Pacific Northwest Synth 2009 - photos via MATRIXSYNTH

flickr set by MATRIXSYNTH
Pictured here: MMM Cable Case with Ad Infinitum color cables. Ad Infinitum was kind enough to provide free cable handouts for the event. Division 6 skull (video here).

The Performance Music Systems (PMS :) Syntar - the first keytar ever. The Syntar predated the Moog Liberation. The Syntar was made by George Mattson of Mattson Mini Modular.

Syntar T-Shirt scanned from original Syntar promotional material. Scott from Division 6 scanned the artwork and made the T.

Flight of flight of harmony and Scott of The Harvestman.

Euro rack modular, acidlab miami, OLPC running Tam Tam. It was need to see and hear this in person. OLPC stands for one laptop per child. It is a program in which you buy one of these laptops and one goes to a third world country for a child to use. It comes with an actual synth engine including a software modular. Think about that. One of the few programs children get exposed to with their first computer experience is a software modular synthesizer. event comments

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1978 JEN GS-3000 SYNTAR VINTAGE ELECTRIC GUITAR SYNTH

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

via this auction - learn how to sell on eBay here

"For sale is this vintage 1978 Jen GS-3000 Syntar electric guitar synthesizer. This particular example, serial number 013, is in very excellent all original condition and includes; the original case, the original pickup and cable, and the original template settings cards. The JEN Syntar is a very powerful Moog-style mono-synth, having been modeled after the MiniMoog, and features: (2) VCOs utilizing triangle, saw, and square wave forms, relative tuning for 5ths and 7ths, independent ADR envelopes for the VCA and VCF, an LFO, and a Glide control. This particular desktop synth unit is quite rare, and this is an extremely early production example. The original pickup includes a non-original plastic surround. This rare unit is being sold with No Reserve and FREE Worldwide shipping, so don't miss out on this awesome addition to your arsenal, as the highest bidder will win... regardless of price!

As mentioned, the design for Jen Syntar was inspired by the Moog MiniMoog, and is effectively a similar sounding mono-synth created specifically for guitar. It has the basic signal-layout of the old Moog. Instead of a keyboard there is a 6-pin dim input jack on the front for the original glue-on guitar pickup. 

 

It is a simple but quite powerful mono-synth. Two VCOs capable of tri, saw and pulse/square waves. VCO2 is tuned relative to VCO1 for some fat detuning or those classic 5ths and 7ths. Sound is fed though a lowpass VCF (24dB/oct) before reaching the VCA. VCA and VCF have independent envelopes of the atypical ADS variety (no release).

These rarely come available for purchase, and this particular unit has been completely serviced and calibrated. Don’t miss this opportunity to get a great vintage guitar synth for a fraction of the price of a MiniMoog.

Since the Jen Syntar was originally produced in Italy for European distribution, it is setup for 220v. For an additional $50, we can include a step up transformer for use with 100v/110v power sources."

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Mattson Syntar 1st KeyTar ever made, at thee MMTA Meetup in Seattle 2013

Published on Nov 1, 2013

http://www.synthrotek.com

"Mattson Syntar 1st KeyTar ever made, at thee MMTA Meetup in Seattle 2013
Some kid slaying it on the Mattson Syntar. Only 1 of 15 made!"

See the Syntar & MMTA SYNTHFEST 2013 channels below for more!

Exclusive Syntar Shot

Two more shots of the Syntar sent my way via creator George Mattson. The shot to the left is a close up of the left hand keyboard. Click each for a bigger shot.

"Here's a nice shot of the Syntar, and for the DIY-ers, a close-up on how the left hand keyboard worked. A matrix exclusive. I never showed this to anyone. But you can see, it literally is fish hook shanks, hat pins, tie wrap ends used as bell cranks and airplane hobby springs." George

Amazing. Thanks again George.

Don't miss the earlier post on
George Mattson and The Syntar.

Electronic Music Laboratories Modular Restoration Project

via George Mattson of Mattson Mini Modular: "This is my Electronic Music Laboratories sequencer. It is actually a compilation of assorted EML synthesizers I own that I stuffed into a common case.

In 1978, I was tired of trying to stack all of these and decided to compile them into one unit. At the time, I owned: The Electrocomp 400 sequencer with the 2x16 sequencer panel, The EML 200 "Modular" And, the EML 300 controller. I also own an EML 101 and an EML Poly-Box but, they didn't stack. I built the case out of 1/2" plywood with wood mounting rails and stapled black vinyl around the case. The case measures 4' wide x 3.5' high x 1' deep. Since I had a couple of extra holes, I ordered another 2x16 sequencer panel and another EML 300 without a case to fill it up. After 32 years, I've decided to refurbish this compilation and give it a new house.

