Thursday, July 30, 2009

Octave-Plateau Voyetra Eight, Keyboard 1984


Octave-Plateau Voyetra Eight synthesizer from page 18 of Keyboard magazine June 1984.

Includes a great up-close photo of the front panel, and some information I wasn't aware of, including the fact that you can easily link two units together through their built-in interfaces.

Retrosynth.com has links to some V8 reference documents including the May 1984 Keyboard magazine review (PDF). The review concludes that the V8 packs a lot of punch, but that you may want to invest in a bottle of aspirin if this is your first synth. :o)

Vintagesynth.com and Wikipedia also contain great V8 reference information.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Moog Multimoog, Contemporary Keyboard 1978


Moog Multimoog synthesizer from page 9 of Contemporary Keyboard magazine September 1978.

Great quote in the ad: "And thanks to Moog's philosophy, the music is never a side effect of the sound effects."

The November 1978 issue of Contemporary Keyboard referenced the Multimoog in the 'Spec Sheet' section (page 98) and compared it to its smaller sibling the Micromoog. No price was listed.

Check out the other Multimoog ad featuring Chick Corea.

Some good information is available online at Vintage Synth Explorer.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Salamander Music Systems Voice 400 and 430 Digital Keyboard Sequencer, Polyphony 1982


Salamander Music Systems (SMS) Voice 400 synthesizer and 430 Digital Keyboard sequencer from inside front cover of Polyphony magazine September /October 1982.

I wasn't that familiar with SMS, so I did a quick search online and offline and found some information.

The January / February 1981 issue of Polyphony magazine (page 9, Current Events section) reported that Salamander Music Systems announced the Voice 400, listing it at $1980.00 US.

A February 1983 Keyboard magazine review (looking at it now) has a review of both the Voice 400 and 430 Keyboard, but refers to the company as Small Modular Systems. The review describes some of the 400's unique features such as variable filter response, linear FM, and programmable delay line (awesome!). Costs for the Voice 400 was listed in Keyboard at $2125.00 US, and the 430 Keyboard was listed at $1,100.

The Matrixsynth blog has a post about SMS, their modular system and the Voice 400.

Xfade.com has information describing the SMS modules.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Kaman EML SynKey, Contemporary Keyboard 1976


Kaman Corporation EML SynKey from page 9 of Contemporary Keyboard magazine May / June 1976.

The SynKey apparently dripped with 1976 cutting-edge technology. Punch card programming... After-touch... Awesome.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Oberheim FourVoice, Contemporary Keyboard 1976


Oberheim FourVoice synthesizer from page 2 of Contemporary Keyboard magazine May/June 1976.

Oberheim had one of the best logos in the industry - or any industry for that matter.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Monday, July 6, 2009

E-mu SP-1200, Electronic Musician 1987


E-mu Systems SP-1200 Sampling Percussion System from page 17 of Electronic Musician magazine October 1987.