Retro Synth Ads

Firstman SQ-01 Sequence Synthesizer from Multivox - Part 2, Contemporary Keyboard 1981

noreply@blogger.com (RetroSynthAds) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:45:00 +0000

Something happened after I wrote my last blog post. I kept on researching.

The result... Part 2.

The reason I kept on researching was mostly because of the July 1981 Spec Sheet promo that I initially dismissed as not providing any info that didn't already appear in the ad. But as I re-read that Spec Sheet, something clicked.

Both because of something I saw, and something I didn't see.

"Multivox Sequencer. The SQ-01 Mini Music Lab is a monophonic synthesizer and sequencer. It operates on either AC current or batteries. It will record up to 1024 notes on 16 channels, combine time values, program glides, program triple and duple meters, and play back with from 30-300 quarter-note beats per minutes with sixteenth-note subdivisions. The synthesizer portion of the unit has a seven-octave range, a 24db/octave filter, and an envelope selection system. Rear panel jacks offer interface possibilities, syncing to other sequencers or clocks, or other synthesizer control. An optional bass pedal controller, the BS-01, is also available. Multivox/Sorkin Music, 370 Motor Parkway, Hauppauge, NY 11787."

First - what I saw:

Right at the beginning... The SQ-01 Mini Music Lab! What an awesome spin on this tiny machine. But yet I find this descriptive label nowhere in the ad. Boo! You've got every other marketing trick in the book coming through in that ad, but something as cool sounding as Mini Music Lab is totally left out. And when you gaze at that machine with its lovely membrane touch controls and other futuristic good looks, my mind immediately gravitates toward the term "Mini Music Lab".

I am geek, hear me roar! :)

And what was missing from that Spec Sheet blurb? "Fastman". Only Multivox and Sorkin Music get creds.

These two things just led to more questions. Where did the whole "Mini Music Lab" label come from if not from the ad? And who the heck was Firstman? I decided to do a bit of digging to see what other info I could uncover. Lucky for me, the obvious comparison to Roland's legendary TB-303 makes the Firstman SQ-01 a rather easy machine to find information on.

Gun. Fish. Barrel. It wasn't long before Google provided these answers, and more.

[Side note: Incredibly, this ad appeared a good year before the legendary ad for the TB-303 made an appearance in Keyboard Magazine.]

One quick Google search and I found the origin of the "Mini Music Lab" label. Turns out it comes directly from the manual - I found an online PDF at chipforbrains.info. And the "Mini Music Lab" name isn't just referenced once in the introduction. It is referenced throughout. Interesting that this term wouldn't make it into the ad for the instrument. That was definitely a conscience decision on someone's part. And in my opinion, a missed opportunity.

As far as who Firstman was, and its connection to Multivox? Those questions, too, were quickly resolved when I came upon the Firstman/Multivox connection in a July 2002 Sound On Sound article titled "A tale of two string synths" written by Gordon Reid. The article focuses on the similarities of the Roland RS202 and Multivox MX202, and while looking at the circuit boards inside the Mulitvox, Gordon found the name Hillwood.

"I found the name Hillwood, a little-known Japanese manufacturer who were active in the late 1970s and early 1980s. This was a company founded by a Japanese gentleman called Kazuo Morioka, whose name translates as First Man Wood Hill. Morioka thus gave his name to the Hillwood synths and keyboards released throughout the mid-to-late '70s, as well as the short-lived manufacturer Firstman."

Gordon Reid also points out that that even though Multivox, Hillwood and Firstman were some of the first casualties of the digital synth revolution of the 80s, Morioko continued working in the industry.

"...it appears that Kazuo Morioko did not depart the world of synthesizers; he went to work for both Hohner and Akai, where, in 1983 or thereabouts, he helped to design parts of its aborted Akai Studio System, including the MG1212 multitrack recorder and the AX80 polysynth..."

Awesome historical info.

You can also find a wack of photos online including this December 2011 auction post on MATRIXSYNTH. That machine sure does look purrrdy in colour. Also found a good May 2011 MATRIXSYNTH auction post for the optional BS-01 foot pedals that also appear in the ad. Excellent!

There are also a few good video demos of the unit online, and I really enjoyed this one.

BTW - can I get dibs on the band name "Mini Music Lab"?

Thanks!

Firstman SQ-01 Sequence Synthesizer from Multivox, Contemporary Keyboard 1981

noreply@blogger.com (RetroSynthAds) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:15:00 +0000

Firstman SQ-01 Sequence Synthesizer from Multivox 1-page advertisement from page 23 in Contemporary Keyboard June 1981.

Until recently, I've never really had an interest in a lot of Multivox stuff. Reading through older Contemporary Keyboard magazines, the Multivox brand always left the impression they were an "organ" and "preset keyboard" company. Even as my knowledge of the company and its products grew, my mind never really made the move to include "synthesizer" and "sequencer" in whatever part of my brain held Multivox reference info. I would literally pass by their ads completely, not giving them a second look. I'm a creature of habit, and it's dang hard to break any of my bad habits.

Whether that is chewing the inside of my lip or changing my view on a company, product or service. I do it *a lot*, and I'm not the only one.

Casio is a great example where, for once, I'm on the other end of the equation.

As good as I thought Casio's CZ- and other professional synthesizers and samplers were, I just couldn't convince others of this fact. And that includes many of the other synth enthusiasts in my small part of the world. For some reason, Casio always seems to tickle the neurons that dig up memories of toy keyboards, nerdy digital watches and calculators. It's hard to convince them of Casio's awesomeness. And, I gotta add that coming out with the diminutive CZ-101 didn't really help matters. It's looks screamed 'toy'. Even when I showed my synth-pop friends a photo of Vince Clarke standing next to a stack of them. Gah.

Yah, I love that photo. :)

But, bringing this post back to the Firstman SQ-01, I gotta say this ad was the first step in my brain's conversion of Multivox from organ company to synthesizer company. But it is still an on-going, bumpy, up-hill ride.

The ad began appearing in CK around June 1981 and continued to run pretty regularly until around November 1981.

It's a great looking ad with large photos, plus good layout and design to boot. The only real problem is the ad-copy - there is just so much of it. Normally I like this is the ad, but in this case Multivox is really trying too hard to make this instrument all things to all people. And in some cases, really over-hyping some of its functionality - especially for a piece of kit that sold for only $599.00 in 1981.

All things: Its a sequencer! But it has a VCO and Envelopes. Its a synth! But I see bass pedals in the ad. It's bass-pedals! But it says it has a 7-octave range.

All people: It is a sophisticated synth. Cool. It's great for people with limited keyboard experience as a sight-reading and teaching tool. Wait... what?

Getting the picture yet?

And to compound this problem, Multivox takes the normal amount of marketing hype I expect to find in ads to the next level.

"The SQ-10 can simulate the sounds of strings, brass, woodwinds, piano, harpsichord, string bass, fuzz bass, and more."

Really?

"[The synthesizer] can give you a maximum of versatility in a minimum amount of space".

Uh huh.

This little beast is really good at what it actually does - a fun and easy to use sequencer - so why not focus on that? Even marketing hype can go too far.And when marketing hype hits a brick wall of reality, audience perception is left in the ditch.

Before the Internet, a lot of that North American perception was no doubt formed through reading magazines such as Contemporary Keyboard. From ads... but also what is written by those writers and editors. And, in the case of CK, that would be mostly seen by readers in Spec Sheets and Keyboard Reports.

The SQ-01 Spec Sheet promo appeared in the July 1981 issue of Keyboard Magazine, just a month after this ad first touched down. Unfortunately, that little review didn't provide any editorial perception - it was all technical.

But, as luck would have it, a Keyboard Report on the SQ-01 did turn up in the October 1981 issue of CK, written by the very perceptive Dominic Milano.

In the introduction, Dominic sets the stage by first giving a good run down of the current sequencer market, both high-end and not-so-high-end, listing off what was available from Roland, Emu, Oberheim and SCI, admitting they could all do some amazing things, but users would have to pay the price both in cost and technical know-how. His perception of the SQ-01:

"The digital sequencer we'll be looking at this month, the Multivox SQ-01, is much simpler than these space-age machines. It also has a feature that non of them have: In addition to being a monophonic digital sequencer, it has its own simplified synthesizer voice built into it, so if you don't want to interface it with an already existing synthesizer, you don't have to to. You can listen to it all by itself. And it doesn't cost an arm and a leg to buy one, making it attractive to those of you who might be curious about owning a sequencer buy have been put off in the past by all the technical aspects of having to interface a sequencer to a synthesizer. It can be a good learning tool to experiment with before getting involved more technically with sequencer/synthesizer setups."

Dominic's systematic review of the gear really only touches on the synthesizer functionality for a paragraph or two, including this gem:

"Overall the synthesizer voice sounds fairly thin, probably due to the fact that there is only one oscillator and no modulation."

And his conclusion hardly mentions the synthesizer functionality at all - focusing mostly on the sequencer.

"The SQ-01 isn't the be-all and end-all of sequencers... Overall, though, the SQ-01 does all right as an instrument for the neophite who want to get involved with digital sequencing on a limited budget..."

So, even though Multivox's ad tried to push the SQ-01 as a "studio synthesizer" that could simulate a wack of keyboard, string, brass and bass sounds, in actuality, the CK report found the synthesizer voice to be relatively simple and thin.

Ouch.

In the minds of readers, the whole thing probably plays out something like this: A reader sees the ad. Processes. Then sees the report. Processes the disconnect. And not the normal marketing-hype type of disconnect. A true, grand-canyon-style disconnect. And over time, if a company keeps that up, it will erode the brand..

Maybe I'm just grumpy today. And sure, other companies did it as well. But, like I said at the beginning of this post, I really wasn't interested in Multivox before this ad. And even though the disconnect between the ad and the CK report is so great, for some reason, it *still* helped me move Multivox from the organ pile to the synthesizer pile.

Just the crappy synthesizer pile. Whether deserved or not. So, maybe they won.

See, even a creature of habit like me can change. A little.

Talk Studio/Pi Keyboards & Audio Digi-Atom 4800 Analog-to-MIDI interface "Control the MIDI World" ad #2 - PART 2, Keyboard 1984

noreply@blogger.com (RetroSynthAds) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:45:00 +0000

Talk Studio/Zypher Digi-Atom 4800 analog-to-MIDI interface 1/3-page advertisement from page 27 in Keyboard Magazine August 1984.