The plan: Besides the panels in the case, I also have the EML circuit modules that I had purchased from EML in order to build a 'proof of concept' Syntar in 1979 [Update: see this post]. I also have a few left over 3-octave Pratt-Read keyboards from my old Syntar stock along with some old Syntar circuit boards. I want to determine what I have that is still working or, easy to fix. Once I have an inventory, I'm going to design a modular panel to fit between the 300's and the top portion and incorporate the working modules into the system. I'm also going to add the two 3-octave keyboards. Below those, I will put my 88-key M-audio MIDI controller keyboard and add a couple of MMM MIDI/CV controllers. Anything that I feel I need to fill out the signal paths and patching structure I'll just pull from my DIY module stock.

After the "modular" section is defined, I'll refurbish, re-cap the existing EML panels, calibrate them and clean/lube all of the panel controls that aren't sealed. Any sealed pots that are noticeably bad in an audio path will be replaced with something newer.

It should be a fun refurbishing project.

To be continued…."

George Mattson"

1980 PMS Syntar Synthesizer #7 Up for Auction

via this auction

"Working vintage 1980 PMS Syntar Synthesizer #7 of about 13 units made. Synthesizer is in working condition and had its power supply rebuilt and other electronics serviced within the last 4 years. Some modifications have been made to the standard routings have been made and are labeled on the power/base box. The red LEDs were replaced with blue and the range trimmers for pitch up/down were replaced with pots and knobs.

The Syntar has some very unique routings and includes a Sample and Hold section, a multi-mode SSM2040 filter (Prophet-5) which can be swept through LP, HP and BP, an ADSR and AR. The left hand controller features routing to pitch up/down, sustain, filter cutoff up/down, amplitude modulation and white noise.

Items included in this auction

# Two unused patch pad (50 sheets)
# Original manual
# 10 foot and 25+ foot cable
# Prototype vinyl carrying case and strap (only 1 made)
# Padded hardshell flight case
# Original glossy promo and sticker"

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One Monster Modular

George Mattson's monster EML modular near completion.

You can see two stacked Mattson Mini Modulars to the right of it. The MMM is based on the same circuits of the Performance Music Systems Syntar, which in turn was based on EML circuits built by EML according to George Mattson's specifications. The Syntar was the first keytar with a built in synthesizer produced by George in 1979. See The Syntar on Carbon111.com for some history as well as this post for an interview with George back in April of 2006.

See the Mattson EML label for more.


Flickr slideshow below. You can click on any image to get to the larger version on Flickr.

Synthex Syntar Syntex - The Euclidean Sequences

video upload by VSMI - Vintage Synths Made in Italy

"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)

New Images of the Performance Music Systems S.W.A.N.

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!

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Jen Syntar GS3000 - 1978 Guitar Synth Made in Italy Live Jam

VSMI

You can find additional Jen Syntar posts here.

"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)"

RIP Richard Lainhart & Mel Morley (midimel)

Duet in C - YouTube Uploaded by azimuthvisuals on May 20, 2010

"Music by Mel Morley and Richard Lainhart. Recorded at Pocono Skies electro-music festival, May 15, 2010. This improvised piece is part of a larger collaboration including Howard Moscovitz, Jeannie Allen, and Charles Shriner. Mel Morley plays keyboards and software synthesizers. Richard Lainhart plays Haken Continuum and Buchla modular synthesizer. Camera by Greg Waltzer and visuals by Hong Waltzer of Azimuth Visuals."

It is with tremendously sad news that I post the passing of both Richard Lainhart & Mel Morley this holiday season. My condolences go out to their families.

I recently met Richard Lainhart and his lovely wife in Bellingham for the Electronic Arts Festival. You can find a slideshow and video of his lecture with a performance of Oraisen on the Haken Continuum and Buchla 200e here. I believe my first post on Richard went up back in 2007. His work has been featured numerous times on the site. Just do a search on Lainhart on the right search box.  Google brings up 8900 results, but I'm guessing some are repeats.  Regardless, his presence on the site was massive.

Richard had a passion for not only music but for teaching as well. Many of his performances such as that at the Bellingham Electronic Arts Festival was a combination of performance and lecture. I only briefly communicated with him at Bellingham and via email, but felt akin to him.  He said he loved performing and travelling.  He was always grateful for his coverage on the site and once told me a story about how he ended up on a trip to Italy because of a post here on MATRIXSYNTH.  It was one of the biggest compliments I ever received on the site.  I will never forget that and I will never forget him.  Rest in peace Richard, you were one cool cat.  See his Facebook Page for messages. You can find his website at http://www.otownmedia.com/. Update: you can find a recent performance of Richard in New York on CatSynth here. I'm not sure if this was his last. via CatSynth in the comments below: "What a sad day! I knew Richard Lainhart from performing in New York over the past couple of years. It was only a couple of days ago that I posted the show we did where we did an improvised score to his film "History of the Future." His music and films were beautiful and he was a great person, and will be missed. :("

