Stevie Wonder endorses the ARP 2600 in this early 70s advert
Billy Preston likes his ARP Pro-Soloist
Les McCann and the Arp Pro-Soloist
Edgar Winter apparently used the ARP 2600 on his cheerful Doobie-Bros-esque hit record ‘Free Ride’; those wind sounds in the breakdown, i’m guessing?
Several more examples after the jump…
Billy Preston with a Univox Compac-Piano
Univox (brief company history here) was a US company that marketed a huge range of musical products in the late 60s and into the early 80s. Most famous is their ‘Hi-Flier’ electric guitar, aka, not-an-actual-Mosrite, aka, one of the iconic Kurt Cobain guitars.
They also made tube amplifiers, some of which actually sound pretty great, and distributed several synth instruments and drum machines which are believed to have been built by KORG in Japan. Their Compac-Piano (no resemblance to the sound of an actual piano) was apparently of Italian origin. Here’s a few period adverts for these oddballs. These were all sold in large numbers and are still fairly readily available for a reasonable price.
Edgar Winter with the Compac-Piano
Univox Mini-Korg analog preset synth
Univox Pace Ship Drum Machine
Legendary pop/RnB session drummer Bernard Purdie was apparently the distributor (!) of the MPC line of electronic drums. Purdie is best know for inventing the distinctive shuffle groove that would later appear in hits such as ‘Rosanna’ by the group Toto. He also replaced Pete Best’s drumming on an early US-market Beatles release. “But you wanna know something else?” This man loves life. Check it…
A few electronic-drumming odds and ends today from various issues of MUSICIAN magazine circa the mid 1980’s (see here for previous MUSICIAN mag coverage on PS dot com). Sampling drum machines, electronic drum kits, and live cymbal-effects processing were all new technologies at the time, and like all things 80s, they were delivered in a bright, bold, technology-YES manner. Put down that snare drum. Don’t be a square. Come on.
Simmons SDS8 electronic kit. “Our mission (is) to bring drums into the 80s.”
The Linn 9000 drum machine. Linn was the first company to make drum machines that played back ROM (read-only-memory) samples of actual recordings of acoustic drum hits rather than simply triggering analog synthesis circuits that made ‘drum sounds.’ By the 1990s you could not buy a new analog drum machine, and the ‘Rompler’ drum machine was industry standard, but Linn was a true innovator at the time and these things were crazy expensive, making them relatively uncommon today.
Zildjian cymbal miking system circa 1987. Let’s say you are a family who has been making cymbals for, oh, 400 years. All of sudden this new technology (sampling, synthesis) comes along which COULD make your product obsolete. Better get in the game, buddy. Basically a set of electret-condenser mics that clip to cymbal stands combined with a small mixer with effect loops. “Flange your ride cymbal at the same time you add a slapback echo on your hi hats.”
And in case you were wondering what Digidesign was doing prior to Changing-The-World with its Pro Tools digital audio recording/editing/mixing/processing software/hardware systems, well, here you have it. Digidesign presents: Digidrums! New ROM chips that you can stick inside your drum machine and get news sounds outta them! Make your drum machine sound more like real drums! And 18 years later Digidesign gives us…. Beat Detective! Make the drummer sound like a drum machine! Man vs Robot, the epic battle unfolds so slowly…
There’s a chance that Gold Coast Recorders will soon have a Crumar DS-2 in our synth collection/pile; researching this Italo-Moog turned up the absolute best instrument-demonstration video that I have ever seen on youtube. As Polish creator WC Olo Garb states, his (?) mission is to “show() you not what a synthesizer can do, but what a man can do with a synthesizer.” For instance:
All in all, the video provides some of the best video-treatment analogies-to-sonic-effects that I’ve ever seen. The filtering, jump cuts, found footage, multiple flavors of distressing, even the wardrobe choice are all incredibly incisive. Even with the sound turned off I think you could get a sense of the Crumar DS-2. Well worth all 11 minutes of your Thursday.
Download the twenty-page c.1977 ARP Instruments, Inc. catalog:
DOWNLOAD: ARP_1977_Catalog
Products covered, with text, specs, and photos, include: ARP Avatar Guitar Synth, ARP Axxe, Odyssey, and 2600 modular-style synth; ARP Sequencer; ARP Omni-2 and PRO/DGX preset synths.
ARP can be considered the ‘other’ Moog of the 1970s. Similar product lines, pricing, and appeal; in my limited experience, ARP synths are of similar sonic potential.
I studied electronic music extensively in college; the program had a nice selection of pieces going back to the early 70s; the big daddy of which was an ARP 2600. It still sounded great 25 years after it rolled out of the factory.
The ACOUSTIC Model 500 ‘Keyboard Control Center.’ Never seen this piece before. The original ACOUSTIC amps from the early 70s are really not-terrible solid-state amps. We used one back in high school for the Rhodes and it was pretty excellent.