Been a great winter so far. Uncommonly warm. Almost creepy. But over the last few days, we finally got our first real cold snap of the season with temperatures finally hitting negative double digits (celcius!), so I'm starting to feel a little cooped up and thinking about beaches in warmer climates. But it does help motivate my blogging.

In part 1 of this Digi-Atom 4800 blog post, I provided a brief comparison between this second ad and the first one, while at the same time giving a good demonstration of my Web surfing habits when I fixated on the Digi-Atom's new distributors, Pi Keyboards & Audio. .

Even though ads for the Digi-Atom only appeared twice in Keyboard magazine, the unit also received quite a bit of unpaid advertising (earned media) during this period. In fact, it is actually quite surprising how much play this little piece of gear got in Keyboard magazine. Either Keyboard really liked this machine, or Pi had some great connections. Or both. :)

The first of these appearances occurred three months after that first April ad came out, when Dominic Milano reviewed the 4800 in the July 1984 issue of the magazine. Dominic introduces the Keyboard Report with the little gem below, which is really telling of the pre/post MIDI transitioning environment taking place in 83/84:

"Just when you thought you were safe from the terrors of the patch cord jungle, free to escape to the bliss of single-cord interfacing with MIDI (the Musical Instrument Digital Interface), along comes a new class of MIDI products that makes your keyboard setup look like it has more in common with a bowl of spaghetti than anything even remotely resembling hi-tech keyboards. But don't despair. There's plenty of musical good to be found even with the synthesizer-meet-wet-noodles look."

He goes on to explain how this new product and others such as J.L. Cooper's I-in and I-out, will convert CVs and gates to MIDI and vice versa, keeping "those great-sounding but 'obsolete' workhorses" alive in your rig. Obsolete? Harsh! In his defense, he did put the word in quotes. :)

The rest of the article explains the different modes of operation and ends the bulk of the review with a connection example pulled from the manual. In the conclusion, he lists the price at $1,395.00 and the importers as Shelton Leigh Palmer & Co. Nice.

It was a month later that Pi Keyboards & Audio included this ad in the August 1984 issue of Keyboard.

Then, in September, the Keyboard monthly giveaway was the Digi-Atom 4800 Interface. The contest copy only includes Talk Studio - not Zypher - in the 'thank you' list. Included is a bit of a summary of it's functions.

After a brief hiatus, a Spec Sheet write-up in the December 1984 issue of Keyboard Magazine provided a little more light on the change in distributor. As well as the price drop of over $200!

"Digi-Atom Distributors. U.S. distribution for the Talk Studios/Zypher Electronics Digi-Atom 4800 analog-to-MIDI interface is now being handled by Pi Keyboards & Audio. List price for the unit in the States has been set at $1,195.00. Pi Keyboards & Audio, 13329 Pearl Rd., Cleveland, OH 44146."

I asked former CEO David Yost about Keyboard's apparent affection with the Digi-Atom, and he explained that it was, in fact, Keyboard that initiated most of the coverage. "Their editors and writers at the time were very very sharp. In fact I think it was shortly after the Keyboard coverage [started to appear] that I was looking into selling the Digi." Turns out that David's first passion was electronic music, and David figured that getting into sales and repairs was the most obvious way to get gear. He had a few large systems that needed good CV/gate converters for MIDI control and he wanted a Digi for himself.

Who's sharp now! :)

Before going any further, I just have to point out that logo! I'm a big fan of logos, and that Pi Corp logo rocks. Seriously. Future-retro with a touch of Borg. I expect that symbol to appear on the side of Captain Picard's face when he's taken captive by the menacing aliens. The logo was designed by local Cleveland artist Phil D'Angelo - a friend of David Yost - around 1975.

So, to summarize the marketing life of the Digi-Atom in Keyboard magazine (1984):

April: First ad - full page, colour, Talk Studio/Zypher listed on ad
July: Keyboard Report for Digi-Atom 4800 listing Talk Studio/Zypher as manufacturers, and Shelton Leigh Palmer & Co. as importers
August: Second ad - 1/3 page black and white with Pi Keyboards & Audio listed on ad, includes awesomely cool logo
September: Keyboard contest - Digi-Atom 4800 give-a-way listing just Talk Studio as manufacturer
December: Spec Sheet about change in distributor to Pi Keyboards & Audio

It's interesting to think that even with all of that earned media and a $200 price drop, the unit didn't seem to stick around in the market for too long. David Yost mentioned in an earlier email that they didn't sell too well. His exact words: "I think we sold two units".

Now, I'm sure that's a bit of an exaggeration. At least I hope so because I would really like to score one at some point in the future. Otherwise, this guy might be my only hope (see photo - top right corner). Either way, this is a good lesson that even the best gear, with advertising and lots of earned media, can't always be successful in the marketplace.

I'm not sure what else could have helped the Digi-Atom succeed. But I'm sure that if I did know, I would be enjoying myself on a beach somewhere right now spending my millions generated from telling others how to do it.

Ahhhhh.... beaches.... (sooo cooooold.... soooo... cooooold!)

Talk Studio/Zypher (distributed by Pi Keyboards & Audio) Digi-Atom 4800 Analog-to-MIDI interface "Control the MIDI World" ad #2, Keyboard 1984

noreply@blogger.com (RetroSynthAds) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:35:00 +0000

Talk Studio/Zypher Digi-Atom 4800 analog-to-MIDI interface 1/3-page advertisement from page 27 in Keyboard Magazine August 1984.

Its already mid-January, and although I've only had two blog posts this year, I somehow feel its been ages since I posted an actual ad. As far as I'm aware, this blog is still called 'retro synth ADS', so time to get back to the basics. And I think I'm starting with a gooder - ie: I'm already obsessing a bit.

This looks to be the first and only follow-up advertisement to Talk Studio/Zypher's original Digi-Atom 4800 ad that appeared four months earlier in the April 1984 issue of Keyboard.

There are a few notable differences between the two ads. The first, is that the second ad was shrunk down to a third of the size. I'm guessing at least partly due to ad budget, this size change would have a domino affect on other aspects of the ad. For example, because the ad was shrunk down to a 1/3-page, the company probably realized the photo was going to loose a lot of the resolution - so, why not save a bit more cash and use a black and white format. The only real loss is that 'pop' of the green button on the left side of the front panel. Smart thinking.

That decrease in ad size would also have made the already small descriptive text that actually explains what the heck this machine does even smaller. So, the designer decided to make good use of the white space on the bottom left side of the original ad and increased the font size. Voila! Readable again!

But for me, the biggest difference between the two ads has to do with the company names that are displayed. In that original ad, the two company names associated with the Digi-Atom 4800 are Talk Studios and zypher electronics. In contrast, both of those names are gone in this second ad, replaced with Pi Keyboards & Audio.

I decided to Google "Pi Keyboards & Audio" to find out more information about this company and was genuinely surprised, and excited, by what I found.

I found out a little bit about Pi and it's influence on the Cleveland electronic music scene through a Facebook page about the band "Ghosts in Daylight". Or, I should more correctly point out, it was a Google-cached page for the Face book page. Facebook kept telling me the actual page doesn't seem to exist any more.

"While Cleveland is now recognized as home of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the city actually fostered an active electronic music scene in the late 1980s. During this time, developing MIDI technology allowed for the connection and sequencing of electronic synthesizers and samplers. A small music shop, Pi Keyboards & Audio, served as a hub for many Cleveland-area musicians interested in this technology – it was also the place where Ghosts in Daylight purchased most of their equipment and made their early connections with the local music industry."

Another Google result led me to Cleveland-area keyboardist Keith Chelm's web site. His bio page provides a brief note that he worked at Pi Keyboards & Audio in the mid-80s, along side none other than Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. Now, that's a 'hub'!

I contacted Keith Chelm to ask a bit more about the company and whether he knew any information about the Digi-Atom 4800. He didn't, but he did put me in touch with one of the owners of Pi (and apaprently drummer in Keith's weekend band!) - David Yost.

Through a few email exchanges, I learned that David was one of the owners and CEO of Pi Corp, later changed to Pi Keyboards & Audio, from 1976 - 1990. The company wasn't just a sales and repair shop, but also enjoyed an international reputation for their technical work with Weather Report, Wendy Carlos, Billy Cobham, George Duke, Tangerine Dream, Uriah Heep Jean Luc Ponty, and Devo. That list isn't too shabby!

He looks back on the early MIDI days as "busy, exciting, and rapidly changing". I asked him about the initial confusion of mixing analog and MIDI technologies in gear and he felt that most manufacturers made the switch with ease due to the foresight and prep work done by industry leaders, singling out Dave Smith of Sequential Circuits in particular.

When I asked him about the Digi-Atom in particular, David replied that he thought it was a great piece of gear and was responsible for bringing the unit to the US as a distributor - the only time Pi got involved as a distributor for a foreign product. But, he explained that the lack of sales support from Japan and the language barrier worked against the success of the Digi-Atom. And, that after the few ads failed to generate business, Pi let the relationship with Talk Studios/Zypher dissolve.

Of course, being a young Nine Inch Nails fan way back when, I just couldn't resist asking David about Trent Reznor's time at Pi. David explained that he hired Trent on the recommendation of one of the sales guys. Trent ended up moving from Pennsylvania to Cleveland for the job and worked at Pi for about two and half years. It was then that Bart Koster, owner of Right Track Studios, hired Trent... and, well, the rest is history.

This info would make an excellent addition to Trent's Wikipedia page. It currently jumps from high school directly to his time at Right Track Studios.

I found a few other little tidbits while Web surfing. According to a 1996 Harmony-Central forums post, Wes Taggart of Analogics fame also worked there as a Service Manager in the late 80's. Also found some Pi corporate filings through the opencorporates.com Web site. And, if we want to get a little more off-topic, Pi also came up in a UFO sightings report from someone who worked for the company. Gotta love the Web. :)

I have a lot more to say on the Digi-Atom in Part 2 of this blog post - coming on Thursday.

Yup... definitely obsessing. :D

Moog Retail Price List, 1974

noreply@blogger.com (RetroSynthAds) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:35:00 +0000

Moog retail price list including Satellite, Sonic Six, Minimoog, Model 1130 Percussion Controller, Model 1150 Ribbon Controller, Model 1125 Sample & Hold, Satellite Carrying Case (Model "Satcase"), Minimoog Carrying Case (Model 1110), Model 1120 Foot Pedal Controller and Model 1121 Glide/Decay Foot Switch, from July 1974.

