Kraftwerk Gadgets

GetLoFi has a post up on what he beleives are the instruments in the following picture of Kraftwerk. Pretty cool. Title link takes you there.

Howard Jones on Synths

Great video interview on Howard Jones the RL Music site. He talks about Emerson's influence on him and synths in general. Howard definitely loves his synths. : ) His favorite synth? The Roland Jupiter 8.

Synth Secrets - Buying your first Vintage Analogue Synthesizer

Wow, I'm really impressed with what I'm finding on the RL Music site. And no I have no affiliation with them. Remember this blog is just about me sharing stuff I find out there. If I get paid for any of these posts, yeah right, I'll be clear that it's a sponsored post and precede the post with Sponsored Post -. Hmm.... I haven't thought about that. Anyone out there interested? : )

Update: Also check out this First Time Owner's Experience PDF on the RL Music site.

Digisound 80 Modular & RL Music

I was poking around the RL Music site and found this picture of a Digisound 80 Modular for sale. If you are addicted to synths I recommend checking out their site for more. There are tons of high quality synth shots and much more there. Now if I only had a ton of cash to burn... : )

Digisound 80 Modular


Tip: Click on the Title Link, then click on the RL Music logo and then the For Sale button to see some great shots of old analog gear.

Two Amazing Yamaha CS80 Tracks

In via the CS80 User Group. Wow. Title link takes you to RL Music, Europe's largest Vintage Analogue Synthesizer dealer, which hosts these two tracks. Off to puruse their site for more. : )

http://www.rlmusic.co.uk/mals_site/mp3s/cs80Demo.mp3
http://www.rlmusic.co.uk/mals_site/mp3s/cs80_700.mp3

Tracks by Richard Lawson and Kent Spong

This CS80 is listed for sale on RL Music's site.

Another SH-3 Shot & Early Synth Clones

The SH-3 with Moog filter, not the SH-3a. Roland Polyphonic - 505 and Yamaha CS01.

It's interesting, I never knew the original SH-3 had a Moog filter. Now I'm wondering what the SH-1000 had before it. I also wonder how many synths had cloned features from other manufacturers in the early days.

So far I am aware of the following:

- Ionic Performer - clone of the EMS Synthi
- ARP 2600 with Moog Ladder filter clone
- Octave CAT - said to be an Arp Oddyssey clone
- SH3 with Moog Ladder filter clone

I'm sure I've heard of others, but I don't remember. : ) If you know of any, feel free to share and I'll put them up.

Update via the comments:

Almost everything Multivox put out for several years was a complete Roland ripoff. I had the MX-202 string synth for a while, and it was a part-for-part copy...it sounded very good, too.

Image via http://www.ph.k12.in.us/~drew/ahmw/pics/2001/P1010217.gif

Two Roland SH-3's on the *bay

Update: Via this Sound and Sound article.

"Not everything was plain sailing, and it appears that Kakehashi infringed one of Bob Moog's filter patents when he designed the SH3. So a new version appeared in 1974. Externally, the SH3A was almost identical to the SH3, but it sported a new VCF and VCA, and it was this model that Vangelis and a handful of other famous keyboard players adopted in the mid-1970s."

Also, the SH3 was originally released ast the ACE Tone SH3, not the Roland SH3:

"Then there was Japan's first synthesizer, the SH1000 (see the box on the previous page) and its more powerful sibling, the SH3, which appeared as both the Roland SH3 and the Ace Tone SH3, and remains highly sought-after to this day."



Update: In via the comments. Thanks Shoontz!

"The Sh-3 is worth WAY, WAY more. Some have even gone for around $10,000.

The SH-3 was the original model, but it plagiarised Moog's 4-Pole filter design. After a lawsuit it's production was halted, so only a few were ever made, (some say around 100, others say less). It's supposed to sound much nicer than the 3A too. "

Link to auction. Title link takes you to Sonic State's page on the SH-3a. Two things stand out with the SH-3a. One, it was Roland's first programmable, non preset mono synth. It came out in 1974, the year after Roland's first synth, the SH-1000 (see this post for a Roland timeline). And two, it had a form of analog additive synthesis in which you used sliders to adjust stages of the different analog waveforms. Click through title link for more. Thanks goes to Ben Shannon Illustrator who sent this my way.

Two shots pulled form the auction.

Two Buchla Music Easels

Two beautiful Buchla Music Easels and a 208 Stored Programed Sound Source (half the synth of a Music Easel). Title link takes you to a larger shot.

New Depeche Mode Video - Precious (analog synth goodness)

Title link takes you there. Some light analog synth p*rn in the begining including what looks like a shelved rack of synths flying in and out as if on escalators mounted on the walls. Gotta get me one of those. : )

Video re-posted here.