Elektor Formant Synthesizer Demo
17May08
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Filed under: Electronic Instruments, Music Videos, Synthesizers
This is a video demo of the Formant Synthesizer, a synth DIY project published in Elektor magazine between 1977-1979.
It was the first mini analogue synthesizer around with modular construction that could be built at home at an affordable price. A tribute article appears in Elektor, April 2008.
via Elektor
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Why is is that whenever someone "demonstrates" a synth, they in fact just spend 10 minutes twiddling knobs at random to produce a cacophony of unpleasant noises which bores the viewer/listener to death? Come on guys, how about PLAYING the bloody thing? This particular video appears all over the place and yet it's so utterly uninspiring, I wouldn't buy/build a Formant on the strength of what I saw/heard!!!
I'm with you on that point, but be fair, this is way more interesting than some of those 15-minute videos of "I just built this cool Atari Punk Console – now, where's the switch?" However, a bit of a guided tour of the modules would have been a better use of the time. What is a 1 x COM or a 1 x RMF? How does a 1 x twin VCA differ from a 2 x VCA?
Meanwhile, let's turn our attention to, "It was the first mini analogue synthesizer around with modular construction that could be built at home at an affordable price." Well yeah, if you choose to ignore Doug Shaw's 'Practical Electronics' project of 1975 – and few others that appeared in the USA around this time.
I helped a friend build one, back in the 70's. Days and days of soldering and troubleshooting. This brings up memories, and I suppose that's what it's meant to do.