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Update: Just updated the Moog and Korg interactive timelines with the latest advertisements. Great way to browse through the ads.

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This is one of those Moog retail price list docs I wrote about in my first blog post of 2012 - the Moog 1984 product catalog. If you recall in that post, I explained that Moog historically had only a few main pricing documents for public consumption, including retail price lists and product catalogs. And that I was harping on the fact Moog had made the decision not to include actual prices in that 1984 product catalog. Its even more of a crime since as little as two years earlier they were including prices.

But, a decade earlier, Moog was in fine form. And I say that both from a design perspective as well as a Moog historical document collector.

First, we have a great little 8" x 9" brochure-style folding format printed on a nice thick paper stock. The light yellow colour of the paper is an interesting, and I'll admit readible, choice. The layout is fantastically simple with lots of space. All in all, a great doc that includes many of the features that make historical documents highly... er... historical.

For one, readers of this price list always knew what company they were dealing with because that snazzy iconic Moog logo appears on all three pages - front, inside and back. But the best part is that at no point is the logo ever overbearing. It always fits the space provided perfectly.

Second, on the front cover, we have a date - July 1, 1974! I love dates for their historical value. That *and* printed prices. :)

Also on the front cover is that gentlemanly composer dude that almost becomes as imprinted in my mind as the Moog logo itself. That little pre-clip-art guy made multiple appearances in a few pieces of Moog literature, including the hypnotic/epileptic-inducing 1972 Minimoog "The INstruments of the Pros..." brochure.

Open the price list and you immediately discover Moog's big push of the day. Accessories! Or as Moog calls them - the Sound Ensemble - including the ribbon controller (model 1150), percussion controller (model 1130), sample/hold (model 1125) and foot pedal controller (model 1120). That little promo and picture takes up the whole top half of the brochure beneath the title "Only Moog puts it all together".

And below that... magic! AKA retail prices. For not only the above accessories, but also for the glide/decay foot switch (model 1121). And heck, Moog wasn't just about the accessories. They were still building some fine synthesizers - the Satellite, Sonic Six and Minimoog. They give us historical price junkies 1974 retail prices for those too. And they print the date a second time in that price list box just for me! Nice touch.

If you want to see other docs for these particular synths, I've posted and blogged the classic 1974 Sonic Six brochure and similarly-dated Satellite reference sheet. And my Minimoog label will give you a little helping of Mini-goodness in the form of that hypnotic brochure I linked to above, a reference sheet, and advertisements.

Finally, Moog obviously reserved the back of the brochure for the lawyers. But, even with all that space available, Moog had the good sense to keep that fine-print rather fine. And if you historical buffs put on your reading glasses, what do you see in that fine-print? Another date! I've think I've died and gone to heaven.

Suddenly, I have a new-found respect for lawyers. :D

Moog 1984 Product Catalog

noreply@blogger.com (RetroSynthAds) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 19:25:00 +0000

Moog 4-page product catalog from 1984.

Wow. Its hard to believe this is year four of the blog. I seem to recall that I had three main goals when I started the whole thing back in 2009.

Find an alternative way to positively contribute to the online synth community (vintage and current) since at the time I seemed to be incapable of starting and thus finishing a track in my studio
Learn social media techniques using tools such as Blogger, Twitter, Google Ads, Google Analytics and Facebook to help increase my skill-set for my day job
Become a more efficient writer

All three goals seem to be on the right track. I've met a lot of new friends both through the blog and through online communities such as the forums on Vintage Synth Explorer. I've definitely become more adept at social media - although I still don't participate too much - just not in my nature. Will try a bit harder in 2012. And my word-count/hour has definitely increased. Not that it's saved me time since I seem to just write more in each blog post.

A good analogy would be vacuums. When vacuums were first invented, I'm sure they sold them to households on the premise that they would save on the amount of time everyone spent on cleaning rugs. Instead, everyone just got more rugs. Go figure. :)

Now, after a short holiday break (was it as good for you as it was for me?), I'm ready to get back at it. I've got a new laptop with fresh installs of Sonar X1 Expanded, Reason 6, and ReNoise 2.7.2, a new hair-do, and a rejuvenated spirit after a great - and comfortably warm - Christmas break.

And rather than continue on with the Korg Wavestation kick I've been on lately, I thought I would start the year off with this Moog catalog. Why? Well, for one - companies revving up for NAMM 2012 are starting their teaser campaigns, including Moog, who just announced their new Minitaur bass synth. Hello!

Moog Music's online marketing campaign has created some serious buzz and I've beent racking its word-of-mouth mostly through the forums and, of course, MATRIXSYNTH, who has been updating his Minitaur post quite frequently.

In particular, I find Moog's dub-step-inspired promo video brilliant, especially their half-serious warning of speaker damage near the beginning. It is good lesson in turning what could potentially be a product's negative factor, and flipping it to a positive. It reminds me of those er*ctile dysfunction ads that tell you to go to your doctor if it lasts for longer than four hours. Wait... what? Is that a warning or a feature? :D

Okay, maybe not a clear comparison, but you get the idea.

So, what the heck does all this have to do with this Moog catalog. Well, besides the great product name, great sound, and the great pre-NAMM online buzz Moog has generated, the thing I like most about the Minitaur is the price: $679.00!

That's within almost everyone's price point. And, coincidentally, over the holidays while reorganizing my growing brochure and catalog collection, I became a little fixated on Moog's evolving prices. I've even put my Excel skills to good use and will hopefully have my own personal Moog historical price charting tool created in the near future.

Retail price is the first thing I look for whenever I hear about a new product. And that is the first thing I look for on any vintage brochure, catalog or ad that I come across. It is a standard variable that is easily compared both between competing products and historically within a product's own lifetime.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Moog had a few different documents that contained prices - full sized documents like this 1982 Product Catalog, and smaller retail price list brochures or pamphlets. And the obvious thing I like most about these docs is that they document the historical prices of each instrument.

BUT this one is different. Moog made a conscious decision to not include prices in this 1984 catalog.

Boo!

Now, the act of not printing retail prices can sometimes be a sign of a company in financial trouble, especially if they have historically printed prices in their documents. Of course, there are other reasons to stop printing retail prices, such as increased competition - and Moog had definitely been under increasing pressure from competition throughout the 70s and 80s. But, in the end, we all know what happened to Moog soon after in 1986...

But, there is a silver lining to this catalog. MIDI! The product write-up for the Memorymoog Plus contains a whole section on it's MIDI/sequencing abilities. Excellent!

Now, I know we can't personally thank Bob Moog bringing MIDI to Moog instruments - he had been long gone from Moog by this time - but he did play a significant role in MIDI's development and acceptance. Back in a 2010 Prophet-600 blog post, I mentioned he had been writing about the development of MIDI in Keyboard Magazine as far back as October 1982.

And that participation and dialog continued on even after MIDI was launched. For example, I recently came across Bob Moog's name in association with post-MIDI-launch International MIDI association meetings in Dominic Milano's '84 NAMM report article that appeared in the April 1984 issue of Keyboard::

"There were also two nights for meetings with IMA, the International MIDI association. The attendees included Bob Moog, representatives and/or engineers from just bout every manufacturer involved with MIDI, yours truly, and various interested users. the results? We elected a committee to elect a committee to decide on what happens next. It seems somehow appropriate that 1984 should be the year that a standard interface is accepted and implemented by virtually the entire synthesizer industry, whether or not that standard can perform its functions as well as everyone would hope. However, if there was anything to be learned from the two nights of IMA discussions and three days of NAMM show, it was that while 1984 may be the year of the MIDI, there is enough dissent among manufacturers that 1985 might still be the end of it. Let's hope it doesn't happen."

Wow. Not only is Bob singled-out, but this paragraph is also a great historical window into the early, rocky development of MIDI. It says so much about the industry at the time. Fantastic stuff.

In any case, NAMM was, and still is a gathering place for industry to meet, discuss and introduce new products. Over the coming weeks, I can't wait to see what other products we might get a sneak-peak at!

See what I did there. Full circle - I brought it all back to NAMM... :D

Sequential Circuits Inc. Customer Relations Representatives ad, Keyboard 1984

noreply@blogger.com (RetroSynthAds) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:45:00 +0000

Sequential Circuits Inc. Customer Relations Representatives 1/4-page advertisement from page 75 in Keyboard Magazine December 1984.

In building upon last year's Sequential Circuits' "Happy Holiday Season" ad that I posted around this time last year, I thought I would also post this other 1/4-page ad that appeared 10 pages earlier is the same December 1984 issue. Sequential wasn't just spoiling Keyboard readers with their kindness in a holiday ad, they had also hired two full time customer service reps to directly spoil any musician who's MIDI systems included SCI instruments.

Nice!

As far as I'm concerned, Sequential was at the top of their game at this time. Not only did they have these two ads peppered about in the back half of this jam-packed 108-page issue, but also had many other promos in the magazine including:

a one page color ad featuring their Prophet-T8, Six-Trak, Prophet-600 and Drumtraks.
an attached sound sheet that included "Sequential's newest product" on side-two. Unfortunately, my copy of the mag didn't include the sound sheet so I can't tell you what product that was for sure (my guess is the T8). But, according to the delicious cover of the magazine (more on that later), side-one looks like it was a recording by the awesome Wendy Carlos.
a two-page centerfold spread made up of a full-page color ad for the SixTrak AND a full-page color ad for the DrumTraks.

With all those ads, SCI was definitely the heavy-weight in this magazine, droppin' more hamiltons on ad-space than Chris Parnell and Andy Samberg do in Saturday Night Live's digital short "Lazy Sunday".

And it was a good issue to be the heavy-weight in. On the cover is a classic photo of Dave Stewart of Eurythmics posing in a top hat above a red SH-101, and on the first page of the interview article, Dave is again posing, top hat off, mouth open and apparently getting ready to take a bit out of a Casiotone MT-41.

Both photos include Dave Stewart's portable studio, just one of the many topics the article covers. Even if you tossed out all the various photos and ads strewn about the article, you still get a good five solid pages of text on the musician and the band. '*This* is what Keyboard was all about for me.

