Anatek "Pocket Products Catalog" brochure, 1991

 

 

 

Anatek "Pocket Products Catalog" 10 page fold-out colour brochure from 1991.

Since moving into the new house, I've taken the few opportunities I've had to go through some of the boxes of brochures I've acquired over the years but never put into their protective sleeves. And just yesterday I did just that, and came across *this*.

Now'r days, people will joke that Eurorack modules are the synth-equivalent of Pokemon. 

"Gotta catch 'em all."

But, I submit this brochure before the court as evidence that the original synth-equivalent of Pokemon were these little babies. 

I can vividly recall going into my local synth haunt and seeing these stacked into their swiveling wire display stand. Okay, "vividly" may be a strong word. Maybe it didn't swivel. And now that I think about it, maybe it wasn't a wire frame. Was there even a stand?!?!? Gah. I'm old. 

Point is, they were there. And they left an impression. And the urge to collect. 

There was no date on the brochure, so of course I started Googling to try to remember when exactly these popped up on the radar. Didn't take long to find Creation Technologies Wikipage and some great info. 

"1989 - Creation Studios, a high end music recording studio is built in North Vancouver by Barry and Jane Anne Henderson. Barry Henderson was also Music Products Division Manager at Anatek Microcircuits, a hybrid manufacturer in North Vancouver, BC with revenues of $1M USD. He and his team developed the Anatek line of MIDI and audio products including the now famous line of small MIDI signal powered MIDI processing accessories called "Pocket Products". "

Boom! Further reading explains how in 1991 a partnership lead to the name "Creation Technologies", which is the name you will find on this brochure, and why I decided to date this brochure to that year. 

And look at that - Oh Canada!

Two other great historical facts can be gleaned from that wiki page. The first is this: 

"The most famous of the Pocket Products, Pocket Merge, sold close to 10,000 units and generated over $1.6M in revenue in 1989, the product launch year."

Niiiiice! What a great little tidbit of knowledge to blurt out next time you are in someone's studio and they happen to have a Pocket Product sitting around. One thing I'm always interested in when it comes to vintage gear is the number of units manufactured. 

The second great historical fact is this:

"Creation had a vision for becoming a high quality global contract manufacturing enterprise and developer of RADAR, the world's first multi-track digital recording system for professional recording studios."

Say what now? I had no idea the peeps behind some of the simplest midi/audio tech devices of the time period were also responsible for one the most complicated and expensive pieces of audio tech at the time as well.

Surprisingly,  my squirrel instincts never kicked in even though they still cost less than those Boss half-racks on eBay and there is always at least a few of them for sale.

*looks at eBay again*

Dammit! 

Roland A-110, 220 and 880 "MIDI peripheral equipments" six page brochure, 1991

   

Roland "MIDI peripheral equipments" six page colour brochure featuring the MIDI separator A-220, MIDI patcher/mixer A-880 and MIDI display A-110 from 1991. 

USB MIDI sucks bum. There. I've said it. 

Give me a five-pin DIN MIDI interface any day of the week. That's how my grand daddy did MIDI. That's how my pappy did MIDI. And that is the way I'm going to go to the grave doing MIDI. 

This brochure is simply gorgeous. Lovely diagrams. Gorgeous cover photograph. Lots of info. But one thing irks me - the title - "MIDI Peripheral Equipments" With an "s" on the end of "Equipment". Odd. But other than that, this brochure hits a home run!

I've placed the scans in the order they would appear if you opened up the brochure full and scanned from left to right. Not in the order that it would be read - Cover, flip open to see the A-220 page on the left, A-880 page on the right, Flip open A-880 page and see the A-110 page and the Advanced application page, then the spec page on the back. Hope that makes sense. 

Of all the MIDI devices I've ever craved, it has to be Roland's A-110 MIDI Display. There is something so simplistic yet so hypnotizing about being able to see an 88-key MIDI display of the data moving through your MIDI cable. And they threw in five MIDI thru to boot.

The reason I've been looking at MIDI utility devices these days is because I'm currently building my new house that includes a new studio space - and every time I visit the space I think about how things will get set up. And MIDI is a huge part of that thinking. So I pulled out this brochure to get some ideas. 

