EMS - VCS3/Syntia
If I could have any synthesizer in the world, it would be one of these.
It is British through and through, designed by academics who originally planned that this
would be played only with the joystick and attack button.
There was an external keyboard option available as an extra but it was a pig to set up and use.
Patching was not with switches or anything as untidy as leads, but a 16x16 matix of patch pins for connecting modules together.
The envelope is like no other available, Attack, Sustain (time), Decay and Release (time),
even now most machines can't, or don't want to, emulate it, however in typical EMS style, this was only part of the story.
The envelope can be made to repeat, generating a continuous trapezoid,
and it was this that most people use to make the famous "space seaguls" made popular by Gong and copied by dozens of people since.
EMS kit was made from standard commercial components which back then had a very wide tolerance and were notorious for degrading.
I can't imagine that many of the originals are still working without some repairs or modification.
But this is why I like it, and it's sister machine the suitcase based "Synthia".
It was a toy of the seventies, without which there would be no Hawkwind, no Gong,
Pink Floyd would have a big gap in "Dark Side of the Moon", and Doctor Who would have been very quiet indeed!
Today people emulate these sounds with VST plugins but they are missing the point, it wasn't designed to emulate but innovate,
which is best done in front of a bunch of knobs and sockets, not the sterile environment of a PC screen.
There are a band of people who over the past few years have built clones, I have never heard or seen one these,
so I can't comment on how good they are, but good luck to them.
We have people rebuilding old cars and steam engines, so why not musical instruments? One day I might join them.
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Moog - Minimoog
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The grand-daddy of all mono synths. Apparently there were only ever 5000 made,
which seems really strange as just about every band I saw during the 70's had at least one!
It was loud, raucous, could be driven into distortion and was the perfect rock synths,
ideal for competing with guitars, and winning, over a loud PA.
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ARP - Oddysey
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The grand-daddy of all mono synths. Apparently there were only ever 5000 made,
which seems really strange as just about every band I saw during the 70's had at least one!
It was loud, raucous, could be driven into distortion and was the perfect rock synths,
ideal for competing with guitars, and winning, over a loud PA.
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