The Hardware Synth Thread.

[GH]

Hey guys. I know a few of the users in here have hardware synthesizers, some of which are lovely analogue (There's a couple of SH101 owners here I think, and maybe one or two Korg Mono/Poly owners), & I thought it would be nice to have a thread for general chit-chat, patches & sound design, mods etc.


Anyway, to kick things off:


Over a year ago, I started attempting to restore my tatty old Korg Polysix (circa 1981) which I had bought on ebay the previous year.

I purchased a midi retrofit (P6-KBD), and I also decided to install the Polysex mod, which increases the voice spread, and gives a bit of control to detuning with some other cool additions.

I also had a proper walnut chassis made, instead of the cheap chipboard used originally.

All of this stuff spent a lot of time lying idle, while I was concentrating on other stuff, not least of all becoming a father.

I also spent lots of time meticulously reproducing the front panel design as faithfully as possible in Photoshop.

I eventually got round to getting the project finished over the last few weeks, and I'm very happy with the results.

A couple of weeks ago:





Now:





I've been documenting the whole process and included relevant photos and links to mods etc. on this blog: http://polysix.info

[Cupz]

Shit, thats some amazing fixin' right there! That takes heart.

I would probably just have crappily spray-painted it pink or summin :wink:

[jcnporter]

GH, I love that restoration job, incredible attention to detail.
I bought Logic for my laptop a few months ago with the intention of messing about and trying to create something, anyway I've been looking for a midi controller keyboard and for the price of a cheap one new, managed to get two Korg M1s on Gumtree - one working fine, one just needing a battery and some keys/buttons replaced.
I know the M1 wouldn't be a choice for many on here, but I'm looking forward to doing a bit of fiddling with the second one, meanwhile the first one is at least a good quality controller keyboard and worth seeing what sounds can be squeezed from it as a synth.
I don't really have a clue what I'm doing anyway so it's all good fun....

[GH]

Hey thanks @cupz @jcn

@jcn: I've never used an M1 but knew a guy years ago who had one and loved it.

[re-phaelam-ed]

thats a pretty amazing job! are the graphics hand painted or a transfer? it looks PERFECT

[Negamuse]

See I love it when someone spends time preserving these things. So many classic synths just get junked and there's probably nothing wrong with them, or not much. That's a sweet looking thing now!

I was thinking about whether or not to try buying broken synths to fix - see if I learnt anything working at an electronics factory for 5 years. But its finding something that's cheap enough to make mistakes on and not rare so as it'd be a travesty if I fucked it up, but still worth doing.

[Torn n Frayed]

See I love it when someone spends time preserving these things. So many classic synths just get junked and there's probably nothing wrong with them, or not much. That's a sweet looking thing now!

I was thinking about whether or not to try buying broken synths to fix - see if I learnt anything working at an electronics factory for 5 years. But its finding something that's cheap enough to make mistakes on and not rare so as it'd be a travesty if I fucked it up, but still worth doing.

This could fit the bill; http://www.guitarcenter.com/Korg-Used-K ... 3832028.gc

I have a few modern Analog Synths myself; Waldorf Pulse 2, Elektron Analog 4 and Korg MS-20 mini.

[IanRedpoint]

Really beautiful restoration of an ace synth. Particularly impressed by that control panel. Very professional.

I've not had to do much restoration work on any of my synths. My Juno 60 is in pretty good shape and the Jupiter 6 was cosmetically near perfect. It was, however, hugely satisfying to get the Jupiter 6 working after 10+ years of it being unusable due to a tuning fault on the bender board (among other things). I bought it from a friend last year and finally had the opportunity to get it fixed. Admittedly, most of that work was carried out by the synth repair guru Kent Spong but I still had to replace a couple of flaky sliders and tweak a few things before it worked properly.

I really love my Prophet 08. I know it gets a bit of a so-so rep in some quarters but I find it hugely flexible and the extensive modulation options are perfect for getting those woozy BoC sounds. I still dream of owning a Prophet 5 one day but I'll need a lottery win for that to happen!

[vballs]

I really love my Prophet 08. I know it gets a bit of a so-so rep in some quarters but I find it hugely flexible and the extensive modulation options are perfect for getting those woozy BoC sounds. I still dream of owning a Prophet 5 one day but I'll need a lottery win for that to happen!

Ahh Dude I'm jealous, I've decided I want a Prohet 8 as my first synth, saving up is a bitch though. Im worried by the time I have the cash I wont be able to buy one brand new anymore.

[IanRedpoint]

Ahh Dude I'm jealous, I've decided I want a Prohet 8 as my first synth, saving up is a bitch though. Im worried by the time I have the cash I wont be able to buy one brand new anymore.

Good choice!

I don't think they'll be discontinuing the Prophet 8 anytime soon. It's still the only all analogue poly synth being made today. A secondhand one in good condition wouldn't be bad alternative. Dave Smith Instruments offer a lot of good support. Just make sure you get a PE (Potentiometer Edition) model. The old all-encoder ones were a bit problematic.

[vballs]

Ahh Dude I'm jealous, I've decided I want a Prohet 8 as my first synth, saving up is a bitch though. Im worried by the time I have the cash I wont be able to buy one brand new anymore.

