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Jooris Benny has shared some great pictures of an ARP 2500 synthesizer.
The ARP 2500 is a synth classic, and it was the first synth I ever used, at the University of Kansas, before I could afford my own!
It uses a combination of patch chords and matrix switches to create connections. Each module’s panel has signal [...]

 

The Korg MS-20

17May08

Marc Doty’s introduction to a new series of videos about the Korg MS-20. Doty plans on posting the videos to the new SonicState.tv site, which is a sort of YouTube clone focusing on music.
Here’s the first episode of the series at SonicState.TV:

 

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

 

Jean Michel Jarre, who’s on tour with truckloads of rare vintage keyboards performing his classic Oxygène, says that the old gear posed some unique challenges at his most recent concert:
The MemoryMoog went out of tune, the same for the ARP; we had very little time to set up everything. I tried quickly the Moog Liberation [...]

 

Synthwood specializes in custom woodworking for synths.
Their creations include:

Custom Sequential Circuits Prophet T8
Custom Sequential Circuits Pro One Conversion Kit
Custom Sequential Circuits Multi-Trak
Replacement Nameplates
New Mini Moog wood cases
Korg MonoPoly and Polysix cases
Wall mountable cable holder

via Matrix

 

MPC2000xl has released a free sample library based on the Casio Rapman Rap-1.
The Casio Rapman is probably the most bizarre of all Casio toy keyboards from the 80s and 90s. The RAP-1 is the first of the two Rap-themed keyboards from the big ‘C’ and was released in 1991.
The samples were taken directly from the [...]

 

Jean Michel Jarre on vintage synths:
“When I got them out of storage and played them again, I realised something that even I had forgotten - that these analogue instruments are unique,” Jarre says. “Choosing to use these old synths instead of their modern equivalents is not a retro thing, it is not nostalgia, it is [...]

 

Synth designer Paul Schreiber, founder of Synthesis Technologies, is selling a unique fully-restored Moog 55 modular synthesizer.
“It is always a difficult thing to describe the condition of vintage gear,” says Schreiber. “However, I can honestly say this Moog 55, after the restoration, is probably a 9.5/10 overall in physical condition.”
The Moog 55 is not a [...]

 

Musikmesse: IK Multimedia and Sonic Reality have announced a strategic alliance with Moog Music to bring out sample-based products focused on Moog synthesizer sounds
In an effort to present the flavors of Moog synthesizer history as playable sounds, Sonic Reality has sampled the entire range of vintage Moog synthesizers and together with IK Multimedia, they have [...]