Here’s the one and only Facebook app you’ll ever hear me get enthusiastic about. You know the Facebook apps, of course – this overhyped “platform” generally involves time-wasting, spam-like “Someone you barely know just sent you a cupcake” emails. But I like this one:

Analog Synths

Thanks to CDM’s Liz for being so generous:

And personally, all email should work this way:

I’m waiting for Star Trek’s replicator technology to become reality so we can send around real synths. Anyone? Want to win a Nobel Prize?

There are synthesists, and then there are people like Phil Dodds. He’s perhaps best-known as the man who wrangled the (real) ARP 2500 synthesizer in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind so that it could perform an elaborate jam session for (fictional) aliens. But he left an extensive legacy of achievements that helped make music technology more than science fiction.

Our friend Yann Seznec (aka The Amazing Rolo) writes:

You’ve mentioned Phil Dodds on your site before, the guy who played the ARP 2500 in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. He was VP of Engineering at ARP, he wrote all of their service manuals and schematics and helped design and build many ARP synths, from the 2600 to the Chroma. He then went on to work for Kurzweil, developing digital piano systems. He was even involved in the creation of the MIDI standard. He also happened to be my uncle. I thought you might be interested to know that he died last weekend.

Our condolences to Yann and all of Phil’s friends and colleagues. There’s some really moving commentary at the Aviation Industry CBT Committee blog (really, because after all of his work in synthesis, he also was a driving force behind a distributed online learning initiative for the Department of Defense):

“What are we saying to each other?”

That was a single line, spoken by the sound engineer at the end of Close Encounters of a Third Kind, as he played chords and a friendly alien spaceship played music back.

The Passing of Philip V.W. Dodds

… and more on Wikipedia:

Phil Dodds

We talk a lot about tools, of course, but that question of “what are we saying to each other” couldn’t have deeper resonance for what we do. And if aliens do show up, thanks to Phil Dodds, I think we might put on a great show.

“This Week in Synths” by Matrix is on a short holiday; in the meantime, you can page through the archived stories. In its place, it’s worth considering two “top xx lists” for synths. Sonic State has done a Top 20 Greatest Synths List, featuring a quite nice video and rather high-end production values. The list itself is perhaps better read as a Top 20 Most Popular Synths, though, so you’ll be gratified to know our friend Matrixsynth responded with a list of the Most Underrated Synths.

Top 20 Greatest Synths at Sonic State, complete with extensive information, links, top-notch videos … good stuff.

Most Underrated Synths at Matrixsynth, complete with more of the obscure instruments we love.

As terrific as the list at Sonic State is, presumably because it’s based on voting, it skews in a certain direction. The omission of modular Moog and Buchlas, the lack of important moments in synthesis (like Yamaha first commercializing physical modeling), and the general emphasis on ROMplers tilts the list in a certain direction. There’s a decent argument for the keyboards that made the list, but I am curious what CDMers would compile.

Hard to argue with the #1 spot, though. See what you think:

1. Moog Minimoog. (Warning: pronunciation in the video rhymes with the sound cows make, instead of properly rhyming with “brogue.”)
2. ARP Odyssey
3. Sequential Circuits Prophet 5
4. Yamaha DX7
5. Korg M1
6. Roland D50
7. Korg MS20
8. Roland JV-1080
9. Access Virus
10. ARP 2600. (Interesting bit of trivia: Sonic State’s readers are right that there’s an ARP 2500, not 2600, in Close Encounters, though the 2600 is often erroneously connected to the film. But something I didn’t know — Wikipedia says in the entry on the film that “Phil Dodds, a tech from ARP Instruments Inc., is the man playing the keyboard.”)
11. Oberheim OB8
12. Roland Juno 60
13. Mellotron (Hey, do tapes count?)
14. Yamaha CS-80
15. Roland Jupiter 8
16. E-MU PROteus 1
17. Clavia Nord Lead
18. VCS3
19. Roland SH-101
20. ARP Solina

Of course, part of the reason lists have become so popular online is because they’re easy to argue with. And this list illustrates, as much as ‘boards like the Minimoog get love, how other synths just never do.