Of the three devices featured in this brochure, the A-110 and A-220 MIDI Separator are cool little tools to have in the shed. But, as with any large number of MIDI keyboards and drum machines, a MIDI thru like the A-880 is a necessity. This thing is not just a MIDI patch bay to send a MIDI input to up to 8 MIDI outputs. It also has merging functionality too! 

I don't have an A-880, but I have a few of its simpler cousins including three Casio TB-1s, an Akai MP30P, a Korg KMP-68 and a few others. But they all require power. And they have a max 8 MIDI in and/or outs. Sure, there are bigger ones out there like the Kenton 25 MIDI thru box - but it only has one input.  

I'm looking for something that is like a MIDI matrix system. But simple to use. 

What I figure I want is a MIDI patch bay that works like an audio patch bay.  No power required - totally passive. You just plug all your MIDI INs and OUTs into the back. Then use short MIDI cables to connect different MIDI in's and outs together. This way, using the patch bay system together with my MIDI thru boxes,  I could have my Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari, PC computer and my desktop and modular MIDI/CV sequencers all plugged into separate gear. And I could easily re-patch using the patch bays. 

Yeah, I haven't even totally figured out what I want, but it doesn't mean I haven't started searching the web for an answer. :)

Googling around, it's clear I'm not the only one that has asking for this type of thing. And some people have come up with some creative solutions - all of which unfortunately seem complicated. One creative solution was to use a TRS patch bay, and make a bunch of short female MIDI Din to TRS cables to connect their gear to the patch bay. Interesting. Others just want to solder a bunch of MIDI Din connectors together in a box and wire them internally.  That seems like a lot of work. 

I'd like a passive patch bay like I described, or even better a powered matrix of 25x25 midi ins and outs that is just button presses like the A-88 to assign different ins and outs together, mixing midi signals as required. 

Out of all the real-world solutions I have found, this one is so far the closest to what I want - the Signex CPM22M Midi Panel with rear DINs. 

Each rack gives you 22 MIDI DIN connectors on the front and back.  I would need two of them (one for ins, and one for outs, and then connect them together from the back connectors. There is even a version that doesn't include Din connectors on the backside, just wires. So I can save some cash and solder between the two myself. Then I'd have 22 in's and out's in a two rack space. Buy four and I have 44 ins and outs. Hubba! 

Like I said - I haven't figured it all out yet. But I'm getting there. 

Any suggestions welcome. 

Roland JD-800 "What does 'programmable' really mean?" brochure, 1991

Roland JD-800 "What does 'programmable' really mean?" six page brochure from June 1991.

If you recall my previous blog post, you will know this brochure was not the first for the JD-800. More than a few months before, Roland had released a black and white teaser to get the buzz started on this beautiful beast.  But I think we can all agree that the JD-800 deserved so much more.

And Roland knew that too, coming out with this full colour six pager. Actually, two of the six are only about 5/6 of the width of the other four, but details, shmeetails. It was a Roland "thing" to have that one fold slightly smaller than the rest, as you will see in future blog posts of other Roland brochures.

The problem with scanning brochures larger than four pages is that Google puts size restrictions on images (not KB size, but pixel size). So, if you scan them altogether and try and upload, Google will automatically size them down. Because of this 'feature' of Google, I've included every page above as separate images, even though the photo of the JD-800 on the inside of the brochure spans two pages. But, I've included merged versions below (they just NOT as high in resolution). 

 The front cover of this brochure is gorgeous and really shows off those front panel controls. But that inside two-page spread of the front panel is what really does it for me. It gives the reader a good sense of the actual size of this beast. And it is a beast. Just compare the front panel depth to the size of the keyboard itself.

The content of the brochure expands on what we had already learned from the teaser brochure. We even get a list of waveforms and the internal patches.

Gonna keep this one short. I'm thinking of taking the month of August off from blogging and this JD-800 brochure is a nice way to jump ship for a while and take a bit of a holiday for myself to recharge the batteries and figure out where to take Retro Synth Ads next.

Maybe a musical based on the blog? I kid... I kid...

See you in a month, or sooner if I can't stay away. :)

Korg Wavestation EX and A/D "Top 10 reasons" ad, Keyboard and Electronic Musician 1991

Korg Wavestation EX and A/D "Top 10 reasons" 1-page advertisement from page 1 in Keyboard Magazine and page 23 in Electronic Musician August 1991.

My brain doesn't always work properly. Names are a good example. Once I start using the wrong name for something, I can't shake it. Humans. Gear. Magazines. And even when I correct myself, its like I'm reinforcing the wrong name, not the right one. This may be why you will often read "Computer Musician", when in fact I'm referring to the magazine "Electronic Musician". I equate "Electronic Musician" more with computers, and as I write quickly, I'll often flip back and forth between the two names. Gah. I think I've cleaned up everything now.   :)

Anyways, you will remember that the last time the Jan Hammer "Portraits" ad ran, it included a small band of text that referenced the fact that the original Wavestation now had expanded memory and more sounds. I suggested that they were referring to the new EX version of the keyboard, and sure enough, a month later Korg came out with a new ad that promoted both the Wavestation EX AND the Wavestation A/D.

But Korg seemed to be running out of steam with the Wavestation brand in terms of advertising. Or maybe it was just the fact that the Wavestation was so different from other synths that it was selling itself at this point. Either way, Korg didn't push the EX and A/D as much as the original Wavestation. The ad ran off and on between August 1991 and November 1991 in Keyboard Magazine, and only seems to have appeared once in Electronic Musician in August.

A shame too, because I really like this ad. There is *a lot* to read - but it still seems short and snappy. And there also still feels like it has room to breathe. Good layout and design.

Plus it includes a few surprises. For example, Reason #5 includes a 1-800 number you can call and LISTEN to a special phone demo. Brilliant. I don't recall see this when I originally saw the ad back in the day, and am kicking myself that I never had a chance to call that number. Another great surprise is Korg's promotion of 3rd party sound designers in Reason #10. Always good to give 3rd party developers some props. But the best is Korg's offer of a free video demo of the Wavestation. Again, never took advantage of that opportunity. Still kicking myself.

Like the original Wavestation before it, regular readers of Keyboard would have found out about the A/D waaaay before the ad appeared. This was most likely due to its appearance at the January 1991 NAMM show. Although this time, the Wavestation A/D had to compete with a lot more new exciting gear for attention. The darling of Keyboard's NAMM article, titled "Retro Mania", was the new JD-800 and it's 59 sliders. And that opened the door to get Roland's other gear to the front of the line in the article too, including the JX-1, S-750, S-770 and Studio-M. Still, Korg's Wavestation A/D managed to get third-billing after Roland's Rhodes division. Not too shabby.

The Spec Sheet for the A/D appeared a month before the NAMM report in the March 1991 issue, coincidentally right at the beginning of the Jan Hammer Wavestation ad-run. It is interesting to see that even as the latest A/D is being hyped at trade shows, the original Wavestation was still being hyped in ads.

The Spec Sheet really gives a good introduction to the instrument:

"Korg rack-mount Wavestation synthesizer. Korg's Wavestation A/D is a two-space rack-mount version of the Wavestation keyboard. It features 32 digital oscillators, 32 digital filters, and 64 envelope generators and LFOs. Wave sequencing allows each oscillator to play up to 255 different sounds, or waveforms, in sequence. A programmable and constantly varying mix of up to four different sounds, each of which may also be a wave sequence, is available within each patch. Up to eight of these patches can be layered across the keyboard with velocity switching. A stereo pair of analog inputs allows external sound sources to be processed through the Wavestation A/D's built-in effects. External sounds can also be used as waves for processing through filters, amplitude envelopes, and pan control. Each input can be independently controlled using MIDI volume data. new effects that have been developed for the analog inputs include two vocoders and a combined compressor/limiter-EQ-noise gate. About $2,400.00. Korg USA, 89 Frost St., Westbury, NY 11590. (516) 333-9100. Fax (516) 333-9180."

Now, here is where things get a little out-of-step. Even though the A/D made it into the Spec Sheet in the March 1991, issue, it would be a full eight months before the EX upgrade would be announced in the Spec Sheet section. A full three months after this ad started to run.

This promo also included some good reference info including prices for both the EX model and the upgrade for the original Wavestation:

"Korg Wavestation upgrade. Among the 119 new sampled waveforms within the Wavestation EX are piano, drums and percussion, guitars, basses, flutes, and alto sax, bringing the total number of waveforms to 484. The EX comes with a program card containing 50 new performances, 35 new patches, and 32 new wave sequences. Also new are eight effects algorithms, including vocoder, pitch-shift, and stereo compressor/limiter with gate. $2,333.00; upgrade for current owners $110.00. Korg. 89 Frost St., Westbury, NY 11590 (516) 333-9100. Fax (516) 333-9108."

I think I've mentioned it before, but if I haven't screamed it from the highest mountain top, I'm a big fan of the Korg Wavestation A/D. I've had one for quite a while, and while other rack gear has been moved from my main rack to the secondary "grave yard" rack, the rack screws on the A/D have never been unscrewed. I still spend hours online looking for new information on this synth, but one of my favorite stories appears on the Wikipedia page for the Wavestation, and explains how the A/D prototype was first developed using a hacksaw and a Prophet 2000 sampler.

"The Wavestation A/D was the brainchild of Joe Bryan, then-Senior Design Engineer at Korg R&D. A guitar player, he wanted "something that worked with a simple midi guitar that would merge the guitar, synth and effects, and could be controlled from one or two buttons on the guitar." The idea was of little interest to his colleagues at first. Nevertheless, he found a prototype of a Sequential Circuits Prophet 2000 sampler and literally hacksawed the analog-to-digital converter circuitry from it, soldered that and a digital interface to the Wavestation's ROM bus to create the first prototype of the Wavestation A/D. The prototype convinced Bryan's colleagues of his idea."

After this ad appeared, the Wavestation brand would go silent for exactly a year. Just enough time for mommy and daddy Wavestation to do what comes naturally (in the presence of engineers)...

...give birth to baby.

Korg Wavestation "Portraits" ad featuring Jan Hammer, Keyboard, Electronic Musician 1991

Korg Wavestation "Portraits" 1-page advertisement featuring Jan Hammer from inside front cover of Keyboard Magazine and Electronic Musician, April 1991.

Hard to believe that by the time this Jan-Hammer-endorsed advertisement appeared, the Wavestation had already been in reader's minds for over a year. Sure, the introductory Wavestation ad may have first ran only nine months prior in July 1990, but readers of magazines such as Keyboard and Electronic Musician were hearing the wave-sequenced-buzz of vector synthesis technology months before.

For example, the original Wavestation Spec Sheet appeared a full four months earlier that the intro ad in the March 1990 issue of Keyboard Magazine. And Keyboard knew Korg had something special on their hands, because they opted to print a relatively large photo of the keyboard below the blurb. Only a few pieces of gear get that kind of star treatment:

"Korg WS Synthesizer: The WS Wavestation synthesizer is the first offering from the Korg R&D group in San Jose, which comprises mainly former Sequential Circuits personnel, including founder Dave Smith. The WS incorporates 32-voice, 16-bit digital vector synthesis, which was originally developed by Sequential for the Prophet-VS. Over 500 multisampled waveforms and sounds are included and can be linked together into user-programmable wave sequences. Dual programmable multi-effects, both joystick and wheel controllers, a 61-note velocity- and pressure-sensitive keyboard, 240 x 64-pixel graphic LCD, and RAM and ROM cards ports are included. About $2,500.00 . Korg USA, 89 Frost St., Westbury, NY 11590. (516) 333-9100."

This is an awesome Spec Sheet that not only provides some good technical information and preliminary pricing info, but also shows that either Korg was taking good advantage of the Dave Smith connection in it's promotion of this synthesizer, or that Keyboard knew their shit when it came to the design of the instrument. My guess is probably both. :)

But that wasn't the only early sighting of the Wavestation. Not even close.

If you were lucky enough to pop in to the January 1990 NAMM show, you were way ahead of the game. I don't think I would be out of touch with reality if I said that the Wavestation was one of the top darlings of the show. Unfortunately for readers, NAMM news at the time didn't usually hit the gear mags until a few months later. In the case of the Wavestation, that was April - a month after the Spec Sheet appeared.

The April 1990 issue of Electronic Musician listed it under the heading "The Ten Products People Told Us We Had To See", recognizing it both for the addition of Sequential's vector synth technology and for its PPG-style waveform "scanning". Interestingly, in the same NAMM article, EM also gives nods to the newly introduced Yamaha SY22, another synth offering vector synthesis, by including "...it's good to see that this type of synthesis didn't get lost in the cracks of MIDI history". Agreed!