None of that Men's Health crap where you get a photo of Ashton Kutcher on the cover, and yet can only find about three quarters of a page of content on the guy. Maybe there was more, but I couldn't even easily find the table of contents to check. So many of the pages in that mag have replaced actual content with lazy info-graphics, its hard to flip through the mag quickly and make out what giant numbers might actually be a table of contents, and what might only be just some big number indicating "the number of times more bacteria found inside a bachelor pad than in a single woman's appartment" (the number is a big giant14 btw - eeeeeew!).

Just another sign that we truly live in an ADD-world.

And with that - the holidays begin. Thinking of taking a week or two off blogging like I did last year. Not sure yet. We'll see how the weekend goes. :)

Happy holidays everyone!

Korg Wavestation & Wavestation A/D brochure, 1991

noreply@blogger.com (RetroSynthAds) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 18:45:00 +0000

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!

Korg Wavestation brochure, 1990

noreply@blogger.com (RetroSynthAds) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 18:40:00 +0000

Korg Wavestation 6-page horizontal brochure from 1990.

And here you have it.

Instead of walking out of my local synth store with an actual Wavestation one sad day in 1990, I walked out holding this six-page brochure in my hand, my head held low. With probably only $100 to my name, there was just no way that keyboard was leaving with me. I was an angry elf that day. But yet strangely satisfied that I managed to actually get a live demo of the machine.

Well... to tell you the truth, this isn't the *exact* brochure. My original brochure, which I still have, is all tattered and torn - much like my heart that day. This second scanned copy is one that recently appeared in my mail box.

And what a great little brochure it is. Sure, the font is a little small and the copy can get lost against that speckled background - but it includes some great info, not to mention a print date. I like that. The diagrams and charts are clean and are not only informational, but great eye-candy.

It would be a long time before this poor grad student would finally scrap together enough coin to get my hands on a used Wavestation A/D. And even after I did, much like my grandmother who would instinctively pocket buttons whenever she came across them even though she had a collection of thousands and couldn't possibly need any more, that feeling of 'want' is still so powerful in me today that every time I see a used one in a music store or online I instinctively want to purchase it. Like a squirrel collecting acorns before hibernating.

Anyways, after the relatively good response to my last blog post (one retweet and two emails - LOL!), I knew the Korg Wavestation had an equally large influence on others. As with most marketing and communications professionals, I calculate that every tweet or email is equal to three billion actual responses. :D

And if my rule-of-thumb calculation of nine billion responses doesn't convince you this thing is awesome, you can find other references to the Wavestation's immense greatness online. For example, In 2009, Music Radar listed the Wavestation as #7 in it's "10 greatest synthesizers of all time" article. Bam!

Also - according to the Wavestation's rather well-written Wikipedia page, "Keyboard Magazine readers gave the Wavestation its "Hardware Innovation of the Year" award, and in 1995 Keyboard listed it as one of the "20 Instruments that Shook the World". Pow!

The Wikipage includes some great history, including Dave Smith's involvement in the Wavestation's development:

"The Wavestation was designed by a team which included Dave Smith, who designed the Prophet-5 and, along with Roland, helped to invent the MIDI protocol in the early 1980s. His synthesizer company, Sequential Circuits, was purchased by Yamaha in 1988. The division was renamed DSD (intended by Yamaha to stand for Dave Smith Designs). The team, ex-SCI engineers Dave Smith, John Bowen, Scott Peterson, and Stanley Jungleib, then went on to Korg in May 1989 and designed the Wavestation, refining many Prophet VS concepts."

Makes me happy that other SCI engineers got creds too.

Well - I think you'll find my write-ups get smaller through the holiday break. Just too much work to do, and then time for a break. But I have a few more to go before Xmas.

Korg Wavestation Introductory Advertisement, Keyboard 1990

noreply@blogger.com (RetroSynthAds) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:45:00 +0000

Korg Wavestation introductory 2-page advertisement from the inside front cover and page two of Keyboard Magazine, July 1990.

Okay. I know what you are thinking. Wavestation? Vintage ad? But I just had to scan and post it.

You see, my buddy had just popped into town. During our early years we were in an electronic band together and we were both greatly influenced by early Keyboard, Electronic Musician, and other music magazines. Until the Internet, those magazines were where we got 99% of our info from. What synths our favorite bands were using, what news synths were coming out. You know what I'm talkin' about.

Anways, it never fails that while maintaining our 20+ year tradition of gear-store/movies/pizza habit, our conversation eventually turns to the topic of synthesizers. But this visit, the conversation mostly revolved around iPad apps.

Aside: He's always wanted a Fairlight, and discovered the Fairlight app while in town. It wasn't long before sounds from Art of Noise's Moments in Love was making a come-back in my living room)

But in between spurts of iPadding and Netflixing (did I just use Netflix as a verb?), we also talked about my recent Korg infatuation. I was talking about Korg's evolving ads and it soon became apparent that it wasn't a 70's or even 80's Korg ad that had one of the biggest effects on me. It was this two-pager for the Korg Wavestation.

I can't remember half of my good friends' names, but I can clearly remember looking at this two-pager, as well as other Wavestation ads, thoughout the second half of 1990 and beyond. And I can remember walking into my favorite local gear store and the keyboard guy pressing his index finger on a single key and hearing the enormous and complex sound that emerged. I even remember that guy's crazy hair. But most of all I remember having to walk out empty-handed. Well - I did take the six-page brochure. Still have it. Can you guess what my next post is? :)

The thing that stood out most for me was that the Wavestation wasn't a workstation. I disliked workstations at the time. Still do for the most part. Especially that miserable M1 - 80% because I knee-jerk to most really great mass-appeal ideas (not really a "plus" for someone in my occupation), 10% because it didn't have a resonant filter and 10% because of all those patches that became go-to signature TV commercial sounds (yes, I realize the hypocrisy of that last statement - I'm aware that Wavestation sounds became TV and movie soundtrack staples as well as the Apple Mac start-up sound).

But the ex-Sequential Circuits crew that designed the Wavestation had the balls to make this thing pure synth. Sure, they used the internal architecture from Korg's M- and T-series, but as far as I'm concerned, they gave that system new life. And they had the balls to not even include drum sounds in the original keyboard. I never missed drums, and tend to not touch the drums too often when programming on my Wavestation A/D.

In my opinion, the timing was perfect for bringing wave sequencing to the masses. What the Wavestation did for Korg at the time, is like what punk did for rock music.

Heck - Dave Smith was, and still is, punk with a capital P-U-N-K.

He took Korg technology and made it his bitch. He turned it upside down. He, along with Bob Moog and a few others, brought hardware back when few others would dare.

A "P," thats "PUH" and a "U"-"N"-"K", "UNK". Put those guys together and you got PUNK.

But I'm getting away from my point. Errr... what was my point? Oh yeah.

I *had* to post this two-pager introductory ad that appeared on the inside cover and page two of Keyboard magazine (a page position that Korg held for quite some time). I had to post it so you could see a great example of how Korg ads had evolved from the 70s and the 80s.

Sure, that second page has yellowed a bit compared to the heavier-duty magazine inside cover page. But even today I still get all gushy looking at it. It was perfect then and it is perfect now. Enough info to start me drooling. Enough info to make me hang around home as much as possible until the next issue of Keyboard came in the mail so I could check for a Keyboard review of the beast. Enough info to make me go back to my gear store every weekend so that I could hassle them into keeping one from walking out the door until after I could check it out.

And can you guess what the first thing that workstation-loving keyboard guy with the crazy hair said to me: "Doesn't have drums... or a proper sequencer".

Nice sell job. And I honestly thought he knew me better than that. :)

Korg "How to get fat sound from a thin wallet" family of synthesizers ad, International Musician 1978

noreply@blogger.com (RetroSynthAds) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 22:50:00 +0000

Korg "How to get fat sound from a thin wallet" family of synthesizers two-page advertisement including the 800 DV (Maxi Korg), Mini Korg 700s, 770, Poly 1000 (Polyphonic Ensemble P) and Poly 2000 (Polyphonic Ensemble S) from page 12 and 13 in International Musician and Recording World November 1978.

Crazy late in the day. I know. That's just the kind of days it has been around here.

I'd like to take full responsibility for this ad - as if I was blogging about this long string of Rose-Morris ads after each first appeared back in 1978, and the company was actually listening to what I had to say. :)

First, the bad. For some reason, Rose-Morris has decided to ignore the new crop of Korg gear they had just launched in an ad three months earlier - including the MS-20, MS-10 and VC-10. How could they go back to the older products? MS was the future! In the US, once those MS/VC ads started running, they didn't stop for over a year.

Gah! Maybe they put out that ad before instruments could make it into the UK? Or maybe they had to get rid of old stock... :)

But because this ad is just so great, I can forgive Rose-Morris for circling back to Korg's older gear.

For starters - the ad-title. Unlike some of the older ads, this one makes sense. It's also a great play on words. Witty and all that stuff.

The layout is also great. Only five products have been wisely chosen to promote - and each includes a nice large photo. There is also a nice large sub-title for each, and a small descriptive paragraph with just enough white space to make it easy for the eye to separate the content of each instrument from the others. But the best thing is that Rose-Morris/Korg has decided to finally use bullets to highlight the main features of each instrument. What a great way to get a lot of good reference info, including recommended retail prices (!), into a small amount of space. Kapow!

Plus - look at that font size. Finally, I can actually read this without putting on my reading glasses (did I just give away my age-group?). The font choice is a little unorthodox, but it is still readable, so I'm not gonna complain. Even the logos, although smaller that in previous ads, are easily seen in the bottom right hand corner. There is no doubt who's ad this is. Great stuff.

Looking over old ads, I can't believe I haven't actually looked into who Rose-Morris is anyways.

I found a bit more history about Rose-Morris in a Korg "40 years of gear" article in the November 2002 issue of Sound on Sound magazine. Near the bottom of the Web page is a call-out box called "The Establishment of of Korg UK" where it explains that Rose-Morris was a British company established in the 1920s, and by the 80s were very successful with a number of stores, distributing for Korg and many others. They also had a few of their own product lines including Vox. But in the late 80s, things weren't looking so good for Rose-Morris, and in 1992 Korg acquired a major stake in the company and changed the name to Korg UK.

Interestingly, I found a Rose Morris Web site that sells music instruments and they do write in their About Us section that they have a 90-year history. So, it could be that the name was kept alive or resurrected at some point. If anyone has more info on this, please comment!

