Hey alex. Finally got around to watching ur daft punk tutorial. Very cool stuff reminded me of ur "metal" song 😃 Would be very interested on ur take/tutorial for white zombies "more human than human". I found korgs faily disappointing.
@@fakshen1973 No Because Siel are basically crap as are most Italian Synths I had a Siel Ex80 it was trying to be a Poly800. Which I also had at the time. When these things came out they really were like toys compared to the things they were trying to copy. They were cheap aiming at what is now Behringer's market but without the build quality. I guess that the unobtainabiliy of 80s analogue synths from the likes of Roland Korg Moog Sc and Obeheim has made these things desirable to a younger generation, as they are quirky and not like the other over priced sampled plastic availible from Roland and Co. Seriously Crummar Jen Siel and Eko synths mostly ended up in the bin when they inevitably packed up.and those that weren't are now on ebay having been dragged screaming from the back of someones damp garage as someone is likely to pay good money for a broken synths that wasn't any good when it was new. 10 or so years ago you could pick this stuff up on ebay for under £50 I looked at several "Trilogys" mainly because they looked very obeheimish. But even at £40-50 at the time for a part working one, with a couple of missing keys, was way more than it was worth. And at the Time I was too Busy buying faulty JX3s and Poly 61s for that sort of money to be bothered with Siels and Crummars. However That Crummar Piano showed in the video, a mate of mine bought one of those but it was made like a mini grand piano (not working of course) for about £25. Weirdly enough It was ful of CEM filtre chips ( i Know because I spent weeks fixing it for him.) At the time It was a real descision whether to break it up and sell the chips on ebay for a profit or repair the piano. We made the Ethical choice and repaired it and basically gave it away and didn't even make enough on it to pay for the parts I had to replace such was the value of 70s and 80s italian keyboards. Also at that time The Hohner Pianette ( yes I know they're german) were also worth next to nothing and now you'll pay upwards of £850 for a fully working one.To put that in context you could buy a working Wurlitzer 200A at the time for around £500. .
Rather than going the Moog route these Italian manufacturers seem to specialise in instruments based around the technology of existing polyphonic keyboard instruments and this really comes out in the character and texture of the sound. There's a fair amount of organ in Uranus.
I could never have imagined when Elka hired me to voice and demo the Synthex 40 years ago that people would still be talking about it today. Of course all they could say back then was "But it's not a Prophet or an Oberheim!!!" to which I would reply "absolutely, it's so much better than those! To start with it stays in fucking tune! But I'm so grateful that this synth fell into my hands at the Frankfurt Musikmesse and Elka had no one to demo it! It led me to work with Geoff Downes, Jean-Michel Jarre, Stevie Wonder and many more
Paul! Your ears must have been burning as I was doing some synth trading with your old friend Simon Forsyth recently. I'd seen a video of you demonstrating the Synthex but he filled me in on the rest of it. So awesome.
Paul, thank you for all your work in the industry and also excellent writing for SOS over the years. Alex, thank you for a great channel that is not only informative, but entertaining and deeply musical.
Mario Maggi (the designer of the Elka Synthex) also deserves recognition for making one of the first synthesizers with proper, non-volatile patch memory, the MCS-70. The synth was very capable, with three oscillators, two filters and two envelopes, and its patch recall was instantaneous. The 1978 album "Automat" is a fantastic display of its versatility, being the only synth used to record it. Maggi never managed to put the MCS into production due to the Prophet 5 setting the standard, but he was inspired by it and moved on to create the now-classic Synthex.
He also made a one only monosynth for his high school mate who was later the keyboard player for the fantastic prog rock band Metamorfosi "Inferno" concept album. Highly recommend masterpiece from early '70s. I managed to see the synth years ago in a concert in Rome.
You’re still the gold standard when it comes to RU-vid synth channels. I never roll my eyes on any of your presentations and we hope you continue for many years. Thank you
Man this place is like the island of misfit toys! So cool to see the menagerie of designs, controls, typography and colors. The visual language of synthesis was still being formalized and they were taking inspiration from organs, computers, automobiles, office machines, and toys.
The machines with typography in italian are so nostalgic. We are so used to the english typo, that it looks so strange to us when a snare is being called „rullante“! Just beautiful!