So for those unloved synths, here are Matrix’s picks (in no particular order):

1. Oberheim Matrix-6
2. Rhodes/ARP Chroma
3. Elka Synthex
4. Korg Mono/Poly
5. Crumar Performer
6. Roland JX-3P
7. Sequential Circuits MAX
8. Casio HT-700
9. Yamaha FS1R
10. Akai vx600
11. EML 101
12. Kawai SX-240
13. Alesis Andromeda
14. Sequential Six-Trak
15. Akai AX-60
16. Korg M-500 Micropreset
17. Waldorf Microwave 1
18. Yamaha VL70m
19. Korg DS8
20. Ensoniq EPS16+
21. SCI Multitrack
22. Korg DSS-1 and Technics WSA-1

You’ll have to go actually read up just to remember which these are, huh?

I’m happy Matrix included the Yamaha VL70m, for introducing physical modeling to a mass-market. While not much of a success at the time, it did win some critical acclaim for pushing synths in a different direction. And now, years later, we’ve seen the success of Korg’s OASYS-PCI system and more recent OASYS synth flagship, Apple’s Sculpture, the whole product line from Applied Acoustics, and various other waveguide modeling implementations (some commercial, some DIY). I think it’s a synthesis technique we’ll see more of in the future.

Maybe modulars aren’t supposed to be included, but my #1 Underrated Synth of All Time is the legendary Buchla 100. It has suffered from the assumption that Moog’s modular was the superior design. I think the real reason, aside from Moog’s well-deserved reputation in design, is that Moog managed to sell to more popular artists — and went on to innovate in keyboards. Now that the history of synthesis in the 60s has been written with Moog as the hero, it’s too easy to overlook the various design innovations in the Buchla. In fact, put the two side by side, and you’re struck by the fact that nothing that the Moog does is necessarily self-evident — you realize that every design feature we now take for granted was up for grabs, and each design winds up looking more ingenious. The fact that Don Buchla and Bob Moog were each developing modular systems in relative isolation is all the more impressive. All due respect for the new Buchla 200e, though, the day I have money and room for a modular, I’d like a Buchla 100 series.

Also, UK readers are surely unhappy about the fact that EMS isn’t on the list, right?

Anyway, I list these here partly because I’d love your nominations for greatest synths of all time.

And this being a software site, I certainly wouldn’t exclude software. Which soft synths deserve to stand alongside some of the greatest hardware of all time? Reaktor? Sculpture? Reaon’s Malström? Koblo?

This one actually just popped up for auction with a buy it now of $13,800. The 2500 was ARP’s first modular flagship and consisted of the 2003 synthesizer and 3003 keyboard controller. As mentioned in last week’s post, the ARP 2500 was also the synth played by ARP engineer Philip Dodds in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. You can actually see him play it in the film. You can find a demo of the 2500 in last week’s post as well. Some details from the auction:
“This is a very rare and early version of the ARP 2500 Modular Synthesizer. It has a larger cabinet with 3 x 5 Modules (instead of 2 x 6 Modules on standard ARP 2500s) and the switch matrix in the top section has 10 positions (instead of the 20 positions on later ARP 2500s).

The ARP 2500 for sale here has the serial number 014 (model 2003, serial 70 – 014).

I have been told that these very early 2500s were hand-built by the ARP/Tonus crew to the most exacting standards, they are probably better than later models (which of course are excellent as well).

It has 4 oscillators (2 of them with invertible waveforms), 3 excellent 24dB Filters with resonance and built-in mixers for up to 4 audio and 2 CV signals (5 CV inputs per Filter total), 3 VCAs with built-in mixer for 2 CV signals (plus another 3 fixed voltage CV inputs), 6 Envelope Generators (4 of them with Gate Delays and normal & inverted outputs. All 6 Envelope Generators have a switch for single or multiple triggering), a fixed voltage source (i.e. to shift all Oscillators at once) and a pink/white noise source with built-in filters.

There is also the rather lovely model 1027 analog sequencer with 3×10 steps and individual trigger outs for each step. Voltage controllable pulse width. The internal clock is very fast and can be driven into the audio range. You can modulate it from any source and use it as a signal generator/VCO with a user definable waveshape (by setting the 10 steps of the sequencer to different voltages).”

You can find more details including the full module list and shots at the auction while it is up, followed by this post on Matrixsynth.

Wiard 300 Series

What you are looking at is a Wiard 300 Series modular system owned by gary. Click here to see the image in all of it’s glory. Wiard produced the 300 series several years ago only to put them on hiatus, while Grant Richter of Wiard moved the line exclusively to the 1200 series. Grant has just recently re-introduced production of the 300 series. Update: I just got the list of modules in this shot. Rather than throw the formatting of this post off, you can check out the list here.

The Patch

Stephen Jones of synthwood, sevcom and of course the Prophet 5 forum recently discovered an issue of Sequential Circuits “The Patch.” He scanned the full issue and posted it here. Definitely check it out for a bit of synth history, including the “Digital Interface for the Pro-One” article, a must have for any Pro-One DIYers. BTW, if you know of where to find any other issues, please post a comment. Stephen is looking for them, and I can make sure it gets to him.

via Stephen Jones:

“I asked Dave Smith and John Bowen about ‘The Patch’ and it seems that only 3 or 4 issues were published between 1981 and 1982. I have volume 02 issue 01 (February 1982). Its got some really great information, patches and advertisements. This issue has a cool picture of a plexiglas Pro-One too.”

The EMS VCS1

What you are looking at is the prototype of what would eventually become the classic EMS VC3S Putney, followed by the EMS Synthi used by such classic acts as Brian Eno and of course Pink Floyd for the bass sequence of Dark Side of The Moon. Click here for a full sized shot. The image comes from this excellent historical article on the VCS1 and VCS3 on Switched on.

“In 1983 the Powerhouse museum purchased the music and recording instruments that comprised the Australian composer Don Banks’ electronic music studio. The contents of this studio include the EMS VCS 1 (Electronic Music Studios Voltage Controlled Synthesiser attempt #1), a prototype for the VCS 3 – the first portable synthesiser.”

And I’ll leave you with a little Roxy Music with Brian Eno on the VCS3.

Roxy Music – Virginia Plain

Have a great weekend folks! BTW, I will most likely be skipping next week’s This Week In Synths post as I have some family commitments that will leave me very tight for time. However, I will be putting up my daily posts on Matrixsynth as they are pretty quick and dirty – I try to up the bar just a little for Peter on CDM. : )

As always, for more daily synth-related content check out Matrixsynth.

A little bit of Buchla synth history via Peter Grenader of Plan b. That giant modular in the background is the Buchla 500, the rarest of the rare in the modular synth world. It is possible there were only three ever in existence. “The following flckr stream [link] was from CalArts studio B-304 taken in the fall of 1976 featuring Barry Schrader, Morton Subotnick and John Payne and a whole lotta Buchla 500. John as you may remember came up a couple of months ago on Matrixsynth in the posting regarding Mort’s use of the 300 at Ircam [link]. He went on in later years to become the Assistant Dean of the CIA School of Music and founder of it’s Music Tech department. Photo b_304.2 has a good view of the entire studio, save the three other JBL’s which are out of frame (it was a quad studio – there was one in each corner).

There are two more 500’s that I know off – at Evergreen and another somewhere in Europe (pardon the senior moment, i don’t remember where exactly). This is not to say there aren’t others…I’m just not aware of any. The one in the photo here was the first – the development system Don constructed while on staff at CalArts. I do know the 500 was adondoned quickly and resurfaced as the 300 series which included direct routing of computer control the various modules (259 VCO and 292C Gate for example) -and- the digital VCOs.”

“The box screwed into the side of the main cabinet is a speaker selector which if I remember correctly wasn’t on line. Another bit of trivia – this was taken about the time of Mort’s Game Room project that Gary Chang, Jill Frazer, Darrell Johansen, Sue Harvey and I worked on. The room next to 304 (other side of the wall which is shown behind the Buchla) was 305. It had a large 100 system (three cabinets) and for the Game Room we cut a hole in the base of that wall to run audio cables out from the tape machines to play quad audio snippets into the game area. This also took signals directly from the game board in 305 where signals were decoded and sent to the various controllers (audio, film, Buchla-controlled OCR light dimmers, etc.).

Against the other wall – opposite the one behind the 500 – was studi oB-303, which was pretty much a duplicate of this one sans the computer control – so it was a 200 studio, not a 500 studio. It also had the huge JBL monitors which were hung form the ceiling on metal brackets made by Chas Smith (which are still in place today). There’s a photo of 303 at Barry’s Schrader’s website: link

Most people preferred working in 303, mainly because the 258’s were easier to get to. On the 500 system they were all on the top row, which was a pain for most. The upside – studio time was easy to book in 304 for this reason I spent a lot of the early mornings here – tarting usually at 4AM and going until classes began around 9.”

Click here for the rest of the shots. You can find more in the comments of this Matrixsynth post.

buchla 200e rock n roll

The above is a video of the new Buchla modular, the 200e.
The demo is by Alessandro Cortini of Nine Inch Nails.

ARP 2500 Noodle

Click here for an mp3 of the ARP 2500, another of the rarest of the rare in the modular synth world. A little bit of trivia: the ARP 2500 was the synth used to communicate with the aliens in Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It was played in the movie by head ARP engineer Phillip Dodds.

The demo was sent my way via ben who had the following to say:

“I thought you might like to hear a little “ARP 2500 NOODLE” i did yesterday [actually its nearly 7 mins long]. It’s an arp going through an ibanez AD-80 delay pedal. It’s in mono. The arp is set up to play a simple sequence [notice it is 10 steps long] and I tweak the pitch etc as it goes. I also tweak the delay repeat/time/blend knobs. Note that this is an analog delay pedal from the 70s, using the amazing Panasonic MN3005 bucket brigade delay circuit”

ARP 2600 Repair

Ever wonder what it might look like at a techs office repairing a vintage analog synth? The above is a video of Fredrik Segerfalk’s ARP 2600 being repaired. “This is how a tech should do it. Fix the stuff and keep you amused. This is one of many videos I got from my tech when he fixed my ARP 2600″

Have a great weekend everyone!
For more daily synth-related content check out Matrixsynth.

Next up is a KORG PS-3300 Prototype, claimed to have once been owned by none other than Klaus Schulze himself. Note the typo “Modifires.” It’s currently up for auction with 0 bids. Why zero bids? I’m guessing it’s the starting bid at $7500 US and it’s broken. Word is it is not repairable.

From the auction:
“You are looking at one of the rarest synthesizers on the planet. A korg PS 3300 prototype owned by the legendary Klaus Schulze of Tangerine Dream. But sadly it does not work so I am selling it as a non working unit. This would be the ultimate restoration project for somebody with technical know-how and time. Not only is this synth mega mega rare but it has a historic valve as well. If this synth could talk it would have many stories to tell. This synth would have been on many world tours with klaus. The synth does power up with lights flashing and blinking. The main control boards seem to work. With a service, 2 out of the 3 blocks will be functional. There are 4 voice boards missing but the can be easily copied with all IC’s still available (see photos).” You can find more images and info at the auction and on this MATRIXSYNTH post, where I saved the details for posterity.

Next up we have battery powered ARP modules. These individual modules run on two nine volt batteries. The set is currently up for auction. You can find more info on these modules on Synthmuseum.com. The modules in this set include 3 noise generators (Pink and White), 1 Voltage Controled Amplifier, 2 Voltage Controlled Filters, a Sample and Hold and a Multiple.

Next we have these cool little models via RESET. Check out RESET for more.

And finally, we have a little MATRIXSYNTH self indulgence. You are looking at Factory Preset Patch #70 on the MOOG Little Phatty Stage Edition. : ) Many thanks to Amos of MOOG Music for this one.

More of Matrix with This Week in Synths

Arturia has long been known for its realistic emulations of classic analog synthesizers. So is Analog Factory, which repackages its existing emulations in a stripped-down virtual instrument a good deal for digital musicians, or just old wine in a new bottle?

The package contains 2000 presets, taken from Arturia’s ARP 2600V, CS80V, MiniMoog V Moog Modular V, and Prophet V emulations, all of which use Arturia’s acclaimed TAE (True Analog Emulation) technology to accurately reproduce the sound (if not the interface) of the original hardware. The bundle gives you a simplified bundle of the favorite sounds of all the larger, more editable libraries, in an approach along the same lines as Native Instruments’ Xpress Keyboards. Analog Factory rationalizes the sometimes complex interfaces found in the full packages with a simple display that puts everything upfront on a single screen. There’s a 2-1/2 octave virtual keyboard with pitch and mod wheels, master volume control, eight snapshot buttons for saving favorite patches, and a series of controls for controlling the basic parameters found in all analog synths (more on these later).

Browsing Sounds

Central to the Analog Factory experience is its preset browser, which is reminiscent of the one first seen in Apple’s GarageBand and Sony’s ACID and now found in a variety of virtual instruments including NI’s KORE. The sounds in Analog Factory have all been tagged with specific attributes ahead of time so that you can zero in on the exact sound you want. The tags include instrument, type (bass, brass, sfx, fm, guitar, lead, organ, pad, percussive, piano, sequence, or strings), and characteristics (acid, aggressive, ambient, bizarre, bright, digital, ensemble, funky, hard, long, noise, quiet, short, simple, soft, or soundtrack). As you click on the tags, the list narrows, presenting only those sounds that meet your criteria.

Analog Factory, like KORE, focuses on the sounds themselves as opposed to the instruments that created those sounds, an approach that is sure to streamline music creation. Most listeners aren’t going to say, “Wow, what a killer MiniMoog bass!”; they’re just going to get off on a catchy bassline. Analog Factory doesn’t use the KOREsound format employed by Native Instruments. That’s bad news for NI; as one of the major developers of virtual instrument plug-ins, Arturia’s acceptance of the format would have been a strong show of support for the fledgling format. Instead, the categorization was done by Arturia’s resident Sound Designer Jean-Michael Blanchet. Unfortunately, you’re stuck with his tags; Analog Factory, unlike KORE, doesn’t allow you to define your own attributes. Arturia says that using the KORE format would have required that the user have all of the individual emulations installed, which would have worked against its intention to provide a low-cost all-in-one program. Development cycles may have also played a role, as KORE wasn’t announced until NAMM in January.

Control and Expression

Just because Analog Factory is largely designed for someone who just wants to get up and running quickly with some great sounds doesn’t mean you can’t add expressiveness to your performance. Arturia has provided a set of knobs and sliders, which can be mapped to those in your controller along with pitch and mod wheels. Again, like KORE, Analog Factory brings the most common parameters to the fore. By default, the knobs are assigned to level, cutoff filter, resonance, LFO rate, and LFO amount. There are also two knobs assigned to the built-in FX (chorus and delay) and a single set of envelope sliders in a standard ADSR configuration. I’ve always preferred sliders for this because they provide a visual representation of the envelope, unlike the knobs used on say, the MiniMoog. By breaking from a strict representation of the original synths, Arturia has greatly increased the usefulness of these sounds, particularly in the context of live performance.

So, while you can’t get under the hood and create sounds from scratch, you can at least modify the existing sounds somewhat to suit your needs. Your tweaked presets can be saved in the user library for later recall and assigned to the snapshot buttons for quick changes when performing.

Conclusions

Analog Factory is a fantastic bargain for the computer musician who doesn’t require all the bells and whistles of the full emulations and may even inspire a new way of working for the gear obsessed among us (raise your hands). DJs and live performers will find Analog Factory’s low overhead, streamlined operation, and performance-oriented features to be a fine companion for their laptop. Analog compulsives will be better served by the individual emulations with their sometimes-idiosyncratic interfaces. For everyone else, Analog Factory cuts the crap and delivers what truly made these instruments great, the killer sounds.

Analog Factory Product Page [Arturia]

Compatibility: Analog Factory runs on Mac OS X and Windows XP as either a standalone instrument or as a VST, AU, or RTAS plug-in. Intel Mac owners take note: the software is already available as a Universal Binary, in advance of the more full-featured instruments in Arturia’s line-up.

For fans of vintage synths painstakingly emulated in software, Arturia
are rockstars. They're best-known for their Moog emulations, but we've
been waiting for Arturia to bring another classic to software, the ARP
2600 synthesizer, since the software was first shown at AES. It's here:
the Arturia ARP2600 V. For those of you don't know what an ARP is, think
Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder, Depeche Mode, — listen to the sample
sounds. The 2600 was even the voice of R2D2. For those of you who just can't get enough, I bring you ARPday,
a list of links that could easily consume any productive time you'd
planned:

ARP Synthesizer:
Massively huge ARP Synthesizer page by Donald Tillman — even in-depth coverage of the ARP patents
(if you had a brilliant idea for a "Quasi-Logarithmic Multimeter for
Providing an Output which is a Linear Function of the Logarithmic of
the Input," you're too late!)
The Rise and Fall of ARP, history of company from Keyboard, 4/83)
ARP 2600 User Manual
Synth Museum on the ARP 2600
Vintage Synth Museum (look for ARP in left frame)
ARPtech with online schematics of modules
Mark Vail's Vintage Synthesizers Book, Backbeat Press

Arturia's Recreation:
Arturia product page
Download demo
Sound designers involved
Sample clips (audio — that's the ARP I love)
Discussion at KVR Audio

Compatibility: Windows / Mac (standalone, DXi, RTAS, HTDM, AU, VSTi)
Price/Availability: US$310, shipping December 22 (speaking of which, to my Keyboard colleague Francis Preve I say: Merry Christmas!)