Another great SOS article I ran into online was written by Gordon Reid in April 1998 called "Korg Minikorg Family (Retro)". It includes some great history and reference information on a number of the instruments that are highlighted in the past few Korg ad blog posts, including the 770, 700s, 800DV, M500 Preset, Poly 1000 (Polyphonic Ensemble P) and Poly 2000 (Polyphonic Ensemble S).

The best thing about that article is how it explains Korg's "unorthodox terminology" used on many of these synthesizers. For example, the "Traveler" was the name used for Korg's combined dual 12db/oct low-pass and high-pass filter. "VCF" just wasn't good enough. :)

Thank-you Sound On Sound for keeping this history alive on your Web site!

Korg "A universe of sound" family of synthesizers ad, International Musician 1978

noreply@blogger.com (RetroSynthAds) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 20:05:00 +0000

Korg "A universe of sound" family of synthesizers ad including MS-20 Monophonic Synthesizer, SE-500 Stage Echo, VC-10 Vocoder, MS-10 Monophonic Synthesizer, SQ-10 Analog Sequencer, PS3300 synthesizer, PS3100 synthesizer, GT6 Guitar Tuner, and EM-570 Echo Mixer from page 16 and 17 in International Musician August (UK) 1978.

Hello! Now were talking!

Rose-Morris is really starting to kick it into high gear - and it didn't hurt that Korg had something new to talk about - most excitingly the MS-10 and MS-20 synthesizers, as well as the VC-10 Vocoder. IM readers started hearing about these instruments in August 1978, but readers of Contemporary Keyboard wouldn't start gazing at these instruments in Korg ads for another three months ( November 1978).

But, in my opinion, it would be worth the wait since those US ads consisted of those awesomely recognizable one-pagers that ran for an insanely long number of months. These ads would eventually make it into IMRW, but not until March 1979:

Like I was saying - this 2-page ad is a treat. Gone is the often crowded text found in the two previous IMRW ads - "Seven hundred and fifty words..." and "Synths for all the music you'll ever need". The font is still a little small, but that is a small price to pay for a bit of white space. Aaaaaaah - room to breathe. Each new instrument is given it's own little space with a sub-title, paragraph box and photo.

If I hadn't seen the ad, but heard the title was "A Universe of Sound", I would almost expect someone to take the easy road and plaster this ad with space imagery. But no! Three big cheers to the designer for maintaining some level of dignity. I'm thinking maybe they learned a lesson from that earlier Korg accessories "Do you feel locked in..." ad. :)

Also really interesting is how Korg is starting to take on a more dominant position in these ads. Korg products are starting to gain recognition and respect with readers, and so it makes sense that ads would want to take advantage of this. For example, the Korg logo is starting to get relatively larger in relation to the size of it's distributors logos. You see it in this Rose-Morris ad, and you also begin to see it this side of the pond in the Unicord ads. Compare them to earlier Korg ads where the distributors have equal billing or even a larger presence than Korg. Yikes.

I'm hearing it already - "A-ha! But in that last ad example, the word 'Korg' in the background of the ad is larger!". But I would have to reply that the word "Korg" and the logo-type "Korg" are two TOTALLY different things. And I'm sticking to that story :)

The other thing I find interesting is that even though this ad is promoting its new line of synthesizers, the PS3300 and PS3100 are still getting a nod. Including these older machines may not have been a good call considering all that new juicy Korg goodness that was also been promoted, but in defense of the ad, I'm guessing these older synths were either worth mentioning because they had already gained some good cred among musicians, or they needed an extra push because they weren't selling too many of them.

Similar to the last Korg ad in IMRW, this ad was also part of a Rose-Morris advertising feature that spanned a series of pages. If you recall from the last ad, Rose-Morris didn't do a very good job of distinguishing their set of ads from the rest of the mag. But this time, they started off the feature-set of ads with this awesome photo:

That was a great splash of colour and a great lead-in to the Rose-Morris stable of products that followed.

Rose-Morris is definitely on a roll. And if you can believe it... it's gonna get even better! :)

Korg "Synths for all the music you'll ever need" family of synths ad, International Musician 1978

noreply@blogger.com (RetroSynthAds) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 22:05:00 +0000

Korg "Synths for all the music you'll ever need" one-page family advertisement including PS3300 synthesizer, PS3100 synthesizer, 800 DV synthesizer, 700s synthesizer, Preset synthesizer, 770 synthesizer, Synthebass, Polyphonic Ensemble 1000, Polyphonic Ensemble "Orchestra" 2000, and Micro-Preset M-500 synthesizer from page 13 in International Musician and Recording World (UK) July 1978.

This ad is proof that great things are often the result of small progressive increments. The best from Korg was still to come when it came to their ads in IMRW, but this one-pager was definitely an improvement over the earlier March 1978 2-page "Seven-hundred and fifty words..." ad.

One of the first thing you will notice about the ad is a thick grey line along the right edge of the page. It does look odd out of context. The thing is, this ad was part of a four page "Rose-Morris Advertising Feature" section in the magazine that also included ad pages on other products the company distributed - including Marshall amps (page 11), DiMarzio pick-ups (page 12) and Ludwig drums (page 14). That line is simply a design element that helped readers differentiate this series of ads from the rest of the mag.

The only other ways readers would know these ads were related would be the small text at the bottom of each ad that reads "A Rose-Morris Advertising Feature", plus a small, virtually unnoticeable form at the bottom of page 14 that readers could fill out to receive more info. Check a separate box for Marshall, DiMarzio, Ludwig and Korg. And don't forget your address!

But, like I said, it wasn't all bad and was an improvement over the last Korg ad. Rose-Morris did throw away the useless small talk that made up most of that previous Korg ad. They granted my wish and kept the ad-copy strictly instrument-related. In fact, I should be careful about what I wish for, because not only did they cram info about all the gear from the previous ad, but finally threw in a few more Korg instruments as well - the PS3300, PS3100 and Micro-Preset M-500. The US Korg ads had been pushing these synths since March.

The cramped feeling is only magnified by some not-so-succinct ad-copy, an extra small font, and that grey side bar. I can't decide if the lack of both the Korg and Rose-Morris logos were an oversight, or if there was just no room.

And, not to get really picky - but what is with that ad-title? "Synths for all the music you'll ever need". Does that even make sense?

But, I'm getting all negative on Rose-Morris' ass. I'm actually really happy to see the appearances of the Korg PLS-series in this ad. Unlike in the US where PS ads appeared almost monthly between October 1977 and July 1978, PLS-series synth sightings seem quite rare in UK ads up to this point. And even better - unlike in the US where both PLS ads fail to mention the actual synth model names - both the PS3100 and 3300 get a nod in this ad.

Likewise - finding the Korg Micro-Preset in the ad was another big plus. I think the poor thing often got the short end of the stick. For example, check out this extremely small Spec Sheet promo in the May 1978 issue of Contemporary Keyboard:

"Korg Micro Synthesizer. This preset synthesizer has a 32-note keyboard. There are 30 voice selections, plus a filter, two-position portamento controls, two types of delayed vibrato, repeat, random repeat, modulation controls, and a pitch control. The price is $449.00. Unicord, 75 Frost St., Westbury, NY 11590."

Yup. That's it. Just a couple of sentences.

I'm guilty of ignoring that little sucker too. Most of my interesting in these Korg ads has been about the PLS-series synthesizers as well. While doing some online research, it didn't take me long to come across a great February 2001 Sound On Sound article by Simon Lowther on the PS3100. It contains some good information on all three of the PLS-series synthesizers, including information on the voice architecture, resonators, modulation generators and patch panel. A great read!

The wikipage for the PS3300 also seems very good with sections on it's history, resonators, tuning, audio mixer and modulation, and keyboard and foot controllers. Use your Google chops to find more info.

I promise I'll be out of my negative mood soon. It could possibly have to do with my inability to grow any sort of moustache for Movember. It kinda hurts. :)

This ad was a step in the right direction. And the good news? The best from Korg was yet to come!

Korg "Where's the portamento?" ad, Contemporary Keyboard 1978

noreply@blogger.com (RetroSynthAds) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 20:00:00 +0000

Korg "Where's the portamento?" 1-page advertisement from page 25 in Contemporary Keyboard March 1978.

Happy Movember, people! :)

Do you know hard it was to try and line up this ad featuring Kerry Livgren of Kansas sportin' a kick-ass 'stache so it would fall on the last blog post in November? Best thing about that moustache? It has aged like good wine!

When this ad appeared in the March '78 issue of CK, across the pond, UK readers were opening up their March issue of International Musician to find that two-page "Seven hundred and fifty words..." ad I had just blogged about. Although the two appeared at approximately the same time, they couldn't have been more different from each other.

While Korg/Rose-Morris/Hohner were trying a little too desperately to take on the role of "expert" by using valuable advertising space to "educate" UK readers on the basics of sound, Korg/Unicord featured well-known musician Kerry Livgren to help promote Korg synthesizers in the US.

The largest of three photos in that 2-page UK ad? A kid playing a penny whistle. Meanwhile the US ad featured - unsurprisingly - a large photo of Kery Livgren playing a Korg PLS-series synthesizer that also featured a large KORG logo strategically placed in the centre of the instrument in the photo.

Do I need to go on? Needless to say, I'd bet that US ad was probably a lot more effective at both getting readers attention and keeping it.

To be fair - that UK ad was trying to push a lot more instruments in the two-page spread. The 1-page US ad was focusing mostly on Korg's Professional Laboratory Systems (PLS) line of synthesizers. Although, interestingly, the actual models of these synthesizers - the 3300 and 3100 (and possibly the 3200) - are not mentioned directly.

Mistake or not - this wasn't the first kick at the can to get the actual names of the synths in a PLS ad. The first Korg PLS ad that started to appear in CK in October 1977 also didn't mention the synth model numbers.

I find that odd - but, then again, the March UK ad doesn't mention the PLS synthesizers at all. Nothing.

This ad also introduced US reader to the new Micro-Preset synthesizer by Korg - and mentioned that at the time there were 10 products in the Korg product line. My guess is these would include the Maxi-Korg (aka 800dv), 700s, Preset, 770, Synthebass, Ensemble P (aka Poly Ensemble 1000) and Ensemble S (aka Poly Ensemble 2000), Micro-Preset, 3100 and 3200.

US readers could consider themselves even more lucky - because it wasn't just in ads that readers could find info on the PS-series synths. Well before this ad or even the first PLS ad ran in CK, the July/August 1977 issue of Synapse featured a small promo for the two synths in the "What's Happening" section on page 40 that included a lot of good reference material like list prices.

