Which synth have you owned that you won't forget?

My favorite keyboard I ever played was a brand new Kawai K1 when it first came out. 

Edited by tigerfeet - May 14 2020 at 17:56

Prophet 5.

Here we go, construction method (this is a large phaser but same principle)

(1) All components are constructed onto the back plate of a case 
(2) The case is then drilled, with flying leads running to pots and jacks mounted on the front. The alternative is to use board mounted pots and jacks - this is difficult to lay out and even more difficult to drill. Wooden sides made as well.
(3) Graphics are then done in Photoshop, vinyl printed and stuck to the case.

Result, custom synth. Unfortunately, the amount of labour involved and the fact that I use through hole technology, instead of SMD, means that these Frankenstein designs are never going to be commercially viable.

I could sell kits - populated case, backplate and PCBs, but synth DIY forums are full of people who (having never picked up a soldering iron before) for some reason decide that they have the necessary skills to make a synth from a bag of bits. Or have one built for them. No chance. So it's really not worth the headaches. 

Some kit manufacturers charge absolute ripoff prices for modern replica synths. £2,500 for a replica EMS ? I don't think so. It's cynical exploitation based on the ripoff costs of surviving original ones. Not my style, I couldn't sleep at night having ripped anyone off. 




Edited by Davesax1965 - May 17 2020 at 03:23

Davesax1965 wrote: Synths I would have liked to have owned -  An OsCar - played one many years ago, lovely.  Proper Polivoks - I actually built a Polivoks kit but could only get half of it to work as the idiot designer had included "original Soviet parts" including horrendous KT31x series transistors, which fail if you look at them and weird Soviet matched transistor arrays. The fact that the documentation was faulty and he only supplied 40% of the (expensive) kit meant it never worked. Not just for me. Got some filters and LFO's from one.  ARP 2600 EMS Synthi A That's about it, really.

Korg has come out with a remake of the ARP 2600.

Thanks, BaldJean. ;-)

You know, looking at it now, there's that awful capacitor keyboard and the pin matrix which was as fragile as a hummingbirds' egg. But it sounded very special indeed. Peter Zinovieff was a genius, there are massive variations in all the synths he built. He just came up with a new idea and included it with no reference to how commercially viable it was. From what I last heard, he was still going at 95.

Strangely, I don't fancy the new Korg 2600 at all. Not least because of the ludicrous price. The Behringer version I would naturally avoid due to Behringer potentiometers being massively unreliable (I know they've improved their quality control, but I still don't trust Behringer gear).

I've got the schematics for the original 2600 somewhere, and whilst it's easy enough to clone, some of the stuff in the original is now made of Unobtainium, from what I remember. It's a very novel design. 

I had an Oberheim OB-8 for several years, it was a monster.  Unfortunately, I sold it decades ago (before those old analogs became highly-sought-after) for $700.  I could probably get $7000 for it today.  Yep, just checked ebay, there's one on there "in perfect condition" (mine was too) for $9500, haha.

The only keyboard I've ever owned is a hand-held Casio VL-Tone (with the slip-in, snap shut vinyl cover) which I LOVE! (especially for the Frippertronics delivered by the "fantasy" setting.) But my brother is a keyboard player and collector and my favorite instrument he ever bought was the Korg Wavestation (c. 1990-91). Just love some of the multi-layered bank sounds generated by that keyboard!

The DX7 that is an absolute pain in my ass.... sounds cool every once in a while when it works. 

My Kawai K5000S. I sold it back in 2007, now I have K5000W but I miss the knobs and the arpeggiator of S model...

I'm a guitarist/bassist, not a bricklayer, Jim!