Bro, take me back to the days! I can still hear the purity of the soul of those inventions/instruments!!! And trust me, these modern plugins can't get that "phat... smooth" vibe! Oh, well, keep on truckiin'. 😎🎶💥🌎♥️✔️💪
Great when you watch a rare synth demo and they DON'T play sounds that you easily could get out of a kid's Casio or spend 20 minutes on an INIT patch demo-ing raw oscillators.
Having just picked up a Gem S2 Turbo from the recent Gary Moore guitar auction, I can say "YES" these Italian synths were built like tanks. The keyboard/action on this thing is beyond exquisite (poly AT/release velocity etc. etc), but it's the build quality/screen and spec (for 1992) which just blew my mind. It's usurped my TS-10 into a sound source now, and replaced it as the master keyboard in le-studio. Great video as always Alex, and a timely reminder (as Paul says below) to not just think of the "big guns" when it comes to great synths
I got to play with a Crumar GDS once. It was at Bell Labs in Murray Hill. Apparently, AT&T purchased it to replace the Alles Synthesizer which had been donated to Oberlin. Max Mathews gave me access. It used 8” floppy drives Lots of fun!
Walking into that museum must feel like you're visitng an abandoned planet that was once inhabited only by... Italians? What an immensely cool collection of unique gear. So glad people are preserving an almost lost and forgotten history. I want to visit! Now!
Viva la Italia ! I got my self a GENERAL MUSIC / GEM wX2 16 track sequencer workstation or a music processor , a partially a synthesizer ... It was the world first 16 track karaoke keyboard in 90's. Italians know what they are doing. ❤️
Some of these synth have amazing sounding capabilities! I wasn't aware there was so much italian synths. Thank you very much for the video, much appreciated!
They made a lot of electric organs back in the day as well. Which correct me if I'm wrong but they're just pretty much synthesizers with less control over the sound.
Please.... more vintage synth covers...70's synth sound is what started the rest... and I am an old geek who saw, and heard it!!! Took me from guitar,bass, piano... bravo ✔️🎶
I love all of this. The Elka Synthex is of course the shining star of the show - and yes, it is absolulety right there with the mentioned Oberheims, Prophets and Jupiters of its era. But what strikes me - apart from hearing all those lovely, very European sounds of the 60s, 70s and 80s, from Krautrock and Cosmic all the way to Italo Disco - is the range of weird and wonderful designs. What's with all those knobs on the front, under the keyboards? And all those weird knobs and buttons in the strangest, oddest colours and sizes? The Italians clearly went much further out there than the British, American and Japanese designers at the time!
The knobs on the front is usually because they were hoping to sell them to organ owners to put them on the top. Korg also did that with their first synth, the 700S but the Italians kept going for longer as they were more wedded to the organ market.
Really interesting. Thanks Alex. I’m now going to get on with fixing up a MK1 Performer which will have a custom front panel as the sliders are impossible to find. Watch this space.
well, dang! I hope this is a first volume of a series? with your visit of that unique museum, hopefully you captured more video! thanks for sharing, Alex!
Unequalled for 40 years (but then I was the demonstrator and did the factory presets). Recently Black Corporation made the Xerxes which faithfully reproduced 8 voices of a single Synthex timbre. I have been using that in the studio and will use it in my noonday presentation 40 Years Of Sound Design in Sheffield at Synthfest this coming Saturday (Oct 8th). More recently I was sent the ELKA-X softsynth by Americans Cherry Audio and that does up to 16 voices of Synthex voice architecture with two timbres available at once for Split/Double or with the Sequencer which it also faithfully reproduces. I'll be using that at the repeat presentation at Synthplex in Burbank California on Oct 29th to save taking the Xerxes on a plane with attendant customs problems.
With a limited budget I had to choose between a CS-80 and the Synthex. The Yamaha was 1000 DM cheaper, - And I took the ELKA. (Three decades plus ago.) I won‘t regret ever. Btw it is the only synth I had in use, which performs over the full range of 10 (ten!) MIDI octaves. THEN it sounds crazy... :D
I know it's not the same, but Cherry Audio's VST recreation is probably about as close as us non-Wiffenesque mortals will ever get to owning one. I'm enjoying mine, despite the lack of anything tactile.