"Two new polyphonic synthesizers have been released by Unicord Inc. The Korg PS3100 is a fully polyphonic synthesizer in which each note has it's own VCF and VCA. Six waveforms are available from the Modulation Generator and a Polyphonic Same and Hold is also featured. Unlike most polyphonic synthesizers, patching is allowed on the face panel. The PS3100 lists for $2995. The Korg PS3300 is a modular polyphonic system composed of three PSU-482 modules featuring signal processors, low pass filters, envelope modifiers, resonators, amplitude modulator, and two modulation generators. The PSU-483 module features mixer with VCA, sample and hold, envelope generator and voltage processors. As with the PS3100, patching is allowed and many inter-connections are possible between the two systems. The PS3300 lists for $7500 with remote keyboard"

Contemporary Keyboard also included a Spec Sheet promo on the PS3100 in the December 1977 issue (why not include the PS3300?!) that also included some good reference info:

"Korg Polyphonic Synthesizer. Capable of producing separate envelopes for each of its 48 notes, the PS 3100 polyphonic synthesizer is modular in construction. Waveforms available are triangle, sawtooth, and pulse in four frequency ranges: 2', 4', 8' and 16'. An external pulse width modulation control input and a frequency modulation control input are supplied. Two modulation oscillators, a filter section, a polyphonic sample & hold, a voltage processor bank, and an envelope generator section are included on this unit. The 48-note eyboard features selectable single or multiple triggering. Unicord 75 Frost St, Westbury, NY 11590."

But don't fret - it would only be another four months before UK readers would get some news on the PS3100 and 3300 in another two-page Rose-Morris ad that ran in the July 1978 issue of IMRW.

That ad is on deck for the next blog post! :)

Long end note: If you recall the end of my last blog post, I pointed out there were three logos at the bottom of that ad and I was trying to find the connection between them - Korg, Rose-Morris and Hohner. I knew Rose-Morris was a distributor of Korg, but what was Hohner doing in there? Turns out I found the answer quite by accident in a Korg WT-10A tuner ad that also appeared in that March 1978 (UK) issue of International Musician and Recording World on page 202.

A lot of ads in this UK magazine were actually paid for by the distributors of the products - unlike in the US where most synth ads seemed to have come directly from the companies themselves. Early on, Korg tended to let their distributors do the talking. Like for these Contemporary Keyboard ads from Unicord for the Polyphonic Ensembles and MaxiKorg. In the UK, I knew that Rose-Morris was often responsible for the Korg ads that appeared in IMRW.

In the case of that Korg WT-10A tuner ad I mentioned above, Korg looks to have paid for the ad because at the bottom it includes a list of all of their distributors - I doubt a distributor would include their competition in their own ads. These include CBS Musical Instruments in Australia, Erikson Music in Canada and Unicord in the US. But in the UK it looks like they have TWO distributors - Rose-Morris and M. Hohner!

So, here I was coming down hard on Rose-Morris for that two-pager, when in fact, it looks more likely that Korg probably paid for the ad themselves, and included *both* of their UK distributors logos - Rose-Morris and Hohner logos.

The other explanation is that Hohner and Rose-Morris paid for the ad together (again - can't see this happening).

Either way - my apologies to Rose-Morris! My frustration should have been distributed equally to Rose and Hohner - or to Korg itself. :)

Korg "Seven hundred and fifty words..." family ad, International Musician 1978

noreply@blogger.com (RetroSynthAds) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 22:30:00 +0000

Korg "Seven hundred and fifty words..." 2-page family advertisement including 800 DV synthesizer, 700s synthesizer, Preset synthesizer, 770 synthesizer, Synthebass, Polyphonic Ensemble 1000 and Polyphonic Ensemble "Orchestra" 2000 from page 20 and 21 in International Musician and Recording World (UK) March 1978.

From the moment I read the title, this ad made me a little bit annoyed. Mostly because I didn't know what "flannelled" meant.

Let me save you the trouble: "Flattery or meaningless talk intended to hide one's ignorance or true intentions."

Okay. I keep reading....

Still annoyed. Mostly because once I found out what "flannelled" meant, I then found it ironic that most of the "750 words of fact" was doing exactly that - trying to hide Korg... er... Rose-Morris' true intentions - to sell instruments. But that's not so bad. That's what ads are supposed to do - sell instruments. I'm angry they were doing it so badly.

I get it. They were trying to play "educator" with readers. Make 'em feel like they are the experts by laying down some basic facts about sound, how it's produced and how heat affects tuning. Get all altruistic on 'em. But unfortunately it's written... it's written... well... it's written like *I* wrote it. Lot's of sentences that start with "And", "But", and "Because". More of a conversational or advertorial-like tone. Bad news is - I'm not so good a writer. I write at about a grade-two level with an even more limited vocabulary. That's why I'm not a featured writer for Wired (Two words: dream job).

And what do you get when you try and cover up a bad sell job by hiding it behind 750 words of "facts" using grade-two level conversational writing - all written in a font size more at home in the Mr. Men/Little Miss book series? In my opinion - epic fail. It can almost be insulting to the reader. At the least it is confusing, and the end result is a two-page spread that actually provides very little value.

We, my friends, are the ones getting "flannelled".

In fact, it's really only that second page that provides any real value. Could you imagine what an effective ad this would have been if the title had been "Two hundred and fifty words of fact about Korg synthesizers for the keyboard player who's tired of being flannelled". And then just included nice sized photos along with the basic facts about each of the seven instruments in a half-decent sized font.

Instead, the actual information on the instruments is squished into the far right of that second page in a font only an ant could read, with only a photo of a Polyphonic Ensemble and a Mini-Korg 700s.

Finally - those logos in the bottom right corner. I figured out the Rose-Morris connection with Korg - and will report on that in my next blog post, but what is with that Hohner logo sitting there too? I'm only starting to piece together that connection... but it is just too dang warm out. Unusually warm. And it won't stay that way for long.

So, logo connections will have to wait. Time to throw a snowball before it all melts. :)

End note: Please note I'm not annoyed at the word "flannelled" - just that I didn't know what it meant. In fact, I think that word needs to make a come back with today's kids. Maybe get it positioned with the Occupy movement or something. Or slip it in with that Internet cat meme.

Korg Polyphonic Ensembles S and P "Most realistic sound under the thumb" ad, Contemporary Keyboard 1977

noreply@blogger.com (RetroSynthAds) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 18:45:00 +0000

Korg Polyphonic Ensembles S and P "Most realistic sound under the thumb" 2/3-page advertisement from page 43 in Contemporary Keyboard July 1977.

I've been on a Korg kick for the last few posts with the DL-50 Delta and the Korg accessories posts. And while doing a bit of research I was flipping through older issues of CK when this ad caught my eye.

Does it look familiar? Then you have apparently become a bit of a Unicord ad fanatic. And you probably appreciate the lengths to which Unicord went to make sure that they kept some level of consistency with their early CK ad.

Six months before this ad appeared, Unicord included this 2/3-page Maxi-Korg K-3 advertisement in the January issue.

The latest Polyphonic Ensembles ad is different enough that even if the reader remembered the first Unicord ad from six months ago, he or she wouldn't have ignored it figuring it was the same ad. But its a great next iteration of that earlier ad with a number of similarities.

The repeating white "Korg" background with one grey stand-out immediately catches the eye - especially when you consider that this 2/3 ad runs next to a single column of text. The reworked pattern design works perfectly with the addition of an extra photo for the second instrument, and the additional ad-copy required.

The ad-title is also located in a similar position to the first ad, and although the "realistic sound under the thumb" is unmemorable and sounds awkward to me, I get what they are trying to say - "under your control". Ad-copy is similarly unmemorable, but provide a good overview of the two instruments, highlighting certain features of each.

The logo section, on the other hand, makes me extremely happy when compared to the earlier ad. The new ad got rid of that third level of corporate self-absorbed BS by removing the confusing "Gulf + Western Manufacturing Company" logo and tagline, and replaced it with a larger "Unicord, Inc" mark, as well as giving us Canadian readers a bit of acknowledgement by including "Sold in Canada by Erikson Music Ltd., Montreal".

The two ads have something else in common too. The Korg instruments they promote were given different names in North American and across the pond in the UK.

In the case of the Maxi-Korg ad, the instrument was also known as the Univox K-3 around these parts - or, as I eventually decided to call it - the 'Univox Korg Maxi-Korg K-3 distributed by Unicord', but in UK ads it was referred to as simly the 800 DV. Definitely not as cool a name - or logo if you look closely at the Maxi-Korg photo in the earlier ad. Very retro.

In the case of the Polyphonic "P" and Polyphonic "S", apparently they were also known as Univox K4 and K5, and early UK ads in International Musician referred to them as the Polyphonic Ensemble 1000 and Polyphonic Ensemble "Orchestra" 2000, later simplified to the Poly 1000 and Poly 2000. More on those UK ads in the very near future.

Finally, you will notice that the scan I posted is kind of unbalanced, with a lot of dead space on the right hand side of the page. I just wanted to point out how much I hate when there is too much space between the ad border and the edge of the page. Gah! That bugs me. :)

Anyways, readers of Contemporary Keyboard would have run into a "teaser" for the two machines four months earlier when a few of the features popped up in the Spec Sheet section of the March 1977 issue.

"Korg Polyphonic Ensembles. Two new polyphonic keyboard instruments from Unicord are the Ensemble P and Ensemble S. The Model P incorporates presets of known percussive instruments such as acoustic and electric piano, clavichord, and so on. All preset selections are colored by the use of a high- and low-pass filter bank that can be remote-controlled with a foot pedal. An ADS envelope generator is provided, and a waveform selector supplies a variety of tonal effects. The Model S has preset sounds of pipe organ chorus, brass, and strings. A high- and low-ass filter bank and an AS envelope generator are supplied. Unicord, 75 Frost St. Westbury, NY 11590.

I also found a review of the "PE 2000" in an issue of International Musician that I plan to read over in the next couple of days and if I find any interesting points I'll be sure to pull 'em into a blog post.

Thankfully today, it is much easier to find information on these two beasts online. For example, the most excellent Korg 40th anniversary article in Sound On Sound titled "40 Years Of Korg Gear: The History Of Korg - Part 1" included two paragraphs on the machines.