Update: I went up to Bellingham for the afternoon. It was a planned trip, but having briefly met Richard and his wife Caroline there gave it special meaning this time. A bit more reflective on the life of those I thought I'd eventually get to know better. In the Fairhaven district there is a little garden shop with artisan products. There is an outside section with a little rock gravel path that you can walk through. At one point in the walk something captured my attention. It took me a second and I realized it was a bunch of birds chirping away as if having a massive conversation. It made me think of Richard. On Twitter and Facebook he used to post about listening to birds outside his home. It always reminded me to slow down a little and just take the time to listen to the birds.    

Update: via I Dream of Wires: Extended Interview Series: Richard Lainhart

Richard Lainhart: IDOW Extended Interview #1 from I Dream Of Wires on Vimeo.

Mel Morley aka midimel was well known to many in the electronic music scene. You can find his website here: http://midimel.com. He once played keys for Flock of Seagulls, and was one of the few owners of the Performance Music Systems Syntar. George Mattson of Mattson Mini Modular and Performance Music Systems knew him well. Mel, actually dropped by the NAMM booth in the early 80s when the Syntar was shown. He dropped by George's booth and gave the Syntar a spin. According to George he was quite proficient at it and someone walking by came up to talk to him. That person ended up being the contact that led him to playing for Flock of Seagulls.  George said he is really going to miss him.  He had some great conversations with him. I have only briefly communicated with Mel myself, but he like Richard was one cool cat. I wish I could have gotten to know him better.  You can find his Facebook Page with condolences here.

The Syntar - Jen Electronica GS-3000

You can find more pics, samples and info on The Syntar Page.

"Ok, so what is it?
Simply put, it is a Minimoog rip-off for guitarists. It has the basic signal-layout of the old moog. Instead of a keyboard there is an input socket on the front for connecting to a custom set of glue-on guitar pickups (no joke).

To the left you can see it in all its glory. Synth, manual, pickup mics, and "presets".

It is a simple but quite powerful mono-synth. Two VCOs capable of tri, saw and pulse/square waves. VCO2 is tuned relative to VCO1 for some fat detuning or those classic 5ths and 7ths. Sound is fed though a lowpass VCF (24dB/oct?) before reaching the VCA. VCA and VCF have independent envelopes of the atypical ADS variety (no release). There is also an LFO and Glide control."

Note there is no relation to this and the PMS Syntar of course. via Bart on Facebook.

Jen Syntar demo track

Published on Mar 27, 2016 ikworgek

"Demotrack JEN SYNTAR GS-3000
with CV gate modification
all sounds from the JEN
drums from volcabeat
some reverb and delay

enjoy!"

Jen Syntar 2 demotrack

Red Martian at the New Wave Modular Synthesizer PNW AES Meeting

YouTube via matrixsynth.

Note his comment on orchestrating it. The laptop plays the sequence while Stephen edits the four voices in real time - listen for the subtle tweaks. The laptop only plays MIDI notes. The patches and editing are done by Stephen. In later videos he plays the Syntar. Be sure to see this post for more classical pieces featuring the MMM by Stephen and of course try a search here on MATRIXSYNTH on Red Martian or redmartian for more.

http://redmartian.com
http://synthwood.com
http://mattsonminimodular.com
http://www.myspace.com/bluelightcurtain
http://www.facebook.com/bluelightcurtain

"Stephen Jones of Red Martian, Blue Light Curtain, and Synthwood performs the PMS Syntar and Mattson Mini Modular at the New Wave Modular Synthesizer PNW AES Meeting at MS Studios."
Be sure to click on the PNWAES label below for all posts covering the event.


Don't miss the Syntar demo in the video set above.

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An Afternoon with George, James and Greg

Update: George sent me an MP3 of one of our jam sessions and I just put up a post here with details.

George Mattson, creator of the Syntar, invited me, James(Carbon111), and Greg (Alpha Wave Movement) over for an afternoon jam session and get together. We had a great time, and I finally got to see and hear the Syntar along with George's EML semi-modular. We spent most of the afternoon in a "tangerine dream" playing along to Greg's rhythms and a very nice sequence George patched up on the EML. After the session we had some delectable sandwiches and brownies made by George's wife Celeste. Thank you Celeste! We had a great time. Definitely not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Title link takes you to a ton of shots I took and a couple of short AVIs; unfortunately the audio did not come out. George has promised to send us a few mp3 of the session, so I'll put them up when I get them. Apologies for the quality of some of the shots - the room was dimly lit (great atmosphere), but the tranlsation was lost in many of these shots.

That's James in the Green T, George by the EML and Greg up front.