The Eko Computerrythm is a masterpiece. Far in advance of its time as you said, thank you. There are not enough drum machines with visual sequence for each percussion like the Computerrythm had... Amazing. As your imitation of Jean-Michel Jarre and the Uranus joke: you're the best Alex, please never stop! Love from France ❤
You're just a synth-nerd's best buddy Alex! Such a warmly and beautifully presented (as always) Synthopia! Brilliant stuff, and I'm SO glad that Cherry Audio have made such an amazing recreation of the fabulous Synthex! :)
My god, I almost died at the CRB Voco Strings - that's the most beautiful thing I've ever heard. I've been eyeing up stringers for about 6 years without buying one, I fear I've missed that boat. Wonderful video - thank you!
Can I suggest that you invest in the $39 softsynth from Cherry Audio $39, the ELKA-X, which really faithfully reproduces the Synthex with 16 voices of polyphony and two timbres simultaneously to use for Split/Layer or with the sequencer? I am using this for my 40 Years Of Sound Design talk this Saturday at Synthfest this Saturday Oct 8th in Sheffield and at Synthplex in Burbank California on Oct 29th, where I go into how I met Elka at Frankfurt in 1982 and was hired to demo the Synthex and create the factory presets which led to me working for Vangelis, Jean-Michel Jarre and Stevie Wonder.
Oh my, that Polychrome demo really gripped me. I was a wee bit sad you didn’t have anything to say about it :) These are ALL awesome, of course. The industrial design of the CRB ones is especially nice, those backlit circular toggle buttons for instance.
@@RiccardoPietroni they reminded me of the Synclavier buttons, but were clearly also very different to them! The coloured paper (or whatever they used for gels) gives such an interesting array of hues, especially with some being pastel while others attempt brighter tones. The pastel ones are definitely my favourite though :)
I was trying to cut down the talky bits as the video was getting very long, so I amalgamated it with the Logan. The Polychrome was a favourite of mine however. Such a nostalgic sound.
@@AlexBallMusic totally understandable! ~30 minutes can feel like a slog sometimes on RU-vid. In this case the pace and formatting made it breeze by and I’d hoped for a bit of elaboration on that one, but I can certainly understand why you skipped it - despite its wonderful sound it’s probably the most “normal” analogue poly synth of the bunch!
@@kaitlyn__L Thanks for understanding. Yes, always a balance of too little or too much with RU-vid videos. I'd love to revisit the Polychrome at some point, it was very cool.
What a lovely video I have a Davolisint, a Jen Piano 73 and a Jen DT Piano. Jen Pianos formed the basis for a number of the Crumar pianos. If you want phasing, the Piano 73 phaser is AMAZING. Piano 73 is a kind of poor man's RMI, but put all the options on and hit some bass octave octaves with the phaser and it's one of the best sounds ever
Absolutely brilliant video!! Great history lesson with loads of examples. As I am from that era, some of these I came across way back in the old days. Thanks for doing this Alex. Really enjoyed it (except for the bad bum "jokes"!)!!!!
Italy has a rich history of electronic instrument manufacturing probably starting with their electric accordions and on into transistor organs and guitar effects industry of the 1960s. Italy having such a preeminence in international graphic arts and industrial design, it’s no surprise that these instruments were created with such striking character and style.
Thanks for that review of italian synth engineering, triggered some memories. Had one of the Crumar DP-50s in for repair and I can surely say it was the most elaborated approach towards velocity I have ever seen. They have magnetic pickups with integrating envelopes instead of force sensors (so TRUE velocity) , and the weighting of the keys is really nice. Synthex' Elka remembers me of its brutal power supply design, brutal in sense of having no overvoltage protection for the voice cards when the regulator transistor dies because of overheating, but man, the user interface is soo nice in design and super comprehensible...
It's such a joy getting to hear all this gear played so musically. I have a Crumar Multiman S2 that I need to restore as most registers aren't working at all, only a couple of them do and they sound very similar to the CRB Voco Strings, stunningly beautiful and angelic.
I used my Multiman-S for the music heard in the intro. Those Italian strings are quite something, absolutely. Hope you get your S2 back up and running again.
