The Beginnings of the Arp Quadra?

I love finding jems like this. This came in on a Vintage Synth thread on The Weather Report and Zawinul's use of the Quadra. Apparently he was the first to ever use one (probably not counting ARP of course).

"Speaking of the Quadra, did you know that Zawinul was the first artist to ever use
a Quadra? well, now you know it.

Quote from an article on Zawinul & the Quadra appearing in the June '79 issue of the Arpeggio newsletter:

"With the help of Alan Howarth* (Joe's keyboard tech between 1977-1979), then working as sales manager for Arp, Joe got his first look at the Quadra in 'August of 1978 when the original prototype was bought to L.A. for his evaluation. A few months later, Joe received the 1st test-run Quadra for use in a Weather Report concert in Havanna, Cuba"

Zawinul (commenting on the Quadra):

"It's got such a big and full sound" ...
"an excellent bass sound"

* the same Alan Howarth who a year or so later would find himself working with composer/director John Carpenter on soundtracks like "Escape From New Yourk" (late '80) Halloween II ('81) Halloween III ('82) etc."

"More Quadra info:

The original idea to build the Quadra came from a friend of mine, the owner of Pi Keyboards in Cleveland, Dave Yost. Sometime late 1976, Dave devised a circuit that allowed him to control an Arp 2600 from an Omni keyboard. The Arp factory rep came by the store and saw the keyboards, and was blown away by what Dave had done. A week later, we got a call from Phil Dodds, in product development at Arp, who wanted to know more about what Dave had done. (The same Phil Dodds who played the 2500 in Close Encounters). Dave sent a copy of the schematic to Phil, and the Quadra was born. Months later, at the July '77 NAMM in Atlanta, Dave was introduced as the "father of the Quadra", when the Quadra was introduced at the show.

I bought one of the first Quadras about that time and it was heavily modified by myself with the guidance of Dave when I worked at his store. It was lost in a fire in the 80's, (along with a Prophet 5), and I sure wish I still had that today.

Dave also did work with Wendy Carlos on her Moog Modular, including a just intonation module which was custom built at Pi in Cleveland."

Yamaha FX1 and FX3

Yamaha FX3 image from Ron The Music Maker

After reading about L. Ron Hubbard's love for the Yamaha FX3 (picture below), I decided to do a bit of searching to find out more about it. Most sites refer to it as an organ that is entirely FM based. I found this Sound On Sound article on the Yamaha DX line of FM based synths. There is a caption section on the FX1 and it's smaller offshoots, the FX3, FX10 and FX20. FX3, pictured below a "smaller" offshoot? Dang. Apparently there is only one working FX1 in the UK. It originally sold for £36,000 in 1986.

Update via the comments:
"Concerning the FX1 Yamaha, I purchased one new in, I believe, 1986, in Florida. I think I paid over $30,000 plus a 7" Knabe grand piano trade-in. I was a professional, playing a B-3 for years. When I saw the FX1, like L. Ron Hubbard, I was intrigued by the new line of FX's by Yamaha. I used the FX1 for a year on the job. Although I loved playing the FX1, I missed the B-3 Hammond. I have continued playing the B-3 since 1988. When I moved from Florida, I was going to sell the FX1, but decided to bring it with me to Missouri. I have kept it, and it's two matching speakers in climate control to this day. Yep, I still have it. It's in great condition and it worked perfectly the last time I played it two years ago. The organ is so unique, I just couldn't sell or trade it. I called Yamaha, and they didn't even have one in their possesion. If you want to reach me, I will answer."

Contact info is in the comments.

WERSI Synthesizers

Turns out the grey synth in my last post is the WERSI Matic CX-1. I always think of organs and music auto-accompaniment devices when I think of WERSI. They also made a few synthezisers including the following two:

WERSI Synthesizer

MK1

Michael Leicher's Amazing Synth Collection

Update: Comments in fromt the Man himself! Thanks Michael!

