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Unusual synths... past and present


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After visiting the "Unusual Coloured Keys" thread, I realized that it's been awhile since we had a thread about odd/rare synths. Since many of us are fascinated with such things, I started looking around again to see what's out there.

 

First item that came up this afternoon was this amusing little beauty from 1978:

 

47eba583178f328e899cb44bd3a5cdee.jpg

 

 

And something quite obscure that never showed up on the radar before is this elusive instrument:

 

http://www.dickmartini.ca/vse/SonyDSM320.jpg

 

When an eel hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's a Moray.
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The mighty elusive Con Brio ADS-200. Only two were ever made.

 

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k193/justinhavu/conbrioads200.jpg

Hardware

Yamaha MODX7, DX7, PSR-530, SY77/Korg TR-Rack, 01/W Pro X, Trinity Pro X, Karma/Ensoniq ESQ-1, VFX-SD

Behringer DeepMind12, Model D, Odyssey, 2600/Roland RD-1000/Arturia Keylab MKII 61

 

Software

Studio One/V Collection 9/Korg Collection 4/Cherry Audio/UVI SonicPass/EW Composer Cloud/Omnisphere, Stylus RMX, Trilian/IK Total Studio 3.5 MAX/Roland Cloud

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What about this:

 

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6863/1447/400/6e_1.jpg

This is an epic (re)synthesizer. I had never heard of it before, but found this terrific demonstration by the designer.

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.

-Mark Twain

 

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This is an epic (re)synthesizer. I had never heard of it before, but found this terrific demonstration by the designer.

Huh?!

It's not the same. We're talking about harmonic sample analysis/resynthesis from Canada in the 80s (the Axcel) vs. real time granular-style sample splicing from England today (the Collidoscope).

 

Edit: I was completely wrong, sorry.

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I'd say that this qualifies as unusual: the Follyphone. An early example of additive synthesis with a pipelined architecture. Roadies hated it.

 

http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lbgn606bYT1qz7siyo1_500.jpg

Casio PX-5S, Korg Kronos 61, Omnisphere 2, Ableton Live, LaunchKey 25, 2M cables
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Huh? The link I provided points to a 22 minute demo of the Axcel as intended

I just checked it and it is still working

Did it send you somewhere else?

Yes.... but I had probably clonked on the link from the post below yours.

Sorry for the mishap! :)

 

 

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I think this counts..........it's on Space Oddity after all!

800px-Originalstylophone.JPG

 

My Mom had one of those. They were fun! Get Mom playing that and me on a kazoo and the results were hysterical!

 

:)

I had one too. They had a tuning knob on the bottom, so it was my first "synth" with a pitch bender!

Stage: Korg Krome 88.

Home: Korg Kross 61, Yamaha reface CS, Korg SP250, Korg mono/poly Kawai ep 608, Korg m1, Yamaha KX-5

 

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I think this counts..........it's on Space Oddity after all!

800px-Originalstylophone.JPG

 

My Mom had one of those. They were fun! Get Mom playing that and me on a kazoo and the results were hysterical!

 

:)

I had one too. They had a tuning knob on the bottom, so it was my first "synth" with a pitch bender!

 

Whats with the "had" and "were"(above) - they still make them

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stylophone-Original-Pocket-Electronic-Organ/dp/B000SKHSRU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1455872438&sr=8-1&keywords=stylophone

 

 

and there is an S2 synth version!

[video:youtube]

 

Yamaha CP70B;Roland XP30/AXSynth/Fantom/FA76/XR;Hammond XK3C SK2; Korg Kronos 73;ProSoloist Rack+; ARP ProSoloist; Mellotron M4000D; GEM Promega2; Hohner Pianet N, Roland V-Grand,Voyager XL, RMI
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E-MU Audity. Think of it as the ultimate 16 voice SSM Prophet on steroids plus digital sequencers. 2 were built, samplers rendered it redundant.

 

Came with a control console and 6' rack which contained the voice cards.

 

$60,000 projected price in the late 70s.

 

E-mu_Audity.jpg

 

Actually only one was built. It resides in Cantos and is currently not functional.

 

16 voice Prophet? More than that... think fully programmable 16 voice Oberheim poly-SEM with extensive architecture.

 

I was browsing my back issues of Polyphony (predecessor to Electronic Musician) and found the product announcement for the Audity.

 

It wasn't just 16 voice... it was fully multitimbral. Each voice could have its own patch.

 

That's 16 sets of demultiplexed S&H circuits per voicecard. That's a LOT of circuitry and explains why the cabinet was so deep and why they listed for 69,000 moolas.

 

The voice architecture was ahead of its time too... two VCFs highpass in serial with lowpass, extensive voice modulation.

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Kurzweil VA1--Didn't make it past the prototype stage, IIRC.

 

http://www.sequencer.de/pix/kurzweil/kurzweil_va1.jpg

Hardware

Yamaha MODX7, DX7, PSR-530, SY77/Korg TR-Rack, 01/W Pro X, Trinity Pro X, Karma/Ensoniq ESQ-1, VFX-SD

Behringer DeepMind12, Model D, Odyssey, 2600/Roland RD-1000/Arturia Keylab MKII 61

 

Software

Studio One/V Collection 9/Korg Collection 4/Cherry Audio/UVI SonicPass/EW Composer Cloud/Omnisphere, Stylus RMX, Trilian/IK Total Studio 3.5 MAX/Roland Cloud

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