Tom at Waveformless put together a fun post taking a look at going vintage on the cheap.

There are a number of really underrated synths that seem to go for consistently low prices. They’re awesome synths, but nobody seems to know about them, which means you can get a great deal.

Here’s the list of synths that he highlights:

1. Casio CZ-101 (typically less than $100)
2. Ensoniq ESQ-1 (typically $150-$300)
3. Moog (Realistic) Concertmate MG-1 (typically $100-$500)
4. Oberheim Matrix-6R (typically $150-$350+)
5. Roland HS-10/80 (typically $25-$100)
6. Roland HS-60 (typically $200+)
7. Roland MKS-7 (typically $200+)
8. Yamaha CS-01 (typically $150-$250)
9. Yamaha TX81Z (typically $50-$85)

See Tom’s post for his take on each of these synths.

Are these great synths? No – but you can get great deals on them and make some great sounds.

As an alternative to the Casio CZ-101, I’d recommend the CZ-1, which has twice the polyphony plus a velocity + aftertouch sensitive full-size keyboard. And is still dirt cheap.

Got other ideas for cheap vintage synths that don’t suck? Leave a comment!

Sunday Synth Jam: Skoulaman created this live Berlin School/space music/ambient synthesizer jam.

Details via skoulaman:

Sequenced with an arpeggiator loop from the Kurzweil Midiboard connected with the Kawai k1r and the Waldorf micro Q. The solo vibe sounds are from a Yamaha CX5M computer and the Korg Lamda in combination with a Moogerfooger. Accords played om the Juno 106 and on the Korg Lamda.

This music video, Tenorance, features Yamaha Tenori On and Motif ES Rack.

Details below.

via Tonneman:

This song has been created by me using the Yamaha Tenori-On. I used the Tenori to create the layers (patterns) using score mode and random mode. A total of 8 different layers have been created. Once the layers were created, I used the Tenori to control the Yamaha Motif ES Rack to produce the sounds (8 parts). Obviously, the Motif ES Rack can produce much better sounds than the Tenori’s internal sound processor.Have fun!

This video captures a session with the Korg Electribe EMX.

via StudioF:

Just a session with the Korg EMX what a wonderful little machine.

The Yamaha CS-50, a vintage synthesizer from 1976,  is a scaled down version of the classic Yamaha CS-80 and CS-60 synths.

It offers 4-voice polyphony, with 1 oscillator per voice.

While it has a much simpler architecture, it offers a relatively inexpensive option for getting the classic Yamaha CS sounds.

If you’ve used the Yamaha CS-50, leave a comment with your thoughts!

Resources:

• Yamaha CS-50 at VSE
• Old Crow’s Synth Shop
• Video via lovesvintagesynth

Yamaha has introduced the DTX-Multi 12 electronic percussion pad, which 12 on-board pads and a built-in sound module.

Description:

The DTX-Multi 12 boasts over 1200 voices, covering drums, percussion and keyboard sounds, many drawn from Yamaha’s Motif synthesizer range and many completely new. Up to 200 custom set ups can be created and stored using all internal sounds and 42 types of effects.

Alternatively additional sounds can be loaded and stored into the onboard 64MB of memory and allocated to any pad for total customization

The unit is designed to easily integrate into an existing acoustic set up or act as a stand alone unit. DTX- Multi 12 comes with Cubase AI 5″ software .

Up to four voices can be assigned to a single pad for simultaneous or sequential playback and a wide range of dynamic options are made available.

Versatility is enhanced with 128 on-board phrase patterns covering a wide variety of styles and users can also record their own patterns and assign them to pads. A click track function also allows players to control the unit instantly, ideal for live shows.

The DTX- Multi 12 can as an excellent input device for computers. Connectivity is via a single USB cable. The included Cubase AI5 DAW software facilitates the recording and extensive editing of MIDI data, it can also function as a high quality sample playback device with 64MB of flash ROM on board.

Hi-Hat controllers and kick pedal pads can be added if you wish to use the DTX-Multi 12 as a compact stand alone electronic drum kit.

Available: Dec 2009; RRP: £685 Inc VAT

If there was a musical instrument in The Matrix, it would probably look something like the Octopulse.

The Octopulse was created for the Yamaha Musical Instruments Research Lab.

Here’s what they have to say about it:

It shows that noise is music and is the principal musician of »The Alien Noise Orchestra« (work in progress), being the first of 4 different looking toy instrument characters that all produce different sounds.

With this cuddly »alien bagpipe« you can control analogue sound synthesis through unconventional means, transferring movements into information for an analogue synthesizer to convert into cacophonous noises. This unconventional soundscape alters perceptions of what music could be and allows the electronic sounds of a synthesizer to be accessed by anyone.

Pepe Mogt’s Tenori-on + Oberheim Four Voice Sequencing Exercise features some great analog sounds and amazing HD visuals.

