History of Braintec / Touched By Sound / MAM

click cykong posted the following history of Braintec, Touched By Sound and MAM taken from the AH archives. As it originally came from the archives I decided to post it in full here as well. Be sure to check out ckong for more images and more synth content in general.

The following was posted on AH in October 2000 by Michael from Touched by Sound:

"I don't really like talking too much about the 'old' days, but also I think some things should be pointed out right, what is said about MAM and TBS.

In 1993 TBS met Stefan Schmidt. I had the idea of making a rackmount TB-303 clone and a nice rack vocoder. My partner (who had the money) founded a company called Braintec that year.

Braintec developed and manufactured the Transistorbass-3, which was a very good clone plus a lot more features. TBS distributed this product, and approx. 400 pieces were made.

I split up with my partner and so did Stefan.

20 miles from here there was a small company called MAM (Music And More) which was making little rack mixers and amps and gadgets like that. Not very well known, but cheap stuff and useful. We put Stefan together with them and they started designing a lot of products with some of our ideas and co-designs. First of all: they made a cheap version of the Transistorbass3, which was of course the MAM MB33 bass synthesizer. Then the VF11 vocoder and so on.

That year I said I would like to do distribution worldwide for the product.

Because of TBS being a retailer and shops probably would not buy from an opponent - we finally decided to call it Music And More distribution, first as a subdivision of TBS, a year later, as independent limited company. We sold more than 5000 MB33 and more than 2000 VF11 worldwide. Not bad, for a small company!

Last year my partner and one of the owners of MAM (manufacturer) didn't get on anymore so they just stopped supplying us. They had big problems with financing the production and lack of quality. Stefan was tied up for 1 year developing the SQ16 sequencer and the market was longing for new products from MAM.

We found a small company near us manufacturing tube-preamps and similar stuff. They were also analog freaks and had an much better quality production. I started designing many products with them and we badged them as MAM. At that time we mad the first run of DRM1's. I think 100 pieces came onto the market as MAM, before we split up.

We redesigned and improved the DRM1 a little and now we make it as TBS. We are currently working on the Mephisto and a Midi-Theremin. I hope I didn=B4t bore you with this excursion. Please feel free to contact me anytime should you require more information.

Best Regards
Michael

on
the PC of
Stefan
TBS"

Synths for Silly Prices?

Posted by Ivan on AH:
"I've seen quite a few comments here regarding people selling synths for silly prices. My mildy warm mini-rant follows:

Regarding high-end dealers like Mini and others - They provide a service selling vintage but good condition product that has been refurbished. I've done this type of work, and it is very time consuming. Their reputation will determine their market value to a large extent. If something is priced ridiculously and doesn't sell, then the price has to come down to a point where it does sell. If the repair work is done poorly, the value will be less. Yes, it might be purchased by someone with more money than brains, but that in itself determines the market value for that product at that time. I have a local guitar dealer that specializes in vintage guitars. They get insanely high prices for guitars but they are known for having quality product. And people are willing to pay for it. Thus a free market system where they price product based on what the customer will pay.

I've found deals on old gear and have fixed it up and sold it in the past. I sold it for top dollar. But considering the time invested I wasn't making a huge profit. I've also recently sold 'fixer uppers' for no profit and because I felt they were going to a good home. But if I can I try to make as much money on a deal as possible. It would be nice to help out people who can't afford vintage gear, but I am in no position to be a benefactor for less fortunate synth lovers. So this idea of profiteering, as some have put it, is pretty silly in my opinion. If and when I sell my house I will be trying to get top dollar for it as well. Is that profiteering? Last time I checked it was known as how to stay afloat and actually afford to keep a roof over my head. I don't want 30 years of mortgage payments, and I don't want bank loans to fund new gear purchases. Unfortunately I don't have time anymore to do much gear fixing up and selling. But when I do have that time again I intend to sell items for what I can get. If someone else wants to start a synth charity business then that is great. If I become independently wealthy I'll consider a home for wayward synthesists and donate vintage synths like some people loan out their Stradivarius. But until then, it is good old fashioned work and the resultant profit for me.

My final point is that nobody is getting rich in this business. I'm VERY glad that people like Paul Schreiber and Ken Macbeth decided to go into business and provide us with great products. Neither of them are likely to hit the Forbes list any time soon. And the same applies to Mini, or Shawn Cleary, or any of the other synth-sellers out there. If they can't sell products then they don't make money, and they don't survive as a business. It's just that simple. So complain if you want, but don't expect for people to give away gear in the name of our art. There are enough people self-righteously ripping off software and getting something for nothing. If you want a deal on vintage synths, learn how to fix gear and then cruise pawn shops, garage sales, and Craigslist. Otherwise be prepared to pay market value just like the rest of us poor afflicted gear addicts.

Ivan"

Nord Lead 3 Demos

Demos via Alan Marcero. Sent my way via Mr. Array. mp3 here

Synthesizers.com Noise generated sef-running patch

YouTube via angelometz
"I'm inputing white noise from a korg ms-10 into the sample and hold. The output from S/H goes to 2 oscilators. Gate from S/H goes to both EGs. One EG controls VCA, the other controls the filter. LF pulse modulates one of the oscilators."

Fulltone GT-500 Processing Minimoog Voyager

YouTube via bigcitymusic. follow-up to this post.
"Distortion Shootout Part 2
Here's is the Fulltone GT-500 Distortion / Boost pedal. The background beat is an Elektron Machinedrum sequenced by a Yamaha Motif.
http://www.bigcitymusic.com"

Yamaha CS15

images via this auction
"2 Genuine VCOs
1 Wicked fast LFO with Sample & Hold (Awesome!)
2 Multi-mode fliters
2 VCA's
2 Envelopes with modular like routing options
Glide (Separate oscillator values)
Brilliance Slider (Opens the filter for expression)
Portamento
CV & Triggers in and out
External input
Includes the original manual and specifications sheet."

Update: this is also listed on VSE. Both in florida. Could be the same person, could not. Potential scam alert via jesbproster in the comments.

Roland JX-3P

images via this auction

"Polyphony - 6 voices Oscillators - 2 DCO's per voice Memory - 32 preset, 32 user Filter - Resonant Low pass Effects - Chorus Arpeg/Seq - Simple Sequencer Keyboard - 61 keys Control - MIDI (no velocity except with a special ROM upgrade). Date Produced - 1983."

Anyone know about the ROM upgrade? There is reference to one for the MKS30 rack version here (via this post), but no mention of the JX-3P and no mention of velocity.

Update via haricots in the comments: "Here's the JX-3P mod"

Update via nebula in the comments: "Actually that's probably not what he's talking about. A firmware upgrade was available from Roland that allows you to power up the JX-3P holding down the "7" button. Its own keyboard doesn't work, but it becomes a velocity sensitive MIDI module. Velocity is only routed to volume.

With the same mod, pressing "1" or "2" during startup gives you Roland's traditional "Poly 1" or "Poly 2" modes, including a little lightshow on the first 6 LEDs (Six-Trak style) to show you which voice is playing."

Deborah Gibson's Oberheim OB-Xa

via this auction

Update: scam alert in the comments of this post.

Happy Knobbing 2008 Modular Meeting Videos

You can find a link to a 170M video of the event on sequencer.de here and a 70M video here. You can find more pics here.

Update: more:
Video: HK2008 Gear II
Video: Jams 08 @ Happy Knobbing

Missing Knob, sound of Fenix

YouTube via FenixModulair. "Fenix modular and sequencer"