George and Syntar Prototype #2

The Clavitar, The Moog Liberation, and the first Keytars

via this auction

Anyone know when the Clavitar was released? Here's a pic of George Duke in 1980 with one.

BTW, on the last page of the current September issue of Keyboard magazine (with Devo on the cover) is a one page feature on "Keytars Past and Pressent." I was under the impression that George Mattson's Performance Music Systems Syntar (1980) was the first keytar, before the Moog Liberation (1981). It looks like Roger Powell's Probe may have preceded it in 1977. Anyone know if it was just a controller or if it had a built in synth like the Syntar? Jan Hammer apparently also had a newer Probe, which you can see in this video and this video. Before everything was the Orphica from 1795.

Roger Powell image via audioholics

Orphica image via realsamples where you'll find a sample set of it. This might be a newer model though. The image or the Orphica in Keyboard looks much older and more like a mini harpsichord with neck attached.





Update via plaztec in the comments: "The Probe, as invented by Powell (& Jeremy Hill) and refined by Jan Hammer in the area of the pitch & mod wheels (note the left-hand sides of their respective keyboards are quite different, Hammer preferring the Minimoog-style wheels), was a controller and not a self-contained synthesizer. Both had custom rigs; Powell had a bank of Oberheim SEMs, IIRC - and Hammer the same, blending the SEM sound with the Minimoog in order to get his signature lead tone. Jan also experimented with a cruder, squarish remote in order to get the placement and angle of the wheels exactly right for him, prior to the building of his custom Probe. IMHO, those two guys in their heyday were, and remain, the single most credible-looking and compelling rock keyboardists to use remote keyboards on stage, especially considering the musicians they shared the stage with..."

Update via Jimmersound in the comments: "There's also info on the Probe in this Synapse issue."

Vintage Synth Brochures Including The Syntar

via this auction

- TEXTURE software by Roger Powell (Utopia)
- 3) OBERHEIM MATRIX-1000 flyers - color - small smudge
- SYNTAR series I 'KEYTAR brochure & price list (George Mattson)
- FREEDOM I - Poly Keyboard Interface Controller (rare)
- STUDIO ELECTRONICS 'SE-1' MIDIMOOG flyer
- STRIDER SYSTEMS 'DCS II' pioneering digital synthesizer brochure & price list
- SEQUENTIAL CIRCUITS 'PROPHET T8' analog synth 6 page color brochure!!
(small split on last page seam - not torn)
- SIEL 'DK 80' hybrid synth 8 page color brochure
- SIEL Expander 80/DK600/EXPANDER/PX JR/MIDI INTERFACE

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DIY "Moog" Guitar from 1974?

This one in via NEW ALLIANCE EAST

"i saw this in a vinyl store in san fran and though it was pretty rad.

thought i'd forward it.

i've never seen one of these before have you?"

Anyone know more about this?

Update: details here

via Dave Manley

"Special guest interview with FOREST TERRY JR! Forest stops by to chat about the Original Black Sheep, the Forest Power Band, and his amazing invention the ‘Keyytar’ (for which he earned a US Patent!). He brought along a few treats, including a special unreleased 12″ acetate of “Branch N Out”!!!!"

Interesting. This predates the PMS Syntar, although the Syntar still holds the reigns as the first traditional style keytar that was all synth. This is the keytar before the keytar.

Update: design patents while up:
patd384688.pdf
patd261150.pdf
[mirror

Update: video below.


YouTube via pj4533

"2 Videos of Keyytar inventor & Boston legend FOREST TERRY. First, "Branch-In-Out", followed by "Satellite Love"" Update: I didn't have a chance to listen to the interview, but someone that did wrote in to let me know this was more of a controller and the synth it controlled was actually an ARP Odyssey, not a Moog. An interesting side note is Moog was synonymous with synth back then.

Pacific Northwest Synth 2009 - Stephen aka Red Martian

YouTube via matrixsynth.

see this performance for reference.

http://redmartian.com
http://mattsonminimodular.com - MMM and PMS Syntar
http://synthwood.com
http://acidlab.de

Don't miss the Syntar neck controller.
Some more info on a modern update will be coming up in George Mattson's talk.
Note, during the reference to the track Cowboy, I mistakenly stated the original cowboy videos were from Vocoderman, it's actually VoiceEncoder. You can see more of his videos previously posted here. Apologies to VoiceEncoder.

click here for all PNW 2009 coverage.

Syntar on a Bar Napkin

via David Lovelace on Facebook

"You've gotta love this one! George C Mattson (inventor of the Syntar, and therefore the keytar) came back for more with a generous donation, and got himself a deluxe Anything Napkin. You too can enjoy priceless, custom-drawn embarrassment like this for a mere five bucks (and up). AnythingNapkin.com"