Wacka chicka wacka chicka!

Patch details below.

via pepemogt:

this is a Sequencing Excercise using the Tenori-on and Oberheim Four Voice only, conected trough the Roland MPU-101 and couple of Analogue Systems Joysticks for Filter and LFO control.

extracted from www.vintagesynth.com :
Oberheim Four Voice
A big step forward after the initial Oberheim SEM and Two Voice synthesizers came from the bigger and better Four Voice. Four dual-oscillator SEM modules each with its own filters and envelopes are joined together along with a simple analog mixer and 49-note keyboard to give you a polyphonic/polytonal Obie-beast!

This combination gives you eight oscillators and four voices of polyphony because there are basically four discrete mono-synths all connected together. This has its pros and cons. What is cool is that this was a lot of simultaneous voices for the mid-seventies. And the ability to craft a different sound on each voice led to some diverse and complex sounds. However, it also meant you have to program each voice independently. Each voice also has its own independent audio output.

The Polyphonic Synthesizer Programmer, released in 1976 and added to the Four Voice stores 16 patches per voice (all of which can be different). The Four Voice could accommodate an additional four SEMs, making it just like the Eight Voice model which officially appeared in 1977.

Unfortunately the Four Voice was blown out of the competition by the release of the polyphonic Sequential Prophet-5, which offered true polyphony with a single set of sound shaping controls and comprehensive patch memory. The Four Voice has been used by 808 State, Depeche Mode, Styx, Latinsizer, The Shamen, Fussible, Gary Wright, Joe Zawinul and John Carpenter.

If you think this video of Japanese girl group synth band Cosmos is horrible, I feel your pain.

On the other hand, if you think it’s awesome in a sort of David Lynch way, I also feel your pain.

Give it a look and let me know what you think!

via blackisblack

The Yamaha Electone D-85 is the source of sounds in the fourth volume of the Vintage Keyboard Collection.

Description:

The D-85 was released in 1980 and designed as an home organ a grandmas organ, for the “loaded” grandmas though, cause the price tag was around $10000. The D-85 is completely analog and uses a technique called PASS (Pulse Analog Synthesis System) developed for the legendary Electone GX-1. The sound of the D-85 is rich warm big and very much analog synth and not typical organ.

The Gothic choir sounds of the D-85 is superb and “Kraftwerk” type of sounding. The strings and pads are so rich and warm, you gonna love them!

The built in drum machine has a clearer, more thin sound than, for example, the Ace Tone/Roland and the programing are a bit more progressive and odd. All grooves has been sampled in low tempo and with different mixes so you have hihats, cymbals separated from kick snare etc.

All grooves and fills comes in both A, B and Mixed versions.

The D-85 SampleSet contains 511 24bit mono WAV samples of the instruments and 208 24bit mono WAV grooves. 208 Rx2 files for use in any Rx2 compatible software like Stylus RMX, Reason, Cubase etc. 52 programs for Logic EXS24 67 programs for HALion 1.1 and all versions above 71 programs for NI Kontakt 1 and all versions above 28 programs for SoundFont (16bit) compatible with all samplers supporting the Sf2 format like the free SFZ, Cakewalk Dimension Pro, Reason NN-XT and more. All formats are included when you buy the SampleSet.

The Yamaha DX-21 is a 61-key synth, based on FM synthesis, from the mid 80s.

It is 8-voice polyphonic, and while it sounds very close to other DX’s, it was a consumer keyboard, without velocity or aftertouch sensitivity.

If you’ve used the Yamaha DX21, leave a comment with your thoughts on it!

Features:

• Performance Memory – 32 Performance Memory System, programmable with data on play modes, key shift, detune and pitch bend. It will automatically recall these real-time performance parameters as well as the voice or combination of voices.
• FM Digital Synthesis – Instead of VCOs, VCAs, and VCFs, the DX21 uses “operators” (a digital sine wave generator combined with an envelope generator) to produce sound that can be used alone or in combination with other operators.
• Voice Memories – 32MB RAM (Random Access Memory) voice memories, organized in two banks of 16 voice selector keys.
• Pre-Programmed Voices Built In – 128 pre-programmed voices permanently stored in internal ROM (Read Only) memory. Organized into groups of 8, these voices can be loaded individually or in groups into the 32-voice RAM memory.
• Three Ways to Play – Two FM Tone Generators allow voices to be selected three ways: Single, Dual, or Split play modes.
• MIDI Functions – A broad range of MIDI functions make the DX21 exceptionally useful in virtually any MIDI system application.
• Cassette Storage – A built in cassette interface allows an unlimited number of voices to be programmed and stored on cassette tape. Cassette voices can then be loaded into RAM memory when needed.

