MATRIXSYNTH

Blue Invention

Gratuitous gear shot via Blue Invention. Via the comments of this post.

Click here for shots pulled via this auction.

Update: you can find a video of one posted here, via Ruud Wiener in the comments.

Details (note this is not mine, nor any auction I put up for that matter):
"this is the rarest of the rare. there is very little info on this on the internet and i havent even been able to find another owner. made at a time when r&d and production cost was extremely high so very few were made or sold. its serial # is 000197. i assume it was the 197th unit made.i think its from the mid 80's. made in england. of real metal and rubber!!! its quite heavy and feels really solidly built. ive owned it for a few years. its really fun to use and makes great sounds, but im not a percussionist and i dont have the room. it also needs some repair. sometimes all or some of the pads dont work right. than it just starts working again. usually if i gently shake the unit. i assume its just a loose wire or connection but i definatley dont want to open it up because i know nothing about electronics. i contacted 2 different synth shops in nyc and described the problem. they both said they could fix it no problem but i never got around to bringing it someplace. there are about 20 pre programed patches of all sorts or sounds. than there are another 80 that are empty to put your own sounds in. it had midi so im sure someone who knows about these things could program some really cool sounds. i always thought of it as a a synth with pads instead of keys. its a really cool idea and if was in some sort of electronic band this would be the coolest. and your sure to be the only one around with one! all the sounds are super tweakable too. controls for: patch volume, dynamic sensitivity, octave, semitones, half tone-quater tone scales, tremelo speed and depth, vibrato speed and depth, mod pedal route, pitch blend, brightness, harmonic, bite, attack time, decay time, gate time. you can also select through patch number, split patch, tune, split position, midi ch, split voice assign, midi mode, sequence. the outputs are: headphones, stereo outs (voice 1-3 and 4-6) sustain pedal, up/down pedal, mod pedal, pitch pedal, midi out, midi thru, midi in, cass out. to be totally honest i had alot of fun playing around with it, but i have no idea what most of these things do. the unit seems to be in great shape for its age. as i said the case of the actual pads and the unit that sits on it are made of metal, so its quite durable. the stand is in good shape and it even has some extra parts for it. it all comes apart and is adjustable with a drum key."

Octave the CAT

Title link takes you to shots pulled via this auction.

Roland MKS-80 and MPG-80

Title link takes you to shots pulled via this auction.

MOOG Minimoog

Title link takes you to shots pulled via this auction.
Details: "Purchased in Seekonk Ma this Moog spent its entire life inside the safe confines of a Boston Ma. broadcast recording studio This very unit has been used in a litany of Commercials and television show soundtracks and has never been gigged or traveled The small Gold Labels are the 70's era labels for the Music store which originally sold this Moog Serial # 6868"

Elektron MonoMachine

Title link takes you to a couple more shots pulled via this auction.

KORG ER-1

No title link. I just really like this shot. Click on it for the full effect.

via this auction.

Fmseq portable

YouTube via laboratoryf.

Details via this auction:

"The #fm_seq (portable edition) is a compact workstation that uses a special FM synthesis chip to produce tweakable sounds that can be sequenced with the included sequencer software. It uses genuine FM synthesis, not the sampled sounds you find with newer audio cards. It's 100% OPL3 compatible and is able to combine up to 36 operators so you can craft and tweak some extremely unique sounds.

Each channel features:

Main frequency (10 bits)Octave (3 bits)Note on/offSynthesis mode (FM or just additive)

Feedback (0-7, the modulator modulating itself)

For each one of the 4 oscillators: Frequency multiply (can be set to 1/2, 1 to 10, 12 or 15)Waveform (Sine, half-sine, absolute-sine, quarter-sine, alternating-sine, "camel"-sine, square and logarithmic saw)Volume (0-63, logarithmic)Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release (4 bits each, logarithmic)Tremolo (On or off)Vibrato (On or off)Sustain (On or off)Envelope scaling per key (On or off)Volume scaling per key (0-3) Vibrato depthTremolo depthPercussion mode (uses 3 channels to provide 5 percussion sounds)

You can easily maipulate the sounds in a live setting and the workstation itself is very portable. Another great thing about this workstation is that you can sit down and focus on programming your sound without the distraction of a million other programs in the background. This Item is completely unique, I built and modified both the hardware and software so this unit sounds really interesting... Watch the video if you want a good idea of what this workstation sounds like. It doesn't cover even a fraction of what this is capable of but it should give you an idea.
Everything comes setup and ready to go.

The software is incredibly easy to learn and understand....you should be able to start making music within an hour of turning the workstation on. UPDATE: A few people have asked if it is able to produce sounds similar to Commodore 64's chip music. The answer is YES....the sounds from this workstation are VERY comparable and in fact more capable since it uses 36 operators to create custom sounds. This new version is 100% compatible with all previous versions."