"Hello together, yes parts of the Collection were sold to some people - i need more space for my Organs - i bought a lot of new (old) Organs. My heart belongs to the Organs - i play over 25 Years. Many of my Synths were never used by me - so i sold some of then to People who had fun and can use the Maschines in any case. My EBAY account is closed after selling some Synths. Now i collect Stars for my new TV Show. Until 2 weeks i meet Richard Clayderman in Paris - the most succsessfull Pianist in the World with over 100 Mio. sold Copys for making an Interview. Ok, thats all...

Regards and have fun on my page www.michaelleicher.com

Michael Leicher - Bochum "

Update: just in case you miss the numerous comments comming in. Unfortunately the majority of these synths here where not kept in the best functional and sometimes physical condition. Read the comments for more. Most of these were also auctioned off.

I was searching around for more info on the Yamaha FX3 and I ran into this site. Click here for the collection list. This link will take you to the photo gallery. Wow. Absolute insanity. There are things in there I've never seen before and things I never even knew existed in the synth world. For example, what is this grey thing?

Also check out this Jellinghous DX Programmer for the Yamaha DX7

And off his homepage. He looks like a young German Liberace. Check out that Yamaha EX-1! Man he's got Sparkle! ; )

New Yamaha VL1 demos

Colin just got his VL1. In via AH:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Got my VL1, sounds kinda warm through the Sre-555

Here is my first attempt playing a patch called " The Cool" :)

first the mono version - recorded in mono by mistake,
but the direct signal runs thropugh a Roland Sre-555 analog tape delay unit -
there is analog chorus, some spring reverb and off course the analog tape delay


http://www.members.optushome.com.au/blitzforce/Temp/CCJ_VL1_DualBrass_SRE-555_Mono.mp3

- stereo version, first the VL1 signal + some spring reverb on one side,
with the sre-555 tape delay on the other, then I turn on the analog chorus which comes in the middle

I'm not that a good a player, and with no breath controller,
just using the mod wheel two to act like a breath controller, but it still turned out better than I expect! :)

http://www.members.optushome.com.au/blitzforce/Temp/CCJ_VL1_DualBrass_SRE-555_Stereo.mp3


watch the word wrap or just got into the directory

http://www.members.optushome.com.au/blitzforce/Temp/

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

L. Ron Hubbard Synth Musician

I recently read about how L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology, had and cherished a Fairlight CMI. I didn't realize how much he appreciated music. Some links in via AH:

Ron The Music Maker
Synths
Fairlight


“Dear Sir Fairlight:
“Please have the engineer store on your floppy disc that we have now been properly introduced. I am very glad to make your acquaintance. You have very charming circuits and I am certain that we can co-vibrate to the astonishment and ecstasy of a vast audience. With all praise to your exulted frequencies, consider me your friend.”

L. Ron Hubbard

Manikin Electronic: Memotron & Schrittmacher

In from schism of Analogue Haven. Digital remake of the Mellotron. Click here for the German page for the Memotron with some sound samples just added. For the English page click here: http://www.manikin-electronic.com/en/index.html. They also make the Shrittmacher, a midi step sequencer developed with Klaus Schulze (check out that display).

Memotron

Schrittmacher

New Nord USA Website

http://www.nordusa.com

Update: I have word that this is an official Clavia site. I first posted it as such then second guessed myself. It also has a user forum. Have fun. : )

Posted on the gas station. This is a resource site. Flash based with loads of pictures and sound. Absolutely gorgeous design.

Wayoutware TimewARP Arp 2600 Emulation Video on Sonic State

http://www.sonicstate.com/news/shownews.cfm?newsid=2296

Last time I checked, the video wasn't live yet. It is now, and it's definitely worth watching. I'm not a guitar player, but the effects section of the video had me impressed. Also, the demo on setting the ranges of multiple paramaters to a given controller was pretty nice. Most synths let you assign a paramater to a controller like a knob. The knob then controls the paramater's range from min to max. With the TimeWarp you can set a range to control instead and you can assign various params to one knob. This effectively allows you to morph between how ever many paramaters you want, all with different ranges, at the same time. Now that would be fun.

Pic from Sonic State:

Buchla Schematics

Long list of Buchla schematics in via AH. Pulled this nice shot from the site as well. It's a CBS Performance System 03:

System built by Buchla consisting of
410 Module Cluster
242 Programmable Pulser
216 Keyboard
258 Dual Oscillator