Specifications:

• Keyboard 61 keys, C1 – C6
• Sound Source FM Tone Generators: 4 operators x 2 (A,B), 8 Algorithms
• Polyphonic 8 notes (Single), 4 notes (Dual), 4 + 4 notes (Split)
• Monophonic 1 note (Single, Dual), 1 + 1 note (Split)
• Internal Memory 128 ROM voice memory, 32 RAM voice memory, 32 RAM performance memory
• Controls Pitch Bend Wheel, Modulation Wheel, Volume, Balance, Data Entry
• Displays LCD (16 characters x 2 lines)
• Connecting Terminals Output Mix/A, Output B, Phones, Cassette
• Control Terminals Footswitch (Sustain, Portamento), Foot Controller (Volume), MIDI (In, Out, Thru)
• Dimensions 909(w) x 82(h) x 270(d) mm, 35.8(w) x 3.2(h) x 10.6(d) inches
• Weight 8 kg (17.6 lbs)
• United States and Canada 120 V, 50/60 Hz
• General Models 220 – 240 V, 50 Hz
• Power Consumption 7 W

Resources:

• burp.nl has a information on the Yamaha DX21, Yamaha DX27 & Yamaha DX100.
• Yamaha’s DX21 page
• DX21 Sound samples
• Soundquest DX21 Editor/Librarian
• Video demo via alphacode909

schokokontrol’s The Shepherd’s Dream is based on a Shepard Scale – overlapping ascending melody lines that create the illusion of an infinitely rising melody.

via schokokontrol:

Working on a track based on a shepard scale, percussion from a Yamaha CS-80

Video from a test session with Sergio Koval playing his Yamaha CS-80 at Synthoma studio.

The test is a chorus comparison with the CS-80 built-in chorus, a Digitech multieffect chorus, and the élkorus analog bbd chorus.

via wutierson:

Now the CS-80 can do a very nice strings, not only brasses!! More info about élkorus and synthoma in general, at www.synthoma.net

What
You now have the opportunity to get a Yamaha CS70m Midi retrofit by Kenton Electronics UK. It will be a redesign of the Kenton kit that was discontinued due to parts availability quite some years ago.

Scroll down to the end of the document to read the specifications.

How
This is a group buy, which means that we need at least 10 prepaid orders to start the production. Production and distribution will be approx 8 weeks.

Price
349 UK pounds + VAT which needs to be paid in advance to Analog Sweden. If we don’t reach 10 prepaid orders by the 1st of October 2009, your money will be promptly returned. Shipping cost not included.

Ordering & Questions
Use the contact form here

Deadline
October 1, 2009

Installation
The kits are not intended for installation by the end user. They should always be fitted by an experienced synth engineer. The kits are built and tested before dispatch. DIY-kit NOT available. Analog Sweden can do the installation.

Background
We at Analog Sweden have had a few enquiries about CS70m retrofits, so we got in touch with Kenton to investigate the possibilites for a new production run. Kenton wanted to have a group order to start the production, and here we go.

via audiolemon:

It was 1906. “Get Music on Tap Like Gas or Water” promised the headlines, and soon the public was enchanted with inventor Thaddeus Cahill’s (1867-1934) electrical music by wire.

The Telharmonium was a 200-ton behemoth that created numerous musical timbres and could flood many rooms with sound.

Beginning with the first instrument, constructed in the 1890’s, and continuing with the installation of the second instrument at Telharmonic Hall in New York, the rise and fall of commercial service, the attempted comeback of the third Telharmonium, and ending with efforts to find a home for the only surviving instrument in 1951, this documentary provides a definitive account of the first comprehensive music synthesizer.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Note that the soundtrack appears to be a modern approximation of the sound of the Telharmonium.

If got any additional information on the soundtrack or the Telharmonium, leave a comment!

This video captures some of the construction details of a DIY computer-controlled glockenspiel, then offers a cover of Jean Michel Jarre’s Aerology as a demo.

via organfairy:

Instead of just banging on some bells with some hand held mallets I decided to make a set of electrically operated bells.

Actually it is two sets of kindergarten glockenspiels that was tuned in C. But I put them together and tuned one of them a semitone higher so that I got a chromatic scale.

I build a wooden frame and added a motor driven mallet for each bell and finally build a control circuit for it. It can be controlled by a computers parallel port or by simple switches – like the switches under a keyboard.

It doesn’t have MIDI but I might build a MIDI interface for it.

The melody that goes with this video is “Aerology” by Jean Michel Jarre. It was originally played on big tubular bells. But I think my small fairy-bells does a good job here. The other sounds are played on the Yamaha HE-8 and Technics SX-C600 organs, Roland E-15 and SH-2000 synthesizers, Yamaha VSS-30 toy keyboard, and Korg Rhytm 55 drum machine.