"The PE1000 was, in essence, a 61-note electronic piano with seven voices differentiated by preset values of the Traveler and envelope. Some control was available, but with a single oscillator per note, no touch-sensitivity, and just a single filter and envelope for the whole keyboard, it was very limited. Nonetheless, the PE1000 was soon to be seen in some respected company; Vangelis used one, as did Jean-Michel Jarre.

The 48-note PE2000 was a traditional string synth, with a richer sound produced by eight organ, brass, chorus and string presets. With a claimed three oscillators per note (or, more likely, three delayed and detuned versions of a single oscillator) and an integral phaser, it soon made friends among the keyboard cognoscenti of the day, including Tangerine Dream, Jean-Michel Jarre, and Hawkwind."

The article goes on to state that Korg President Keio promoted the two as a pair since the sounds they created complimented each other - one for percussive (hence the "P") sounds the other for sustained ("S") sounds. The chosen names of the instruments in the UK (1000 and 2000) don't really explain this aspect very well. And over in North America where the names "P" and "S" are a little more explanatory, I still find it surprising that the ad or the Spec Sheet don't explain the "P" and "S" labels more clearly. Maybe its just me that didn't get the association at first. That wouldn't surprise me.

Till Kopper also has a page dedicated to each instrument on his Web site. Both the Polyphonic Ensemble 1000 and Polyphonic Ensemble 2000 pages include reference information, specs and sound examples, as well as great photos - outside and inside the instrument.

A lot more images and info are available in Google searches - MATRIXSYNTH in particular has some great auction photos. Definitely check 'em out.

The two instruments were promoted a lot more in the UK around this time period and I have a few great ad scans coming up in the next couple of posts. Stay tuned!

Korg Accessories "Do you feel locked in" ad including MS-02, MS-03, MS-01, SQ-10, MS-50, PCK-1 & 2, Keyboard 1980

noreply@blogger.com (RetroSynthAds) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 18:50:00 +0000

Korg Accessories "Do you feel locked in" 1/2-page advertisement including MS-02 Universal Interface, MS-03 Signal Processor, MS-01 Foot Controller, SQ-10 Analog Sequencer, MS-50 Monophonic Synthesizer, and PCK-1 and PCK-2 Synthesizer Patch Cord Sets from page 8 in Keyboard Magazine February 1980.

Putting the design aspects of this ad aside for a second, I gotta say this has always been a stand-out ad for me. From a gear-freak perspective it puts some of the Korg pieces I've always craved to play with into a very small space. From the perspective of my appreciation of their marketing strategy, the first sentence of the ad-copy sums up Unicord/Korg's positioning of all this gear in the market:

"Do you feel locked-in because you can't expand outside your synthesizer brand?"

Synthesizer companies, including Korg, had spent years developing their own proprietary technologies, and on purpose or not, "locked-in" their users by implementing their own controls. It wasn't a perfectly walled garden, but it did a pretty effective job at keeping owners from buying outside their brand. Until quite recently (relative to the appearance of this ad), most consumers were only buying one or two synthesizers due to their high costs, and it was a lot easier to sell the consumer the second instrument if all those other synthesizers and sequencers from other companies weren't compatible with that first one they bought.

But, as prices for synthesizers dropped and synth stacks grew, demand also increased for gadgets that could link different brands of synths together. Korg acknowledged this situation and wanted to make sure they could accommodate these growing needs.

Unfortunately, due to the nature of the ad (I'll get to that in the second half of the blog post), not much could be said about each piece of equipment. But luckily two of the products made it into the Spec Sheet section of Keyboard Magazine two months earlier in the December 1979 issue.

"The MS-50 synthesizer expander module has a multi-mixable waveform VCO, VCF, two VCAs, a highpass filter, two envelope generators with normal and inverted outputs, an LFO, a variable voltage supply, a 3-channel amp, a signal inverter, a ring modulator, a sample-and-hold, a pink/white noise generator, waveform dividers, an envelope follower/trigger detector, an AC/DC meter, a manual triggering switch, a headphone amp, and multiples."

"The SQ-10 analog sequencer is a 3x12 sequencer with separate portamento controls for two of the outputs, linear and exponential clock speed inputs for step spacing variation, and remote start, stop, and step capabilities. the unit can be used to drive up to three separate synthesizers. Pirce is $500.00. Korg, 89 Frost St., Westbury, New York, 11590."

To find out more on the other pieces of gear, Google away. Lots of good info online - for example, this MS-02 page.

So, about the design of this ad....

Just as Korg was acknowledging that many musicians felt "locked-in" by their synthesizer brand, I'm sure the designer felt "locked-in" when someone broke the news to him that he was building the ad. I'm guessing that this is how the conversation went down*:

(* some kind of legal disclaimer: This is very likely NOT AT ALL how the conversation went down)

Creative director: Hey Bob, finally got all the pieces of that new Unicord ad for you.

Designer: Awesome. I'm a big fan of Korg gear.

CD: Okay. Great. First, here's five photos of Korg gear Unicord wants to includ in the ad.

Designer: Wow - nice stuff. These will look great in a full page spread.

CD: Yah, about that. Since this is really just promoting Korg's line of accessories, they've decided to go with a half-pager.

Designer: Huh. * thinks a little bit * Okay, no problem. The photos will be a little dark when printed so small, but we can maximize each photo's size to fill the available space and can select a few accent colours to help balance everything out.

CD: Um... actually, it's a black and white ad. The budget was really slashed for this one since for the last two years Unicord has really been burning through cash placing multiple full-page advertisements in pretty much every issue of Keyboard - the MS-10 and MS-20 synthesizer, Sigma synthesizer, Lambda Polyphonic Ensemble, and VC-10 vocoder . So, yah - this one is black and white only. Did I mention half-page?

Designer: * nods head *

CD: Great. Oh, and here is the ad-copy. I know it looks a little long at around 200 words, but you can fit all those words in around the images, can't you? Try using really compact letters.

Designer: They're called "fonts".

CD: What? Whatever. No one will ever have to know technical terms like "fonts". Hey - also, try using something fancy, like italics. Those always look good in ads.

Designer: Italics will make the words harder to read, especially in such a small forma...

CD: * interrupts * Whatever. Just do it. Oh, did I mention the VP of Marketing's son is taking "Space" in his grade two science class and it would be really great if you could include a large unnecessary photo of the Earth in the ad?

Designer: Ummm... *grabs sketch pad* Here... kinda like this...?

CD: Yaaaaah... no... Could you put it right in the centre of the ad? Oooh, yeah, like that. Now make that Earth photo larger... laaaaarger. You know, the photo of the Earth represents Korg's growth and world-wide presence. We're sending a message to the reader.

Designer: I got that. But it really takes up a lot of space that could be used to help layout all that content you just gave me. And don't you think the three or four full-page Korg ads that have been appearing in each issue of Keyboard for the last two years has already given readers the impression that Korg is a world-wide company?

CD: *stares at designer in silence*

Designer: *stares back*

CD: So, you'll make that photo little larger?

Designer: *under his breath* Fuck me.

Korg DL-50 "Delta Dawn" ad, Keyboard, 1980

noreply@blogger.com (RetroSynthAds) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 18:45:00 +0000

Korg DL-50 "Delta Dawn" synthesizer 1-page advertisement from page 49 in Keyboard Magazine February 1981.

It's Thursday November 10 as I begin writing this - the start of my extra-long weekend here in Canada since tomorrow (Friday) is the Remembrance Day holiday for most of the country. I took off the Thursday hoping to get a four-day holiday out of it and spend some time watching some quality movies I've been PVR-ing. But work keeps catching up to me, so instead of keeping this blog post short so I can hide out in bed watching some gratuitous violence, I'm keeping it short because I'm doing work stuff. Boo me.

This Korg Delta advertisement looks to have made its first appearance on the back-inside cover of the December 1980 issue of Keyboard. It then appeared three more times in 1981 exactly four months apart starting in February, then June and finally October.

Why so much time between ad runs? Probably because Korg was on year three of their multi-advertisement blitz that started ramping up back in late 1978 with promotions for the MS-10 and MS-20 synthesizers and VC-10 vocoder. When this ad came into the rotation, Korg was also promoting the CX-3, ES-50 Lambda synthesizer and KR-55 drum machine. Korg was playing musical chairs with their ads - there were only so many they could have in one issue.

Besides the really clean layout of the front panel, one of the things I love most about the Delta is the name. I think the Delta was the third keyboard from Korg to use a cool symbol-like title - there was also the Sigma from back in 1979, and the Lambda that began its advertising in early 1980. I really dig cool names for synthesizers rather than just boring model numbers. Sure, some synths speak for themselves. But really... MS-10 - boring. KR-55 - blah. But Delta and Trident have a lot more pop to 'em. And if you look at today's synths, names like Virus, Mopho or Revolution are what catch my eye. Hee hee... especially Mopho. :)

I have had no experience with the Delta. None. So, of course to learn a little bit more I turned to YouTube. One of the most watched demo videos is by YouTube user Abertronic, and it does a pretty good job at showing off the best of the Delta.

Another video that came up in a YouTube search was from Brainstormer2302. Looks like it was made as part of an eBay auction and not surprisingly has a bit more of a sell-job associated with it. But it is still an okay demo. There is a Part 2 as well.

But even in today's connected world of YouTube synth demos, I still find original synth reviews helpful to dig up and read through. The problem is that even when you considering the vast amounts of advertising Korg did in Keyboard during this time period, reviews of Korg instruments were quite rare. Luckily, a review of the Korg Delta was published in the December 1980 issue and looks to be only the second or third Korg review *ever*.

Domonic Milano introduced the two-page review by immediately setting expectations. He points out the low price and the Delta's limitations. I like my reviews honest and to the point.

"This month we'll be looking at the Korg Delta, a relatively low-cost keyboard ($1,160.00 list price) that offers both string machine and polyphonic synthesizer sounds. The Delta has some limitations - it's not one of those it'll-do-everything-and-the-laundry-too instruments - but it's not designed to compete in that market. It's designed to provide the player on a limited budget with a reasonably good string sound and some polyphonic synthesizer effects."

He then describes each of the sections separately - keyboard, joystick controller, tuning controls, synthesizer section, string section, output section and back panel - before ending on a high note by calling the machine versatile and useful, and he found that "you could get quite a few different effects and some real nice sounds out of the instrument". Domonic never let's ya down!