The Komplete Kustom lineup from their sadder post-Naugahyde era. See this link for a detailed discussion of the earlier, more iconic Kustom pieces.
The Powerhouse Rhythm Unit, an infinite-loop tape cartridge playback system designed to do the work of a drum machine.
The WMS Interphaser, a phase-shift pedal from a small maker.
Nothing too exciting today… just a few odds and ends that caught my eye.
Strings & Things Memphis advert for keyboards circa 1977.
Been looking through some mid-70s issues of “Contemporary Keyboard” (h.f. “CK”) magazine. CK later became simply “Keyboard,” which is still in publication; it’s part of the GUITAR PLAYER family of publications. NEways… 1976/7 was an interesting time in the development of keyboard instruments. Affordable polyphonic (IE., you can play more than one note at a time) synthesizers were still a few years away, and realistic-sounding electronic pianos were still about a decade away. So what you had was a very mixed bag of Electronic Pianos and ‘String Synthesizers,’ which are both basically hyped-up electric organs; some still-useful electro-acoustic instruments; and a pretty wide range of pretty experimental synthesizers, many from small manufacturers that didn’t stay around very long. In about 6 years this would all be blown away by advanced Japanese synths with built-in programming, patch memory, and all with polyphony; the Roland/Korg/Yamaha DX7 era; and this too would fall at the hands of the dreaded Korg M1, which ushered in the Rompler era. Anyone out there using an M1 lately?
The ARP pro-soloist, typical of the ‘preset’ synths of the era; preset synths offered interfaces optimized for live-performance rather than endless tweaking in the studio.
The Hohner Clavinet, HIP II, and Stringvox. The Clavinet has attained classic status, and many are still in use; not so sure about the HIP II and Stringvox.
A couple of Moogs from different ends of the spectrum. The Minitmoog was a ‘preset’ synth; the Polymoog was not a true synth; it was closer to an organ in terms of its basic operating principle.
Oberheim Expander
A few Paia synth-kit offerings of the mid 70s: the Surf Synthesizer, The Gnome, and the classic 4700. See this link for previous PAIA coverage on PS dot com.
An advert for the Polyfusion System A. See this link for previous coverage of the Polyfusion line.
The RMI Electra Piano. When we were growing up in the late 80s/early 90s, ‘electric pianos’ like these were about fifty bucks or less; no one wanted them, and that has not changed. They sound pretty awful but they’re still heavy and cumbersome!
The RMI KC-II Keyboard Computer. From what I gather, this device is essentially a RAMpler; not too different in basic principle from the epic Synclavier in that the user could input waveforms which would then be manipulated. This thing apparently cost $4700 which means that… yeah… there ain’t too many out there.
Roland MP-700 electronic piano
Sequential Circuits Model 700 programmer. I assume that this thing has a bunch of jackpoints that you would connect to various I/O points on yr modular synth… anyone use one of these?
The Steiner-Parker Synthacon. A rare Minimoog-esque unit. Apparently used on IN THE LIGHT.
The Strider Systems DCS1. I can’t find any info on this piece. Anyone?
Synare PS synth drums
Yamaha CP-30, yet another electronic piano
The Yamaha YC-45, the flagship model of their YC series. The YCs are unapologetic “Combo Organs,” which explains why they are still in use while the string synths and electronic pianos rest mainly in landfills. These are great-sounding, versatile organs; they also weigh a metric tonne so be forewarned.
Want more? Check out this site; this man has dedicated his entire blog to territory that I only dare visit.
Tomorrow: some interesting keyboard amps and FX from the era.
Images of Rock n Roll Keyboard players circa the mid 1970s.
Disco-mania. Behold an early electronic drum meant to compliment your acoustic kit. The Synare 3. This caught my eye mainly due to the address of the maker – Stafford Springs, CT. Any former Star Instruments principals out there in our fair state? Drop us a line…
What is goin on here !?
The May 1979 issue of DOWNBEAT magazine has a short article on the subject of Do-It-Yourself synthesizer kits. I’ve uploaded a scan of the entire article as a PDF below. Much of the article focuses on kits from Paia. Paia, if you are not familiar, is a very long-running company that makes audio kits. One of my earlier experiences building audio electronics was constructing their Theremax Theremin. I got the Theremax together in about a day, and it worked right away. No issues. I used it (mostly as a performance voltage-controller) for about a decade before I sold it at a moving sale. It was a good, reliable piece. I know that nowadays there are a lot of cheap theremins on the market, but 15 years ago it was a pretty unusual item.
DOWNLOAD ARTICLE: SynthKits_Dwnbt0579
Anyways… PAIA still makes and sells descendants of the synth modules that are described here, and the prices are extremely reasonable. A time-honored way of getting into audio electronics.
btw, dude in the pics here is not me, but it might as fukking well be.