Image: Neil Vance

Vince Clarke with his Yamaha DX7 in 1984.

via the Synthtopia Flickr Group

The Yamaha FS1R was a synthesizer manufactured by the Yamaha Corporation from 1998 to 2000, based on Formant synthesis. The FS1R also had FM synthesis capabilities similar to the DX range.

The editing capabilities were phenomenally powerful, offering 2,000+ parameters to control in any one ‘performance’ (made up of up to 4 parts or voices), which detracted from the programmability of the unit, often leaving users bewildered and overwhelmed.

This video, via Phil Anderson, is a demo of the Yamaha FS1r:

This is one of the coolest synthesizers ever made, and it’s a shame it seems to be not on the radar.

The FS1r was basically the ultimate FM synthesizer from Yamaha, makers of the original DX7, but it will do much more than that, much, much more. It has an incredible array of algorithms, 8 operators, a very impressive filter, and formant sequencing. Plus it works in performances, with the ability to stack four of these together to create some awesome sounds. The internal DP effects are also very nice and smooth.

In a 1998 review, SOS had this to say about the Yamaha FS1R:

The FS1R isn’t completely revolutionary — it features a development of 15-year-old technology, after all — but it does manage to offer a sound and method quite unlike any other synth on the market. Even for those who don’t want to do in-depth programming the FS1R has lots to offer; there are tons of quality presets, which can be easily layered into new Performances and then tweaked with the front-panel knobs, all with no real knowledge of FM needed. And though programming enthusiasts will probably find that the FS1R requires a bit of effort to come to grips with, the results should more than repay their time and trouble. Formant Shaping, in particular, is a serious, exciting achievement on the part of this synth’s designers and a breakthrough at any price, let alone at £699.

If you’ve used the FS1R synth, leave a comment with your thoughts!

Yamaha FS1R Specifications:

Synthesizer Section

• Tone Generator : Formant Shaping / FM Synthesis, LFO1/LFO2/Dynamic Filter/Pitch EG/Filter EG
• Maximum Polyphony : 32 (without Filter) / 16 (with Filter)
• Number of Multitimbral Parts : 4 parts (16 MIDI channels)
• Operators : 8 Voiced Operator + 8 Unvoiced Operator per Voice
• Algorithm : 88
• Effects : 15 (Reverb), 28 (Variation), 40 (Insertion)
• Performances : 384 (Preset 256/User 128) to be made up of up to 4 part of Voice programs as layer/split
• Voice number : 1536 (Preset 128 x 11 bank + User 128)

Others

• Display : LCD Custom (Character&Graphic) w/backlit LED 8
• Compatibility : Receive DX7 MIDI Bulk dump (1 voice format only)
• Connectors : Headphones, Stereo Output (L/ Mono, R), Individual Output (L/R), MIDI In/Out/Thru
• Controllers : Control Knob 4 Assignable / Fixed (Attack/Release/Formant/FM), Volume Knob
• Dimensions : 480(W) x 235(D) x 44(H) mm
• Weight : 2.6 kg

Yamaha FS1R Resources:

• Wikipedia entry
• SOS review
• Planet-Groove article

Retronyms, makers of iPhone applications Recorder and FourTrack, have released DopplerPad (App Store link), a live performance music production application for the iPhone and iPod touch inspired by the Korg Kaossillator, Yamaha Tenori-on and DJ mixers.

Synthesizers, samplers and drum pads are combined in the app to create an intuitive, portable instrument.

DopplerPad’s interface imitates the standard DJ setup of a mixer with turntables on either side, but replaces the turntables with music-producing touchpads. The app launches to the mixer, where the user can access the two touchpads, playback controls, a crossfader and a loop bank that stores up to 14 loops.

DopplerPad is $9.99 in the iTunes App Store. Details below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Building a loop on one of DopplerPad’s velocity-sensitive touchpads begins with adjusting the tempo and number of beats. Thirty-seven instruments are available to design melodies and harmonies with bass, percussion and additional sound effects, while four samplers allow users to record snippets of any audio to add to the mix. The gate/arpeggiator and scale editor polish the loop with unique rhythms that are always in tune.

Retronyms is holding a video contest coinciding with the release of DopplerPad to see who can create the best DopplerPad track. Submissions will be accepted until August 21, 2009, and the prize for the winner is an iPhone 3GS.

Details of the contest rules, screenshots and tutorials are available at http://dopplerpad.com.

via retronyms:

DopplerPad, Expressive Touch Instrument by Retronyms.Quickly create and perform musical hooks, phrases and loops with a variety of custom synth and sample-based instruments. Make samples on the fly and weave them into compositions.DopplerPad is an expressive touch instrument designed exclusively for iPhone & iPod Touch. Use rhythmic and melodic automation to create phrases by freely moving fingers around the musical touchpad.Drags and taps come to life with responsive visual feedback, making the groove visible.Learn more at http://dopplerpad.com

This is a demo video for the Roland RE-5 Digital Space Echo.

via abertronic