Hi, just a quick thanks to all for the kind welcome. As to my
collection of stuff, it's on the "to do list" (umm has been for as long
as I can remember..lol)I will try and create a list of what I have and
stuff I haven't converted to digital documentation I will try and get
to over time. I will keep an eye on the group and when I can help I'll
do my best to do what I can.
Well, that sounds great,-
1st question: Do you probably have a Akai S-1100 service manual ?
2nd one: Do you probably know the original manufacturer of the switches
in a Oberheim XK mastereyboard ?
I can agree with the comments about the value old gear can attract. In
my case I had (back in the early/mid 80's) a collection of gear which
cost me around 40 grand. As timing would have it, I was busy with work,
settling down and saving to build a house. I decided to off load most
of it (now I seriously regret that decision) and due to the fact FM
(DX7 etc), sampling and early digital synth hybrids were all the rage
the old analogue stuff was poorly valued. I think in total the 40 grand
equated to a resale value of about $5000.. eeek
I think, here are many in the group w/ a similar story, settling down
and/or building a house or not.
In any case, we were really busy w/ music in the late 70th, the 80th
and 90th and made good money in the music biz,- so all that gear wasn´t
a collection only but real tools necessary for the work.
It´s true, FM, sampling, digital synth hybrids and rompler-workstations
rendered the old analogue stuff nearly useless for pro music production
and touring, but it´s also true, these technologies opened new doors
for music production even they didn´t replace the old ones.
IMO, the "digital is better" argument was a marketing trick of the
manufacturers of gear and their interest was to produce cheaper for a
mass market of hobbyists and being able to sell at a lower price,- a
economic decision which made some companys survive up today.
My experience is, the real pros used all available ever if they could
afford the gear and if it made economical sense.
In the days we were busy working in pro studios and being hired by
producers and/ or record companies, we had to have the latest up to
date gear to offer the best sound palette they expected and we had to
work fast in a studio, not tweaking patches or programming from scratch
for the studios rental fee per hour the producer had to pay.
So, a better and better preset management, midi and midi multi mode for
quick layering and digital controlled tuning routines for polyphonic
analogue synths were a big step forward.
FM is a form of synthesis I like very much and it´s a great combination
together w/ real analogue synths and when the Yamaha system came out,
TX-816, QX-1 and KX88 / KX76 controller keyboards,- that was a great
professional combo to work w/ for years and I have it in working
condition and use it up to now,- except the QX-1 which is and was
replaced by the various small computers later, Commodore SX, Atari and
at least a fully fletched DAW hardware and software.
The Synclavier was a real good FM machine too incl. sampling and
definitely not made for the consumer market.
Sampling,- well,- when the 1st machines entered the commercial market,
I wasn´t impressed that much.
I remember demoing the Ensoniq Mirage keyboard @ Frankfurt Musik Messe
when it came out and it drove me nuts.
I got one for free but sold it at the door when the fair finished.
The EMU EII was too expensive for me and I wasn´t impressed by the
loading times and the sampling time at all,- but I lost jobs because I
didn´t own one.
But when Akai released the S-1100 w/ 32MB memory and AES/EBU and SPDIF
connections as well as SMPTE sync and a FX board as also dedicated
Burr-Brown converters for each single out, that was a piece of gear
which had advantages for me and was affordable.
When Tom Oberheim came up w/ the DPX-1 and the single out option, I
suddenly could use the EII , the Mirage and Prophet 2000 libraries w/ a
machine for the fraction of the price of a EII,- hallelujah !
We would have never seen a DAW without the pioneers of sampling
technology like EMU and Fairlight and I´m sure they never had in mind
to make other technologies obsolete in 1st place.
The problem nowadays is that for quite a while the old gear was stashed
away or dumped. Young music makers were (are) growing up in a throw
away society and as such they don't often think of a piece of gear
having an emotional or historic value.
Why should they think different in societies like todays where ideas
and produced music is downloadable for free in the web. They don´t even
think of the possibility making their livin w/ music. There are
exceptions, but these are rare. The golden times are definitely over
and most musos I know today have a day over job to make their living
and make music just for fun more or less.
These guys who know really about the emotional and historic value are
now collectors in most cases.
All this is not a fault of the users or the manufacturers of gear
alone,- it´s mainly a fault of the commerciall music industry who faked
the customers w/ "digital is better" when they came up w/ the CD,
re-selling all their back catalogues content again for a higher price
and they tried it again w/ the DVD standard.
In addition, they failed w/ protecting digital media and this, in
combination w/ sampling technology, rendered visual and audio material
into a cheap mass consumer market product,- far from being arts and
culture.
Also goernments failed in overhauling authors rights and royalties to
match todays ways of distribution.
Sampling made it possible to open the doors to the pro music biz for
DJs.
