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One of a Kind Synthesizers


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Some favorites, off the top of my head:

 

Yamaha V80FD - only one prototype made, Yamaha reportedly had it crushed when the project was cancelled

 

 

Actually 4-6 protos were built of the V80 IIRC, as we had at least 2 here in the US and 2 in Hamamatsu. We demoed 2 in a private room at the Hilton for 1989 Anaheim NAMM showing to press and dealers. I was really fond of it, as is pushed the limits of what 6 OP sine wave FM was capable.

 

Right call to cancel it as it was a somewhat kludgey stopgap to wait for the SY77 to come online. I'd posted on Soundcloud a few months ago the original demos I did with Scott Plunkett. Best aspect of it was the 'modular' expansion feature that evolved into the later PLG cards, though that was never operational before the plug was pulled.

 

I can confirm they were all crushed. Knowing its fate I conveniently managed to 'forget' to take mine back to Yamaha for quite a while, and it was the last one to go...

 

Manny

 

Hi Manny,

 

Thanks very much for this information! I have a dear friend and colleague in LA who, at the time of the 1989 NAMM Show, had managed to wangle an invite to the private room and absolutely fell in love with the V80FD. He spent years and years desperately trying to find out if one existed so he could buy it. I think eventually he got an FS1R; he thought the SY77 was cheating, as it had samples in it.

 

mike

 

 

Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) :D

Musician, Author, Editor, Educator, Impresario, Online Radio Guy, Cut-Rate Polymath, and Kindly Pedant

Editor-in-Chief, Bjooks ~ Author of SYNTH GEMS 1

 

clicky!:  more about me ~ my radio station (and my fam) ~ my local tribe ~ my day job ~ my bookmy music

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A few years later when processing power dropped significantly in price, Yamaha made an 8 note poly version of the VP1 (the original was 16), packaged in an AN1x / CS1x 5 octave keybaord / standard controller format to make a $1995 pricepoint -- kinda like the VL70m was a trickle down of the VL1. We showed it to various artists / studio players down at Buena Park, and to call the reception 'tepid' would be an overstatement, all because without the controllers of the original, the sound is flat with just velocity and a single mod wheel input.

Wow, thanks for this info - I had never heard of that!

Btw the AN1x also had aftertouch and a ribbon... just add a BC, a couple of sliders and a pedal input... :)

 

I miss my AN1x. They were fun little synths with a fair bit of expressive playability, even if the programming interface was a tad kludgey. Mine had had its case partly melted by a hot stage light; it worked perfectly but was kinda sad-looking. I named it "Lumpy".

 

:keys2:

Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) :D

Musician, Author, Editor, Educator, Impresario, Online Radio Guy, Cut-Rate Polymath, and Kindly Pedant

Editor-in-Chief, Bjooks ~ Author of SYNTH GEMS 1

 

clicky!:  more about me ~ my radio station (and my fam) ~ my local tribe ~ my day job ~ my bookmy music

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I think it's safe to say the Telharmonium was a "one of a kind."

 

telharmonium-ii-dynamophon.png

 

 

Well, three of them were made... and the second one was even moved, from Maine to Washington IIRC - using 40 trucks!

 

Three?

 

http://barkpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/dog-in-car-shocked.jpg

 

 

When an eel hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's a Moray.
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Some favorites, off the top of my head:

 

Yamaha V80FD - only one prototype made, Yamaha reportedly had it crushed when the project was cancelled

 

 

Actually 4-6 protos were built of the V80 IIRC, as we had at least 2 here in the US and 2 in Hamamatsu. We demoed 2 in a private room at the Hilton for 1989 Anaheim NAMM showing to press and dealers. I was really fond of it, as is pushed the limits of what 6 OP sine wave FM was capable.

 

Right call to cancel it as it was a somewhat kludgey stopgap to wait for the SY77 to come online. I'd posted on Soundcloud a few months ago the original demos I did with Scott Plunkett. Best aspect of it was the 'modular' expansion feature that evolved into the later PLG cards, though that was never operational before the plug was pulled.

 

I can confirm they were all crushed. Knowing its fate I conveniently managed to 'forget' to take mine back to Yamaha for quite a while, and it was the last one to go...

 

Manny

 

Hi Manny,

 

Thanks very much for this information! I have a dear friend and colleague in LA who, at the time of the 1989 NAMM Show, had managed to wangle an invite to the private room and absolutely fell in love with the V80FD. He spent years and years desperately trying to find out if one existed so he could buy it. I think eventually he got an FS1R; he thought the SY77 was cheating, as it had samples in it.

 

mike

 

 

I can understand his 'crush' on it -- I really dug the aesthetic of the V80FD as it was quite unique & retro modern in a kinda IBM Selectric sort of way. The solid 'clunk' of the large lighted buttons made programming it feel like you were programming a VAX or PDP mainframe. I hoped Yamaha would keep the design look for the SY77, but they decided to follow the more familiar V50 design style.

 

I've been trying to find polaroids I took of it before it got crushed but no luck so far...

 

Manny

People assume timbre is a strict progression of input to harmonics, but actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timbrally-wimbrally... stuff

 

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Did they ever make more than a few of these?

 

hartman-neuron-1.jpg.521a8cbf581015e50ce6e336ba1f3ca9.jpg

 

I actually got to play the Neuron...they were sharing a booth with Propellerheads at NAMM 200-something.

 

Or this?

 

ppg_realizer.jpg

 

And although they made more that two of these, I craved this thing so badly. It looked so cool. The "Symbal" pads were also hexagonal, but the pad wrapped around the edges. The terminal also seemed like it was from the future with its green vector display and trackball. I thought every pro was going to jump on that one despite the price tag. Now you can get the power of 50 of these in a $500 sampling multipad.

 

http://www.simmons.synth.net/sdx/pics/sdx_04.jpg

 

"For instance" is not proof.

 

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Did they ever make more than a few of these?

 

hartman-neuron-1.jpg.521a8cbf581015e50ce6e336ba1f3ca9.jpg

 

I actually got to play the Neuron...they were sharing a booth with Propellerheads at NAMM 200-something

 

Yes, it hit the stores, briefly.

 

A software version was available as well... with a funky controller:

 

s-l1600.jpg

 

 

 

When an eel hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's a Moray.
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