Keyboard's April 1990 NAMM report gave the Wavestation top billing in the synth section of the article, and introduced the instrument with "Perhaps the most intriguing keyboard...". Not a bad start. They also reported on its PPG- and Sequential roots, also noting it's Prophet-VS-style joystick, and its MIDI-synchronization capabilities.

Side note: I would be remiss if I didn't point out that my man-crush (As my GF refers to Trent Reznor) was also featured in this issue of Keyboard Magazine, posing with his Emax sampler...

But that is enough history for one blog post...

This ad is a major shift in direction from the previous "Make Waves" advertising campaign. And I'm not just talking about design - but also the addition of an endorsement deal from none other than Jan Hammer. Personally, I only knew him from his Miami Vice soundtrack days (looks like he kept a shirt or two from the show), and even though I wasn't a fan, I sure as heck knew the soundtrack. Even more so, the music video. Not so much for his use of the Wavestation.

This ad continued to run for four months - April to July - and in that last showing in the July issue of Keyboard, we see a slight addition to the ad.

Let me read that again for you:

"Now with expanded memory and more sounds"

Whaaaaaat? That's right. As far as I can tell, that is the first sign that the new EX version of the Wavestation is just around the corner. It would still be a good four months before the Spec Sheet for the EX upgrade would appear... but this post is getting a little long, so will save that for my next one.

Oh - and end with this... :D

Korg Wavestation & Wavestation A/D brochure, 1991

Korg Wavestation & Wavestation A/D 8-page brochure from 1991.

Christmas is getting closer and time is running out. Added on to the regular pressures of work are the pressures of buying gifts (I dislike the whole obligatory gift thing), holiday get-together events (I have a general hatred for all humans), extra food eating (too many calories) and the extra exercise that has to follow (recipe for injuries). Bah humbug!

I get even more tired just thinking about it. Need to de-stress.

And lately, what are best ways to de-stress during the holidays? Well, if it isn't kicking a feral troll's ass or stompin' a goblin cutter while adventuring through "The Legend of Drizzt" board game with a few select geek friends, then the next best thing is mindless scanning. It takes me about ten times as long to scan any given ad or brochure because as soon as I start scanning one, I usually end up lazily paging through related reference info in other magazines and promo material. Good times... good times... the only thing missing is a hot tub and bubbles (not good for paper. Or scanners  :)

So, what starts with a Korg Wavestation 2-page intro ad, quickly turns into page-flipping/ebay-buying/scanning marathon sessions that could well provide blogging fodder well into mid-February.

And so it continues with this 1991 Wavestation & Wavestation A/D brochure. Flipping to the back of the publication, it looks like it might have been printed as early as March or June of that year, depending on how you read the print date/code on the back. It reads "1991 0306C0CGH". So, that 0306 could be either the month/day or day/month.

Either way, its still a fairly long time after the original Wavestation brochure came out (date code is 1990 0203CFOTH), and yet you have to give Korg creds for keeping to the original design while also making positive improvements. And, if it's unclear, I'm talking about both the brochure AND the Wavestation A/D itself.

Much like the A/D kept to the original synth design with all the same functions and capabilities, so does this brochure keep to the original by using a similar textural background. It also uses a very similar writing style and includes a lot of the same charts and diagrams. Recycling at it's finest!

The A/D also improved upon the original Wavestation through additional waveforms and effects algorithms, as well as adding those awesome analog/digital converters. Aside: A trademark sound from my main set included using a Dead Can Dance vocal riff (shush!) sampled into my Emax SE. Then, I would route the sample through the Wavestation's inputs with the vocoder effect, triggering both the sample and the wave sequence at the same time. Re-sample and repeat. Spectacular!

And this brochure definitely improves on the first brochure. The first thing to be noticed when looking at this brochure is that it is oriented vertically, while the first Wavestation brochure was horizontal. I have a love/hate relationship with horizontal brochures - from a design perspective it is creative and fun, but it doesn't always feel natural and is sometimes uncomfortable to hold. This second brochure is definitely easier to hold, open, and read. Also, readability is enhanced significantly in this brochure now that the textured background is removed from pages with actual information. Nothing beats black text on a white background. So much easier easier to read, especially with such a small font.

Well - I just thought of another one of my great stress reliefs. Watching Survivor! Time to hunker down in my pre-xmas-gift snuggie and watch Ozzy take victory! Go Ozzy go!