Paul Wiffen demonstrates a 1984 Elka Synthex – most famously used on Jean Michel Jarre’s Rendezvous as the Laserharp sound.

Paul also originally programmed the original presets.

Released in 1982, the Elka Synthex was an attempt to get a slice of the professional synth market, which was at that time dominated by Sequential Circuits’ Prophet 5 and Oberheim’s OBn polysynths.

The Synthex offers two multi-waveform oscillators, a white / pink noise generator, a multi-mode filter, an LFO and two ADSR envelopes. The Synthex owes much of its lush sound to a built-in chorus unit. The Synthex also offers a simple sequencer, keyboard layering and key-splits,  cross modulation, ring modulation and a comprehensive modulation matrix.

I would like to say that the Elka Synthex is probably the most wonderful sounding polysynth I’ve ever laid my hands on. I’m not so interested in the technological aspects of a synthesizer, and there’s so much more to be said about the Synthex. I’ve barely touched the surface here, but recommend it highly!

- Norwegian Henrik Huste

The Eka Synthex was most famously used by Jean Michel Jarre – but was also used by Tangerine Dream and Stevie Wonder.

If you’ve used the Elka Synthex, leave a comment with your thoughs!

Resources:

• Elka Synthex, an introduction
• Hollow Sun Nostalgia intro
• Video via Sharpblue: