The ARP 2500

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).

The Buchla 500 at CalArts

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.”

AHNE 2007 - Happy Syntho De Mayo

Every year synth die-hards migrate East for AHNE. It is an amazing gathering filled with vintage gear as you will see in the links that follow. This year’s event looks like it did not disappoint. Unfortunately I was not able to make it due to having to make a trip out East just before the event due to unforeseen circumstances, but one year I will make it! The following are links to photo sets and some video of the event.

A Casio in Iraq

Ok, not technically a synth, but check this out. It’s a Casio AT-40 with Arabic labels spotted in Iraq of all places. Via Daniel: “A casio AT-40 with arabic lettering that I spotted in Hewler/Arbil in northern Iraq in december last year. I should have bought it!” Yeah he should have. : ) Click here for the full sized shot. It does make me wonder how much, if any, electronic music is being made in Iraq. I seem to vaguely remember there being an online music site from the country. If you know of any, please do comment. I ran a quick search and I did find one artist that goes by “phreaque modi” in Baghdad. Click here for the site with full tracks. It’s inspirational to think music like this is making its way through a situation like that.

A TB-303 Birthday

Check out this TB-303 Birthday cake, also from Daniel.

“When I turned 30 one of my friends gave me this utterly nerdy cake. The colours look a bit funny but it really was gray at first. The knobs were eatable too!”

Very nice. I suddenly want a life sized Matrix-12 birthday cake.

Click here for a full sized shot. It kind of reminds me of a giant techno bling napoleon.

This week I thought I’d start of with something a little different. An artist that goes by the name Latinsizer of Mil Records (Latinsizer on MySpace). I first discovered Latinsizer via a number of great synth videos on YouTube posted by pepemogt. I personally like nearly all synth videos I see because regardless of the music being played, it gives me a chance to hear what the synth sounds like as well as a peak at its interface, however these videos stood out. They not only showcased a particular aspect of each piece of gear extremely well, but musically they were all interesting - some in ways not typically associated with a given synth. I particularly liked the following video for the Future Retro Revolution. Note the vids are not full tracks, they are just short demos of what the gear can sound like.

Max Mathews and 50 Years of Computer Music

“Fifty years ago, in 1957, at Bell Telephone Laboratories, Max Mathews demonstrated that the digital computer can be used as a fantastic new musical instrument. He created a revolutionary software platform destined to form the basis of all contemporary digital musical systems.

His audacious ideas were driven by the belief that any sound that the human ear can hear can be produced by a computer. Mathews’ mastery of this new instrument revealed new musical horizons and sparked a burgeoning curiosity into the very nature of sound. His comprehension and elaboration made five decades of art and research ossible, laying the groundwork for generations of electronic musicians to synthesize, record, and play music. Today at Stanford’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) as a Professor Emeritus he continues not only to educate students and colleagues, but also to guide and inspire with his constant inventiveness and pure musical pleasure.”

You can read more about Max Mathews on wikipedia, where this image was taken from. An interesting side note is Max may just be the godfather of “groove” and accompaniment software:

“Starting with the Groove program in 1970, my interests have focused on live performance and what a computer can do to aid a performer. I made a controller, the radio-baton, plus a program, the conductor program, to provide new ways for interpreting and performing traditional scores.”

For any Berklee alumni, there will be a special event to honor Max on April 30. You can find more details here. Some of you might have been lucky enough to have caught the event on April 18.

The First Synth to…

In case you missed it, Sonic State is running a video series on The Top 20 Greatest Synths of all time. About once a month they put up a video featuring three synths from the countdown. As you can imagine a few controversial pieces came up including the E-Mu Proteus, and the Roland JV-1080 which happened to beat the mighty Jupiter-8. The Jupiter-8 didn’t even make the top 10! That aside, it is an awesomely entertaining series even if you are new to synths (be sure to read the description on their site before watching the vids to get an idea of what they were after and how the list was formed). I’ve been putting up posts on the video as they come up on Matrixsynth. Let’s just say there were some pretty animated responses. I thought, what could be less subjective than a top 20 list? It occurred to me that no one can argue about what synths were revolutionary in the sense that they brought a new technology to the table.

This week I thought I’d shake things up a bit and post a few of the videos that came in over the last few days. It’s Friday folks! I hope everyone has an awesome weekend. That said, I hope you enjoy at least one of these. Do make sure to check out the last video. It’s a great way to start the weekend.

Wendy Carlos Today

Wendy Carlos has been credited with starting the synth revolution. Before her album, Switched on Bach (1968), synths were mainly perceived as educational tools and not part of mainstream music. Wendy painstakingly performed Bach using a MOOG modular and an Ampex 8 track tape recorder. Remember, the MOOG modular did not have any presets, was monophonic and you had to use patch chords to manually connect components to come up with a new sound. The album came out and rocked the music industry. It’s fascinating to think a Bach album started it all. The interview is a fascinating, open dialog from Wendy that brings in the human aspect to making music and experimentation. Click on the image to get to the video on NewMusicBox.

The Rest of the Messe

As you know, the Frankfurt Musicmesse opened on Wednesday the 28th. There were quite a few exciting announcements including the Nord Wave, Arturia Origen Keyboard, the Dexter and of course the biggest announcement in my opinion, the Solaris hardware synth by John Bowen Synth Designs. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the interview by James here. Aside from the major announcements there was quite a bit more worth checking out in the synth world including this gorgeous MacBeth M5N, a white version of the M5 with a few updates including snappier envelopes, greater signal to noise ratios for the filters, and more. You can find links to more Messepics here, many courtesy of sequencer.de, a great synth site based in Germany. Some of the synth related gadgets include the Tiefenrausch monophonic analog synth, the Anyware Instruments ClockBox, the SteckBox (an EMS style pin matrix with light risters), and more.

The First Commercial MOOG

You are looking at the Moog Synthesizer, Stearns 2035. It currently resides as part of the Stearns Collection at the University of Michigan. According to the university it was the first commercially produced MOOG Synthesizer.

“This particular instrument has the distinction of being the first commercially produced Moog synthesizer. It was commissioned by the Alwin Nikolai Dance Theater of New York in 1964 after being demonstrated at the Audio Engineering Society convention in New York in October of that year. Nikolai used the synthesizer to compose recorded musical accompaniments for his dancers. Later, the instrument was acquired by the Collection. In 1989, Robert Moog gave a demonstration lecture using this synthesizer—a lecture jointly sponsored by the Stearns Collection and the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan. Synthesizer technology has advanced significantly and become much more widespread since the original Moog synthesizer—Robert Moog himself has designed a number of successors—which underscores the importance of this artifact of early electronic music.” You can find more info and images at the Stearns Collection Online Exhibit. To see the collection from the beginning click here.

Mike Oldfield’s OB-Xa?

Next we have an Oberheim OB-Xa claimed to have been owned by Mike Oldfield of Tubular Bells fame. Remember the theme song to The Exorcist? That was Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells. Before you conclude this OB-Xa was used in that release, realize the album was released in 1973 while the Oberheim OB-Xa was released in 1980. However, you can see the Tubular Bells image on the case. This shot comes from an auction that was recently pulled. If anyone knows more about this piece feel free to comment. I did manage to grab the details and more images from the auction here before it was removed.

$32k of Synth History

The MOOG Synthesizer IIIp. This one is actually up for sale. The asking price? $32,000 US. It was purchased by Phil Davis in 1969 and used in film (George Harrison - Ravi Shankar - film score) and a number of live performances including “Tommy,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” a Sgt. Pepper Stage production and Disney’s “Electric Light Parade,” and Paul McCartney’s “Ram.” You can find more images and info here.

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