Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence

YouTube via gattobus.

"A Sakamoto's classic played with my synths: Access Virus TI (pad), Moog Little Phatty (lead) and a Piano Plug-in."

And the original, "Forbidden Colours" by David Sylvian of Japan with Ryuichi Sakamoto. The song is featured on Sylvian's Secrets of the Beehive released in 1987. Sakamoto was of course credited for his arrangements. I was fortunate enough to see David Sylvian live with Michael Brook in Los Angeles. I believe it was the 1993 show mentioned on Wikipedia, but as you can see date was not on the ticket. If anyone went to the show and/or knows, please comment. I remember Michael Brook playing solo before Sylvian.

Sylvian & Sakamoto - Forbidden Colours

video upload by


YouTube via moodyb.

Ryuichi Sakamoto - Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence (Live)

Korg MS-20 - Momentary Triggered Envelope

YouTube via Newueel.
"An example using the momentary switch for triggering envelope generator 1."

syntezatory.prv.pl - ARP Odyssey

YouTube via Jexus aka polaranta.

"1972 ARP Odyssey. Brought to you by WC Olo Garb. The sounds have been programmed by WC Olo Garb./// Syntezatory.prv.pl Videos: showing you not what a synthesizer can do, but what a man can do with a synthesizer."

Museum Technicians - The Underground Series 14/14

YouTube via museumoftechno.
"Evidently, we came to party. In this, the final episode of the legendary Underground TV Tutorial Series, we rock the club with our completed techno track.

Watch your bass bins."

1979 Korg Guitar Synthesizer X-911 JAPAN Promo Ad

via this auction.

"This item: Original vintage advert page carefully removed from a Japanese publication. Ad promotes the Korg Guitar Synthesizer X-911. Unique design w/ Japanese text! (archive item no. m531).
Page size: 17.5 x 25.5 cm (7 x 10 inches). Glossy."

Keytar , air synthesizer

You know you want it.

via this auction.

" This is a unique keyboard. With a keyboard like this- traditional synthesizer concepts are meaningless. Oscillators, envelopes, and filters are as relevant as sample rates and memory capacity which is now a term used by family members accessing your mental state. The 3 1/2 octave keyboard starts on a B note which in itself makes this a collectors item. Inflate with air and amaze your friends! They won't believe you actually bought this. Great for gigs, gags, or games. Theater, visual aids, education, wall art. Anything except actually making music. Forget that phat heavy Moog sound. This keyboard is so light it floats on water. Seriously, you can place it in water and it will float. Try doing that with a modular system. No adaptor, no case, no MIDI, no velocity. no after touch, no software, no sound. Made of cheap thin glossy flammable black & white plastic.

# 6 Slider controllers
# 20 buttons
# 3 rocker switches
# Almost Oberheim type logo
# Two dimensional keyboard
# Light weight 1/4 lb.
# 24" x 8" x 1"
# Waterproof
# Recyclable"

MOOG Taurus

Click here for shots via this auction. Be sure to click on these for the full size.

"13 Note organ-style pedal board
Three preset sounds(Tuba, Bass, and Taurus.)
One user-programmable patch
Used by - Pink Floyd, Electric Light Orchestra, Yngwie Malmsteen, Geddy Lee and Alex
Lifeson from Rush, Styx, U2, Jon Anderson and Chris Squire from Yes, Sting and Andy Summers of The Police, and Mike Rutherford & Daryl Stuermer of Genesis, and Francis Buchholz of the Scorpions
Synthesis Type - Analog subtractive
Polyphony - Monophonic
Oscillators - 2
Filter - low-pass
Attenuator - ADS
VCA - Attack, Decay, Sustain
Foot sliders for loudness and tone color variation
Five octave range - 16' 8' 4' 2' and 1'
Serial Number - 2948
Dimensions - 24 1/4" x 20" x 8 1/4"
Weight - 29 lbs"

Sequential Circuits Prophet-600

Title link takes you to shots via this auction.

"The Prophet-600 is a 6-voice polyphonic analog synthesizer with a 5-octave, 61-note (C-C) keyboard. Each voice consists of two VCOs, two VCFs, and two VCAs. Each of these components has its own independent ADSR envelope. Each Prophet-600 voice uses 2 sets of Curtis Chips for its architecture. The sound originates in a pair of Curtis 3340 VCOs, each with independent on/off switches for sawtooth, triangle, and pulse waveforms. VCO1 can be synced to VCO2. Both oscillators are set with a frequency knob that is notched in semi-tones, with a separate fine tune knob for VCO2. Portamento is adjusted by a single knob. The sound then passes through a pair of Curtis 3372 chips. Each 3372 contains a VCF, a VCA, and a separate volume control for mixing. The VCF is a resonant 24dB/octave filter, with its own ADSR and knob for frequency. The frequency knob is quantized into steps, not allowing you to change it smoothly. Key follow can be set to full, half or off. The LFO can modulate the oscillators (both at the same time), the filter frequency, and the pulse width on the oscillator.

The Prophet-600 has mono mode with chord memory as well as two one-track sequencers and an arpeggiator. The sequencers are programmed in real-time and cannot be edited. The arpeggiator can be set to the normal up or down modes or can cycle through the keys in the order that they were played"

Hammond 102200

Title link takes you to shots via this auction.

"Made in the mid 70's, the only synthesizer Hammond ever produced and I do believe there were only about 200 of these baby's made."

Previous posts on the 102200

Roland GR-300

Title link takes you to shots via this auction.

"The GR-300 is known for its lightning fast tracking. This baby follows your playing perfectly - probably because there is no midi to slow things down! I originally got into the GR-300 not for fast Pat Metheny wank-outs (I just can't play like that), but for the cool ambient textures the synth can produce. For instance, "Invisible Sun" by the Police. The GR-300 has 6 VCOs, one for each string, a Hexa-Fuzz circuit (basically six fuzz units, one for each string) all which go thru an ultra-fat analog filter. You can combine the VCOs with the Hexa-Fuzz for some seriously sick sounds. There are also two separate pitch pedals which take the synth out of the standard tuning and lets you tune the VCOs to a 3rd, 5th, octave up or down. You can also program the rise and fall time of the pitch change. There is a very cool envelope mod pedal which creates those Mutron envolope follower sounds. An inverted envelope is available as well. There is a built-in compressor which fattens things up even more.

On the back you have 1/4" jacks for compression on/off, VCF pedal, sweep on/off, string select, straight guitar output, and guitar/synth mix output. You will need a guitar controller with a 24-pin cable connection to trigger this synth."