Good choice!

I don't think they'll be discontinuing the Prophet 8 anytime soon. It's still the only all analogue poly synth being made today. A secondhand one in good condition wouldn't be bad alternative. Dave Smith Instruments offer a lot of good support. Just make sure you get a PE (Potentiometer Edition) model. The old all-encoder ones were a bit problematic.

Great, thanks for the tip, PE model it is.

[vballs]

After years of failing at saving and indicision ive finally gone and bought a DSI Tempest (https://www.sequential.com/product/tempest/) and also one of these Behringer MS-1's
(https://www.behringer.com/Categories/Be ... rans(en|en)

The MS-1 is a homage to the Roland Sh-101 and for less than half the price of second hand ones sounds amazingly similar with a lot of the same feature and some improvements apparently. Anyone tried this yet? Really hope I havnt wasted my cash haha. And as for the Tempest, I dont care, it looks like endless fun to mess around with but interested to hear anyones experience with one of these.

[2020k]

WTF, I didn't even know behringer made synthesizers. Learn something new every day.

I have a MicroKorg that I use from time to time. It has such a shit interface, so I only use it if I know it's going to be an easy sound to program or for Vocoder. Their presets for vocoder are basically enough for me.

[float face]

[mechanismj]

I used to have that exact same keyboard. Brings back memories.

[Casiotone]

anyone into the old prosumer FM keyboards yamaha made back in the day?

[adecentman]

anyone into the old prosumer FM keyboards yamaha made back in the day?

I've never owned a single analog synth, but thanks to the cheapness of Yamaha's FM catalog, I've been fortunate enough to get a small collection going:

Yamaha PSS-460 - My first-ever synth purchase, $12 at a local Goodwill. Lovers of this tweakable synth will attest to it being used on many a BoC recording...

Yamaha PSR-41 - Inspired by a bandmate who owned one since his childhood, I nabbed one on ebay for about 50 bucks. Again, love the tweakability on this thing, and I think that the stereo FM chip featured on this thing is pretty unique. You'd be surprised with the AFX bass sounds you can get out of this thing. Prominently featured for the RFTD-esque brass synth on The Sweet Boys' 'A New Clear Dawn'...

Yamaha DX9 - Nicole got one of these for free via Craigslist in NYC a while back -- Kicks almost about as much ass a DX7, when you've got a mod wheel that can modulate EG bias you can do a ton with just 4 operators...

Yamaha DX7FDII - What more can I say? Lovely synth if you know what you're doing. I saved up through highschool and dropped $400 on one, still with me to this day. I think BoC use FM quite a bit more than people might think -- The call-and-response synths in the C-section of Turquoise Hexagon Sun always sounded quite DX7 to me, but I suppose it could be any FM product...

By the powers of these 4 FM synths combined, they have become known as... FM City. Rest assured that FM City's citizens will be heard on My'n'Nicole's new album... coming... sooonish

[float face]

I used to have that exact same keyboard. Brings back memories.

Casio WK-1630. I have a couple of these types of keyboards, the stock sounds are nothing to write home about but you can get some surprisingly usable permutations by running it through some pedals.

anyone into the old prosumer FM keyboards yamaha made back in the day?

Still struggling my way through the learning curve of FM synthesis, much to the frustration of my bandmate, but we used a PSS-something on our new material and it seems very capable. I like its sounds better than comparable Casios I've experimented with in the past.

[harpoon dodger]

anyone into the old prosumer FM keyboards yamaha made back in the day?

Ye. Over a decade ago, before I owned half the gear I do now, my first "synth" was a PSS-480 that a relative gifted me. I still have it, but a decade later a good amount of the membrane buttons are dead. So! A few years back I went and found a PSS-680 for stupid cheap at a local used music shop...and it was this purchase that opened the floodgates of me acquiring more and more gear/synths. While I have far more comprehensive stuff in the studio these days, the PSS series is still one I'll always love as it taught me the basis of FM synthesis. While I've only just been diving down the electronic side of things the last few years (new music to share one of these days soon lol) I will always keep these two synths. They are capable of a lot of noise and interesting sounds when used creatively.

They also pair nicely with the DX100 and TX81Z..two of my more recent additions. Other culprits include my Prophet 08 PE rack (fist bump to whoever was repping one in the older posts!), Moog Granny (Grandmother), and Roland HP-100, coupled with the demented but fun EM-101. Some Korg Volcas and my main drum machine (until I find something I like better lol) is a Roland TR-626. I also have a Akai X7000 though it's not in use atm due to space--still searching for the perfect sampler for me, though I'm pretty sure it's the Korg Microsampler. One day, sigh. Newer stuff I want but am still on the fence about--Yamaha MODX6, Arturia Microfreak, and the Prophet X. Behringer is gonna ruin me one day I know it and full-on modular synthesis has been staring me in the face for a while now, but it's something I should probably wait for. For the sheer financial investment....

Haven't posted in ages, but being a gearhead it's hard to resist yapping about the PSS. Happy synthing!

[mechanismj]

Nice to see you are still around, Harpoon!