SergeModular

I recall reading somewhere that the very earliest Serge modulars were almost a community affair. Everyone who wanted a synthesizer gathered in a room with Serge Tcherepin and helped build them.

Yes. They started off as a "modular for the people". There were approximately

twenty built during the community project at CalArt. They were trying to build

something similar to the Buchla 200 modular, so many of the features were

similar to Buchlas (eg colour coded 4mm connectors, 4U panel height,

bipolar attenuators on CV inputs). There's a section about it in the Mark

Vail Vintage Synths book.

Your analysis appears to be correct. I have a mid-late 1970s catalog which shows the old style graphics and most of the older modules, most modules had text. This means that Serge was already selling these units to "normal" customers. Here's what I can surmise from the catalog:

Top row:

Two Oscillators (early type, includes waveshaper) >> Has a different layout than the catalog, must predate it
Triple Waveshaper >> matches catalog
Triple Comparator >> matches catalog, except knobs in catalog appear to be older, larger type

I think the knobs have been swapped around. The larger ones seem

to have been standard on all the early modules, but now I think you

only see then on the NTO and PCO frequency pots. There's still a

very similar looking knob in the Jameco catalogue if anyone needs

a replacement.

Envelope Generator >> layout is completely different from catalog, as are # of controls/jacks, probably an early version
Quad VCA - later style compared with the rest of the panel) >> matches the catalog, except the center 1/4" jack is swapped with the banana jack

Bottom row:

Dual Negative Slew >> graphics in catalog do not have triangles or semicircles, bottom ouput appears to be LED or 1/8" jack instead of banana jack
Smooth & Stepped Function >> matches catalog
Variable Slope VCF >> matches catalog
VCA >> matches catalog, except this is a dual module with the Ring, and the Ring/VCA strips are swapped
Ring >> matches catalog, see note on VCA
Variable Q VCF (late style) >> agree
Phaser (late style) >> agree
Variable Bandwidth VCF (late style) >> agree

This old Serge catalog has the 10 stage sequencer and the triple bi-directional router, but no peak and trough, multiples, or schmitt triggers. I hope to post a PDF of that catalog soon, to complement the 1982 Serge catalog at the Yahoo SergeModule files site.

Thanks, that would be _very_ interesting. The only catalogue I have is the

1992 one (and the 1982 one you've just posted).

Steve Ridley