New Synths in the Studio

After a very long time of buying completely nothing, suddenly I saw a synthesizer that has been on my wish list for the collection from day one. Never before I found one for sale in a condition like this one. It is an EMS 'Putney' VCS3. It is quite a rare synthesizer that was made in 1969. That is also the year that I was born, so that makes it extra special for me. It is a modular synthesizer that became famous famous because of its unique joystick, envelope fire button and the patch matrix. The matrix works with little pins and is actually quite convenient compared to plugging in patch cables to modules.

The machine is really in a great state, everything works and I'm so proud :) There is actually one in the London science museum you know :) That was the last time I saw one. The EMS's are actually perfect for creating sound effects and that is what Jean-Michel Jarre has used it for a lot. He made EMS famous together with Pink Floyd I guess who made there famous 'on the run' sequence on it. Well on the right is a nice pictures of the other machine I love for sound effects the ARP 2600.

And here is another syntesizer that I added to the collection. It is a Sequential Circuits Pro One. It is of the same make as the famous Prophet 5. This one is monophonic though. It is supposed to be great for bass sounds. To be honest I never played on one before, so this is new territory for me as well. A very nice feature is that it also has a sequencer on board. I can't wait to play around with it, but first I have to have a go at the VCS3 :)

Rob Papen visits Synth.nl Apollo Studio Video

A while ago Rob Papen visited my Apollo studio. Together with his crew he was filming some footage for his upcoming book and DVD about sound design on synthesizers. While they were filming in my studio I filmed them with my own camera. So this short movie is sort of a 'making of'. More info about the DVD will follow on http://www.robpapen.com. I made all the 3D animations in this movie with Cinema 4D. You can watch it here:

Apollo Studio Changes

Last week I got back from holiday and I wanted to get back to my music, but I'm having serious jet lag troubles. I'm very tired and I can really focus unfortunately. I'm sure it will pass in a few days, so I started doing some little studio changes. I recently sold quite some stuff to be able to get some new synths soon. One of the things I did was sell most of the stuff from my mobile modular rack. I only kept the Semtex XL that I put in the modular desk now as you can see. And on the spot where the mobile 19" rack used to be I could now finally put my ARP 2600. So now it has a decent spot where I can play on it and it is also next to my modular desk so that I can patch it to the other synthesizers. I had this in mind for a long time already, but just didn't find the time. Well now it is there I'm quite happy with it.

I also found a new spot for the Blofeld module. I removed the front cover from the Arturia Origin and that just gave me enough room to put it on front of it. So now it is finally on my desk within reach. I'm sure this won't be the final way I set my desk up, but for now it will do. The next major update will be the addition of some new synthesizers. From the stuff I sold I'll buy a new Korg Kronos and a new Roland Jupiter 80. I have ordered them a long time ago, but I'm still waiting for them. I hope to get them soon and then I'll let you know right away of course :)

More Sound Effects on the ARP 2600

Last week I created some new Sound Effects for an upcoming collaboration project I'm working on. I can't tell you details yet, but keep an eye out :) Earlier this week I used the Roland SH-5 and today I used the ARP 2600 to make some new and unique sweeps, twirls, whooshes, modulations and so on. I usually just patch around and turn knobs while recording. Then when I think I have enough I start selecting the good parts and neatly trim then down. It is very boring work actually, but in the end it is rewarding to hear them back in a track, knowing that you made everyone from scratch :)

ARP 2600 Arrived!!

One of the synthesizers that has been on my wish list for a very very long time is the ARP 2600. I have been bidding on E-bay on several, but often got sniped in the last minute or it turned out to be a scam. But a few weeks ago I found one in very good shape and after E-mailing back and forth with the owner I was convinced this was a good deal. But then again I got sniped. So I was quite dissapointed again, but I got an E-mail that the previous buyer didn't want it after all and if I still wanted it. Well yes I did :) So we closed the deal and then I had to wait impatiently for a long time.

It has been standing at the Dutch Customs for a long time. But last week it finally arrived. It was send over in two packages. First I got the keyboard. It looked very good, only a few keys seemed to be replaced with Roland keys since they have a different color. Then a few days later the Synthesizer module itself arrived. And it really looks MINT ! Amazing for such an old machine. I'm really happy with this one and I will use it a lot on my upcoming album for sure. It is from around the same time that the Apollo space missions took place so that is very appropriate I think :)

Later I heard that the original buyer didn't want it because it was not in tune and the slider were noisy. Well those sliders are 40 years old. What do you expect :) When I tried it out today it was actually not that bad. Just what happens with vintage gear. And I noticed as well that when I played the keyboard it wasn't in tune. But I spotted a small switch quickly to switch between fixed or variable tuning. And guess what? ;) Fixed tuning solved the problem right away. When I watched the news today I was also happy that I arranged the payment long time ago. The Euro is plunging against the dollar now. I guess by now it would have been much more expensive. Ah well tomorrow I will start making some sound effects on the ARP 2600 for my upcoming album. I will keep you posted on that later on. For now I'm going to enjoy a bass patch I just made on it :P