I think that AM is something like a ring modulator, an effect you can currently often find in modular synths and in VST plugins. A ring modulator multiplies the signals from the two inputs, resulting in sum and difference frequencies. But an AM modulator is probably more limited, in that one signal can be plain audio (with positive and negative values), but the control voltage may only be positive. You achieve that by adding a constant voltage to the audio. In the output that results in a mix of the ring modulator output (sum and difference frequencies) plus the original first input. Technically an AM modulator is simpler than a real ring modulator, thus easier to build.
Thanks for the breakdown. So it could be ring mod + amplitude modulation summed? It definitely didn't sound like typical ring mod, even where the X and Y are at a fixed interval, rather than modulated.
What a joyous exploration! It's interesting how many of these synths never really made it into mainstream because they didn't nescessarily sound like an x or y. Now one can appreciate the quirkiness and they find their own space. I was guilty of that "it's not a Prophet" or whatever back in the earlier days, but realise I was missing the point! Some of these deserve a lot of love and can only imagine the feeling of being let loose in the sweetshop there. I recently scanned some of my old Crumar brochures and spec-sheets, but I need to get around to uploading some more soon on my bigbluewave site.
Holy Retro, Batman! Awesome obscure synth history lesson. I had no idea there were so many synth manufacturers in Italy. Crumar must have had a pretty extensive distribution network, because their products were readily available in Canada. They were unusual but always sounded great. My high school buddy, who also had a Korg 770, also at one point had an Elka string ensemble (not a Rhapsody). Unfortunately it didn’t include a phaser…😒
“Finished??? …ok.” I WAS enjoying my morning coffee whilst watching this one… now I need a fresh shirt. I knew better than to be actively attempting to eat or drink something while watching one of your videos, but alas here I am, all soggy (but well entertained and a bit of a better synthesist now!). Thank you, Alex.
This is closest most of us will get to those machines. Thank you. It always makes me think when I hear how so many of these, now very old, synths still sound better/more interesting than a lot of new stuff. I'd love to see a clone of Uranus and many others.
@@AlexBallMusichold up, what sort of ludicrous project would use Dan's stuff as temp music?! Although come to think of it, I have used his music as temp music for my motion graphics demo reels...
Hey Alex - Wonderful! Really enjoyed this. I had a Crumar organ back in the day and then an Elka organ. It was cutting edge at the time. Couldn't afford any of their synths as well, though.
I started on a Crumar Multiman so was already familiar with Italian synths when they asked me to demo the Synthex in Frankfurt in 1982 and then create the factory presets.
Alex you never disappoint, very rare stuff in that place. The Elka Synthex indeed was made to compete with the Jupiter 8 but the Synthex have more features and no need to calibrate like others, I can say is superior but with a different flavor, one heavy user is Nick Rhodes from Duran Duran.
Nick didn't discover it till quite a few years later. Geoff Downes was the first to integrate it into his setup and Mark Stanway from Magnum. Jarre didn't discover it till I recommended it to him in 1985 whilst interviewing him about ZooLook and then he used it heavily on Rendezvous in 1986 including for the Laser Harp sound
I guess this (and Hainbach's videos) are Italo synth docs of sorts, so I hadn't thought of doing that, but I guess a lot of the stories are still untold. I have a big doc coming up very soon though btw....😉
"Folding Gown" ha ha :) "Data Night" is a very nice title. The Welson Syntex was used by German musician EROC on his hit "Wolkenreise". Thanks for an interesting video.
Superb. Incredible how there's instant melodic magic to such beautifully weird timbres. So inspiring. Either I'll have to cross fingers for Behr or get emulators for some of those Crumar and Elka in specific...
This is really interesting!Yeah,I agree!This synthesizer museum is like;”going back in time!”And,let’s not forget that pioneer of the synthesizer…..Wendy Carlos!Her music 🎵 is becoming more rare to find.I don’t know the exact reason for this?I did find her;Switched on Bach 2000 from;1992 at a Library sale,downtown.A nice find,after all these year’s!And,Isao Tomita who was a musician 👩🎤 on the synthesizer,passed away at age;83,yesterday.The New York Times reported this.
Nice vid. Lovely to see that this equipment is recognised as having a historical and cultural significance and is looked after accordingly. So when are UVI, Arturia and Cherry going to visit and provide us with some access to that raw and rare vintage goodness?
