth.
In this video i show you the test after restored of ultra rare MCS70 made by Ing. Mario Maggi .
The only piece in the world!!"
[Side note: Mario Maggi was the man behind the ELKA Synthex. There was only one previous post that mentioned the MCS70 here on MATRIXSYNTH posted back in 2006. This had me wondering whether there are any other one-off synths, and what are some of the rarest synths out there? There was the ASE Modular also by Mario Maggi. There is only one S.W.A.N but it shares the same synth engine as the Syntar. There was also the ConBrio ADS, protoype Minimoogs if you want to count them, prototype Orchestron (not technically a synth, but...), the original Acxel Resynthesizer, clear Gleeman Pentaphonic (same engine as the solid black ones though), rare EMS synths, rare PPGs (here and here for example), and I'm sure others I forget at the moment. If you can think of any, leave a comment below! BTW, the New Old Label is a great resource for exploring vintage gear that never appeared on the site before. I highly recommend it and the exclusive labels for some of the more exclusive synths out there.] Also see the first synth to post.
"The rarest synthesizer on Earth comes back to life thanks to the patient restoration work of two passionate Italian technicians
Recently the Soundmit has been involved in an event of those that happen once in a lifetime.
Two longtime friends, passionate about synthesizers, musicians and technicians, have accomplished a feat deemed impossible.
They have completely restored the rarest Italian synthesizer, the MCS70 designed by Mario Maggi, just him ... the father of Elka Synthex.
The MCS70 is a monophonic synth with many surprises inside, perhaps the most evident in the presence of the presets! In an era in which microprocessors were not yet widespread, Maggi succeeded in the enterprise of creating the first analog, monophonic synthesizer with memories!
There is only one MCS70 in the world and has been owned, for almost 40 years, by Patrizio Fariselli, the famous keyboard player of the Progressive Rock band "AREA".
Recently two friends, one technician (Marco Molendi) and the other a musician (Andrea Manuelli), specializing in the restoration of Italian electronic musical instruments, have succeeded in the impossible task of bringing the instrument back to life.
According to the engineer Maggi, it is not possible to give technical details beyond what can be seen in the video.
Francesco Mulassano of Soundmit was invited by Marco and Andrea during the last phase, that of the toast for the goal reached and in fact is one of the very few people in the world who have seen tried and listened to the instrument that, after so many years, remains a jewel of technique and sound.
Special thanks go to engineer Mario Maggi for the work he has done (and continues to do) in our sector.
We hope to hear the MCS70 in new compositions soon and hope to see it at Soundmit in November 2020!"
"it’s been 40 years since the Performance Music Systems SYNTAR was introduced at the #namm show in #1980 by george mattson - bob #moog even got to try it out #keytar #namm2020 #eml #analog #synthesizer #ymo #rydeen #cover"
The Syntar was the first self-contained synthesizer keytar. Before the Syntar, keytars were controllers. The Syntar was created by George Mattson of Mattson Mini Modular. There was a keyboardless version of the Syntar called the SWAN, or Syntar Without a Neck. A SWAN II was announced back in 2018, under development with Division 6.
This one is in via @BuckRemus, who was curious if there was any relation to George Mattson's PMS Syntar, the first synthesizer keytar. I reached out to George and he said he didn't know what it is, so there is no relation.
If you know what this is, feel free to leave a comment.
There appears to be 16 buttons (presets?), and three colored buttons, one blue, one orange, and one grey. Note there are six mini keys, so they could be the equivalent of the six strings on a guitar and meant to be strummed rather than pressed like traditional keys. There are three knobs, or possibly four if the one on the right is just missing a knob cap. There are a number of holes as you can see (tuning/calibration points?).
Update: Two more pics added below, and via @BuckRemus: "it didn't come with a power supply so we're hoping to find someone who knows something so we don't fry it (if it hasn't been already). If it helps, it was purchased in Maine."
This one is in via George Mattson of Mattson Mini Modular. Back on September 15, 2007, I posted a little teaser that would eventually launch Mattson back into the synth manufacturing world. He is the man behind the Syntar - the original keytar synthesizer, and the SWAN (Syntar Without A Neck) was the follow-up non-keytar version. It's fitting and an honor that George Mattson is announcing his retirement and a new SWAN here on MATRIXSYNTH.
"Hello to all of my dear synth friends, customers, and associates.
After 45 years of involvement in the synthesizer community, it is time for me to retire.
The community is on the right track with some extremely talented, enthusiastic people that can carry on the vision while I step back and focus on actually learning to play the gear I have acquired throughout the years. What a concept…
I thank all of you for the support and friendship that you have provided to me throughout the years. It has been very humbling and I bow to all of you.
I am currently working on my last system design along with my little brother Scott Rise of Division 6. He will be the “manufacturer” and sales point for the S.W.A.N. II.
It’s basically a 60HP 3U complete system. It has 3 VCOs and two separate voice chains. It contains a sequencer, arpeggiator, and the VCOs can be split to upper/lower priority for duophonic operations.
The main 60HP unit has Basic I/O.
For patching ability, there will be a 24HP expander that provides access to more I/O. It will also have sequencer program save/recall functions and the ability to set MIDI channels via the control panel. The two VCF notch outputs will also be accessible.
The main system VCOs will have continuously variable waveform mixing between triangle, square, and saw outputs similar to the EML 101 style of mixing. Both VCFs will also have continuously variable mode mixing between LP, BP, and HP, also like the EML 101.