Somewhere in the mid 80th, I´ve read a story in a magazine about 2
guys, both DJs, who wanted "to replace the popstars",- and they did.
Owning a sampler and a computer for MIDI was all they needed to record
slices from records and some noizes to do a remix compilation which
they called "dance".
Very welcome for the record industry which now got a complete album for
1000 bucks.
Just only doing a collage by triggering events isn´t the same than
composing, arranging, recording, mixing and mastering,- culture wise,
I´d say,- it´s the same difference than painting a picture or doing a
collage.
But the public accepted the results and buyed /used ´em,- so who to
blame ?
There is a lot of good new gear available that uses DSP to provide
a close emulation of the old analogue kit but I have yet to find any
that capture the sound of
"real" analogue with all it's intrinsic unique ability and
inadequacies.
Yes and no. It´s right it´s not exactly the same but who cares ? The
audience / consumer ? No.
The consumer is very satisfied w/ the results of VST stuff running on a
computer host and being rendered and mastered,- that´s why many, many
producers sold all their hardware and some are using a Mac and Logic
only and make real good money,- I know ´em in person and some are old
friends.
It´s just only a biz, they do what the market wants and get payed for
that,- means: It works.
I´m not that type of guy and I´m using all,- old analogue gear, FM,
sampling, VST stuff and virtual gear running on DSPs.
I have to mention, Creamware/Sonic Core SCOPE to me gives the best
results synth wise and paired w/ total recall.
Minimax, Prodyssey, Protone (or ProOne), Profit an U Know 7 are great
analogue emulations running on DSPs and the Zarg stuff by J.Bowen for
SCOPE is the ice of the cake even it´s not the best optimized software
for SCOPE.
In a side by side comparison of p.ex. Minimax and a Minimoog D, you´ll
recognize small differences, but these are also present if you compare
2 Minimoog D.
In a mix of music, anyone will accept a Minimax as a Minimoog D if he
doesn´t know it´s a Minimax.
It´s harder to find a good Oberheim emulation because there´s only the
VST by Studioprojects,- the OPX Pro (which I own too).
I own the Xpander and Matrix-1000,- OPX (Pro) is a total recall
replacement for the OBX, OBXa and OB-8, but not for the modulation
matrix machines.
I never owned a real OBX, so I´m sure the real thing sounds different,
maybe "better",- but also lacks a lot of features todays software
offers if coded right.
No two "discrete" analogue synths sound the same. You can put 2 or
3 early Minimoogs or ARP's side by side on the bench, set the
parameters the same, yet they will each have their own slight
differences in sound.
See above.
This to some extent was changed with the advent of synth chipsets
available from the likes of SSM and Curtis but this has lead to another
difficult issue. Yes it is true that these chips allowed for some
excellent poly synths at a low (ish) price but it also meant that same
gear was doomed to the dumpster at some stage. That stage is really
near. The chips used are long out of production, few NOS(new old
stock)are available and those that are have prices which far outway
their initial cost.
Up to now, sooner or later, I´ve found all the parts needed to keep my
old stuff working and I doubt that will change very early.
In deed, there´s a investment of time and money to keep the gear
working, but there´s also a reason to do for me.
So, if I need a part urgently, I pay for it to get it and don´t discuss
about the former initial costs.
When I buyed the synths new in the past, these were also not cheap and
I used ´em to make money.
The last CEM 3374 I buyed NOS some weeks ago was USD 85.-,- it´s so
rare I payed it before another one did.
This means that more and more repairable gear is being gutted and
sold off part by part through the likes of ebay (often at grossly
inflated value)simply to keep other better maintained gear working. Sad
but unavoidable.
Hmmm,- there are 2 sides of the coin and one side is,- that way I´m
able to buy working parts to keep my machines alive.
Lastly a situation that makes my blood boil are the people (mostly
again young) who through their upbringing in the "throw away society"
take a perfectly good piece of gear, hack it and bash it beyond
recognition for the sake of "circuit bending". Fine take a ten buck toy
and thrash the guts out of it, but not old analogue gear!! I've read up
on most of the websites relating to these endeavors and it's
my point of view that the vast majority of ppl into it no zero about
the electronic's they are dealing with. They tend to use a poke it and
see mentality which may work some of the time. I shudder at the thought
the damage being done to some much good gear. Not only at the circuit
level but to the hardware (casing, front panel etc) as they hack away.
Simply put, life changes.
These guys own the gear and they can do with it what they want,- even
throw it in the bin.
I´ve seen one guy throwing a Minimoog D in the bin because he hated
it,- that was in the early 80th and when I had 3.
The guy is a musician and a tech, did repairs in pro music shops in the
past,- and today he owns a studio for avantgarde music, a label, is
organizing festivals and plays in one of the most famous electronic
"Kraut" bands since the late 60th up today.
He´s definitely making his living w/ music only.
PeWe