MATRIXSYNTH

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Metasonix vs.

Metasonix TX-1 vs Boss Dr. Groove 202

Metasonix TX-1 vs Roland TR-505

Metasonix TX-1 vs Doepfer A-100 - Drone

Metasonix TX-1 vs Doepfer A-100 - Sequence

YouTubes via zioaxiom.

Oberheim XP-1

Two shots of the Oberheim Xpander via this auction. Aka the XP-1.

Polivoks

No title link, just the shot pulled via this auction.

Click the image for a bigger shot.

No title link, just this shot pulled via this auction.

Some Details:
"This is an ARP 2600 model 2601 version 1 and a model 3620 duophonic keyboard. They are a matched set, were purchased together in 1976, and have matching serial numbers. The 2600 is serial number 2601 0413 and the 3620 keyboard is serial number 3620 0413.

This synthesizer has the ARP 4012 filter, what they call the 'Moog filter'.

This synthesizer has some very valuable modifications:

It has oscillator sync added on VCOs 1, 2, and 3.

It also has an extended envelope time on the ADSR and the AR envelopes. This is selectable to standard lengths or the extra long lengths enabled by this modification.

These modifications were done in approximately 1985. Someone added an extra jack to the main row of patch points. It is an original ARP 1/8" mini phone jack with ARP wires on it, but the wires don't go anywhere. It has no function, but I left it in place. Perhaps it was meant to be a mult of some other function, but I have no real way of knowing. The main modifications are very apparent when looking at the boards, but no other modifications are clearly visible. I am not an expert on 2600s, so it is possible that it has some modifications that I am unaware of, but I highly doubt it. I think it is otherwise completely stock.

I received a lot of questions about what op amps were used in the restoration, etc., so I should explain what the object of my restoration here was. My goal was to return this to exactly the condition it was in when it was being used professionally in the mid-80s. This means keeping all the original parts whenever possible, and replacing parts when it is required. It does not mean going in and removing a lot of op amps or other components that do not need replacement just for the sake of doing it or because some guy mentioned the virtues of doing so in a magazine article 15 years ago. The term "restoration", in its literal sense, is the "return of something to a former, original, normal, or unimpaired condition". "Modification" is another, completely unrelated word, not covered by the term "restoration". You can safely assume that, aside from the extra modes added to the VCOs and envelopes, that all the electronics are completely stock ARP electronics. A lot of capacitors were replaced, including entirely recapping the power supply. The future owner is welcome to do any modifications they like. Three weeks of restoring this machine back to the ARP 2600 it once was is quite enough work for me."

Friday, March 16, 2007

Moog pedals

flickr by thynkyr.

Title link takes you to more.

Update via the comments:
"As I took this pic, I just wanted to let you know that it's in the basement at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor. It's part of the Stearns Collection.

"Moog Synthesizer, Stearns 2035. This particular instrument has the distinction of being the first commercially produced Moog synthesizer.

It was commissioned by the Alwin Nikolai Dance Theater of New York in 1964 after being demonstrated at the Audio Engineering Society convention in New York in October of that year. Nikolai used the synthesizer to compose recorded musical accompaniments for his dancers.

Later, the instrument was acquired by the Collection. In 1989, Robert Moog gave a demonstration lecture using this synthesizer—a lecture jointly sponsored by the Stearns Collection and the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan."

This moog even has it's own webpage in the collection."