There will be a 20HP expander panel that will allow for VC control of the VCO waveform mixing and the VCF mode mixing, along with a couple of cascaded buffered multiples and a couple of cascaded clock dividers/square wave sub generators.
That’s it in a nutshell. I’ve been working on this since May of last year and have been trying to balance my time between this design and getting ready to retire.
Price point? Not enough info yet to determine. Probably under $1K for the main unit.
Release date? June/July? As soon as we can. We may crowdfund manufacturing, but we need to accumulate more data first.
Once I have retired, I will still be doing custom system builds. I can’t totally pull away from this art.
Again, thank all of you for your support, and I’ll see you at Knobcon.
I spotted this one in a post by Francesco Mulassano of Soundmit and Torino Synth Meeting. The image comes from this PDF. I was curious what exactly it was, and what synth was pictured, so I reached out to him. According to Francesco:
"Introni is a sort of archive of almost all old italian electronic magazines (and a few in other languages), very interesting archive, inexhaustible source of great pictures. Onde Quadre was one of this magazine, they spot sometimes synthesizers as a diy project like this.
A few new images of the one and only Performance Music Systems S.W.A.N., aka Syntar Without A Neck! If you are not familiar with this synth, see here. You can find additional posts on Performance Music Systems here, including an interview with the creator of the S.W.A.N, George Mattson. Mattson of course, is the man behind Mattson Mini Modular and the M in Synthrotek's MST line of eurorack modules. The S.W.A.N was his second synth, after the Syntar, the world's first stand-alone synthesizer keytar.
Note this is the one and only S.W.A.N. in existence.
The bottom image further below was taken in celebration of the Syntar's 38th birthday on October 4th of last year!
"No classic synth t-shirt collection is complete without the original SYNTAR marketing material graphics which were HAND DRAWN by George Mattson himself!!!. This shirt also comes as a hoodie. Limited edition. Click on the image above to check out the garment selection on the Synthrotek store."
"Long before anyone had coined the word 'keytar' and before anyone else thought of putting the guts of a synthesizer into a wearable performance keyboard, George Mattson created such an animal and dubbed it the Syntar. The front of the hoodie says 'Syntar...' The back shows the large graphic of the Syntar.
Now you can celebrate the Syntar in a whole new form!
There are two options for the graphics:
1. The front shows the large graphic of the Syntar (Large graphic on front, none on back).
2. The front of the t-shirt says 'Syntar...' The back shows the large graphic of the Syntar (Small graphic on front, large graphic on back)."
I don't believe I've ever seen one of these before. Piano, Honky Tonk, and Harpsichord with Bass & General volume sliders from JEN, the maker of synths like the SX 1000, SX 2000, String Machine, and Syntar.
"Carlo Robelli is an Italian maker of guitar and other musical instruments. In the 1960s, Carlo Robelli was a maker of inexpensive electric guitars, such as a model based upon the Gibson Les Paul. The company now focuses on acoustic stringed instruments, such as guitars and violins. Most Carlo Robelli modern products are made in China."
"70's italian monophonic analog synthesizer with diode ladder filter, same type as in VCS3... phatty and gritty !
Originally intended for guitar, modified here with CV and gate in.
The scratching noise you hear from time to time is due to low end distortion in my camera.
Particle delay and spring reverb added."
Red Martian is having their album release event at the Seattle Living Computer Museum this Saturday. You might remember their recent performance there where they covered Kraftwerk. The track above was composed on Ichabod when Stephen Jones of Red Martian was helping George Mattson test Ichabod during its construction. Note Ichabod will not be at the event as it currently resides with Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins, but you are sure to see a great live performance with synths.
Video Description:
"A new album of 13 electronic pieces. The first 100 will be given away as gifts at SRGE: Arcade Armageddon September 19th, 2015 at the Living Computer Museum. Red Martian performs at 8:30pm on the main stage.
Track listing:
[Tracks 09 and 10 were composed on Ichabod, 03 on the Syntar, 04 on the MMM, and 07 on the Solaris.]
01 cowboy and the vocoder [see this post - great track with a sad story]
02 nedan omloppsbana
03 närmar snöblandat regn
04 av död (delorean)
05 retrailing
06 flytta hav av is
07 känner mig så låg
08 風の谷のナウシカ
09 utan hjärta *
10 bedövande en översvämning *
11 ひょろり
12 se io m'accorgo
13 ett vykort
improvised live on the custom Mattson Mini Modular named Ichabod."
"One of the last and rarest keyboards from the South Florida Keyboard Collectors Estate Sale
Only 8 of these were ever made [see the update below], it is the rarest of the rare and its safe to say you will probably not see another one of these on ebay ever
Unit powers up but keyboard not functioning properly, the same note sounds for all the keys played"
Update: word is this is likely the late Mel Morley's (aka midimel's) Syntar. Also, there were more than 8 made. There was 15, 12 were completed and 3 made their way into the Mattson EML system.
"Synth pioneer George Mattson of Mattson Mini Modular and the Syntar takes sits down with Synthrotek to share his history in audio synthesis, the fall of Analog and his thoughts on the new MST line of of Eurorack modules. He also gives his insight into the future of modular synthesis."
"He is credited with the invention of the Syntar, the first fully self-contained 'keytar', in 1978, and is founder and owner of Mattson Mini Modular."
Pictured here is George with his monster EML system featuring his own custom modules, his original EML 101, and a small Mattson Mini Modular system to the right of the EML.
See the channel labels at the bottom of this post for more on each as well as the Syntar.
Demo in the listing previously posted here.