Before I end this post, I just have to point one thing out. I don't know about you but this ad really reminds me of an1980s action movies. I tried using Google Images to pin down some movie in particular, but just couldn't find anything similar to it. In fact, most of the action movies that even remotely look like this ad came out later in the 80s, so a connection with action movies was obviously not the designer's intent.

For example, Chuck Norris' 1986 movie Delta Force didn't look anything like it. And movies like Rambo II (go Rambo!) had orange cloud/smoke theme, but it came out in 1985. The only movie I could find that came out before this ad appeared and that triggered any connection in my head was Dawn of the Dead - and that was really just the movie title that looks similar.

[Update: Friend of the blog Micke found an Apocalyse Now movie poster that includes a similar image. That must have been where my mind was... I've included the image Micke found below. See his comment below the blog post for more information about the movie]

Oh well, it was a hoot looking through old action movies, and gave me an opportunity to discover some cinematic gratuitous violence I hadn't seen yet.

Work is done, so time to make popcorn and tuck myself in. Go Rambo!

Gleeman Instruments "The Pentaphonic Clear", Keyboard 1983

noreply@blogger.com (RetroSynthAds) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 17:35:00 +0000

Gleeman Instruments "The Pentaphonic Clear" 1-page colour advertisement from page 37 in Keyboard Magazine May 1983.

This advertisement is a good lesson in the power of packaging.

Two years earlier Gleeman began advertising the first generation Pentaphonic with ads like the one I posted last Monday. Here's a reminder:

In that post I eluded to the fact that the Pentaphonic wasn't exactly the most attractive looking synthesizer on the planet. It wasn't hit by the ugly stick or anything... it just didn't stand out. And so, just like a bored mother-of-three will set up a craft show table in an attempt to sell out-dated 80s jean jackets that have been Bedazzled with rhinestones and studs, so did Gleeman with their Pentaphonic.

According to designer Al Gleeman, in Mark Vail's Vintage Synthesizers book, the new clear look came about after someone spotted a clear Rhodes piano, and requests for a clear Pentaphonic started to come in. Joey Swails also recalls that Bob Gleeman was inspired by a certain 1982 Sequential Pro-One advertisement.

But, unlike that delicious-looking clear Pro-One that was a one-of-a-kind trade show display piece, this just-as-delicious-looking Petaphonic Clear was actually available to consumers - if they happened to have $3,295.00 in their pocket.

And unlike most (okay... all) Bedazzled jean jackets, this thing was gorgeous. Gorgeous enough that it rightly became the centerpiece for the advertisement. No catchy ad-title was required to differentiate this machine from the competition - this photo was more than enough to get the reader's attention. And, Gleeman knew that everyone who bought one of these beasts wouldn't stand to be... er... standing behind a rack of synths on stage. No way! So they even threw in a leather strap so you could wear it around your shoulder and give the lead singers and guitarists a run for their money.

Gleeman also really tightened up the ad-copy, focusing on some of the upgrades made to the machine since the original was released, and a little surprisingly, also updated their logo - for the better! In the original logo, the lines of the piano keys extended underneath the full length of the logo-type. In the updated version, it's compact, with two sets of piano keys that circle back on each other. Nice work.

So, did that new clear packaging actually convert into sales for Gleeman? And if so, how?

First, that spankin' new look got Gleeman a new, well written Spec Sheet promo (apart from getting the name of the synth wrong!) in the July 1983 issue of Keyboard.

"Gleeman Synthesizer. The Polyphonic Clear is a portable polyphonic synthesizer in a clear case. The instrument was designed for live performance and includes a remote power supply for reduced weight, a 20' extension cable, and a shoulder strap which enables the user to carry the instrument around onstage. The unit can also be played in the conventional manner from a keyboard stand. Standard features include five voices, each with a VCA, VCF, and two ADSRs, three oscillators with eight selectable waveforms per voice, computer-tuned chorusing, 100 programmable presets, a 600-note polyphonic sequencer, and a chromatic transposer. Price is $3,295.00. Gleeman, 97 Eldora Dr., Mountain View, CA 94041"

Second, and more substantial, that clear packaging opened the door to a Keyboard Report in the August 1983 issue of Keyboard - yes, the issue with Thomas Dolby on the cover - yum! I would suspect that for a small company such as Gleeman, a Keyboard Report would be kind of a big deal.

Written by Dominic Milano, the one and half page article was followed directly by a review of another portable keyboard from a very well-known company - the Roland SH-101.

In the review for the Clear, it's no surprise that Dominic had very positive things to say about the look of the instrument.

"As you can imagine, the instrument looks like something out of a '30s science fiction movie, but it's a great effect. It really grabs your eye immediately. All of the innards are visible through the body (all very neatly assembled so you're not getting a view of a lot of wires strewn about), and the labels for all the dials are printed in black, which is quite attractive and clearly visible against the green circuit board inside."

Dominic again focused on the Clear's distinctive looks in his conclusion, but also managed to get in a few words on the sound of the instrument.

"As far as looks go, the Clear is very nifty. It's always been mysterious and kind of sexy to see lots of electronic gadgets, and the Clear shows these off well. The instrument sounds nice a fat, with beautiful tone colors from the oscillators."

It's not a slam dunk for the Clear though. Dominic does list quite a few limitations of the machine, and finally suggesting that the synth may be for musicians that "just want some of the basic keyboard-oriented synthesizer vocabulary at your beck and call".

According to Mark Swails, the Pentaphonic Clear's good looks and, I think, the fair bit of publicity it generated, did kick-start an increase in sales before it was finally discontinued. The downfall of the synth had little to do with it's looks and abilities of the machine itself. It was more an issue of timing.

Mark Vail reports in the September 2001 issue of Keyboard that the $3,000+ Pentaphonic Clear came out just prior to the Yamaha's $1,995 DX-7. Digital quickly became all the rage and analogue gear was given the ol' heave-ho.

Depending on the source, it appears only between 30-70 Pentaphonics were produced. And Mark Vail reports that in 1994, David Kean, curator of the Audities Foundation, ended up buying the remaining parts inventory from the Gleeman brothers and was able to hobble together seven new Pentaphonics and seven new Clears. There is a great photo of a Clear on the Audities site - not sure if it is an original, or one that was built in 1994.

The Pentaphonic Clear and transparent Pro-One have been such curiosities on the Web that I wonder when a new clear-cased synth from one of the big synth companies will come out.

Considering Korg's latest kicks, I for one would welcome our new Korg Monotron Clear overlords :)

Gleeman Pentaphonic "The performance power of chord sequencing" ad, Keyboard 1981

noreply@blogger.com (RetroSynthAds) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 18:35:00 +0000

Gleeman Pentaphonic "The performance power of chord sequencing" 1-page advertisement from page 45 in Keyboard Magazine August 1981.

Not the most attractive looking ad - but then again, the Gleeman Pentaphonic wasn't exactly the most attractive looking synthesizer. Even so, this ad includes many of the puzzle pieces required to introduce a new product to an increasingly crowded synthesizer market.

First is a good sized photo. Even though the Pentaphonic isn't the most attractive synth, the photo is still important because it is the first place readers' eyes look. Like Red Green always said "If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy". So Gleeman made sure that readers knew just how handy this baby would be by making sure all those front panel control labels were clearly visible in the photo.

Second, Gleeman did a good job on thinking up a catchy title by zeroing in on Pentaphonic's differentiating factor - chord sequencing. A title that highlights a differentiating factor becomes even more important with the Pentaphonic since the synthesizer itself is so utilitarian looking - especially when photographed in black and white. The title, split in two by the photo of the instrument, also conveniently includes the name of the synth itself on the lower right. Perfect placement to catch the eye. No need to go looking for it.

Third, Gleeman made sure to include enough ad-copy to really sell the instrument. When you are a new company with a new instrument, I think it's often better to say too much than too little. In this case, Gleeman continues on the theme of the ad title by focusing the first half of the ad-copy on a good little summary of the functionality of the sequencer. Readers also get a few bits of reference information about the technical specs before the ad-copy gets to what I think could be considered the Pentaphonic's other differentiating factor - being the "untimate portable". The machine weighed only 18 pounds, measured just 6x13x25 inches and included an internal five watt amp and 4x10 speaker. Cute.

Finally, we find the company logo tucked into the bottom left corner. Large enough that readers won't miss it, but still out of the way. Granted, it's not the best logo, but like the synthesizer itself, it does the job nicely.

A quick Google search will provide just a few sites with useful info about the Pentaphonic, and it looks like the Pentaphonic was such a rare beast that there seems to be some discrepancy as to when the Pentaphonic first become available to buyers. A few sites such as Vintage Synth Explorer give 1982 as the production start date at the time this post was written. But, the fact that this ad first appeared in *August* 1981 would suggest that either the machine was available much earlier or it was prematurely advertised by over six months.

More evidence of a 1981 production date comes from the February 1982 issue of Keyboard in the Spec Sheet section:

"Gleenman Pentaphonic Updates. The Gleeman Pentaphonic five-voice polyphonic synthesizer has been updated to include rear panel footpedal jacks for controlling the modulation depth and filter cutoff frequency and a two-axis joystick that replaces the unit's original one-axis joystick for control of pitch and either modulation depth or the filter cutoff frequency. Also available for the instrument is a retrofitable programming module which gives owners of the instrument access to 100 user-programmable presets. The module may be easily installed by a dealer or ordered as a factory option. Price of the updated Pentaphonic is $2,795.00. The programming module, available in mid-1982, will list for approximately $700. Gleeman 97 Eldora Dr., Mountain View, CA 94041."

Updates to the original? In February 1982? And this February info would have had to have been submitted in January at the latest to be printed. That would most likely have to mean that the original Pentaphonic was out and about in 1981.

Interesting to note is that if you look closely at the photo in this ad scan, you can see the one-axis joystick that was available in the first generation Pentaphonics. Most photos of the Pentaphonic online are later models sporting two-axis joysticks.

Another source of a production date comes from Mark Vail. No, not from the book Vintage Synthesizers, but in a Pentaphonic "Vintage Gear" article found in the September 2001 issue of Keyboard. In the vital stats section, he listed a *Design* date of 1981, but a *Release* date of 1982.

I did find one fairly detailed first-hand account of the Pentaphonic by Joey Swails linked from the Pentaphonic's Vintage Synth Explorer page that might explain things a bit.

He writes that the synth was "introduced in 1981". Clear enough. But, he goes on to say that he first met Bob Gleeman at the 1982 AES show in Anaheim, and that soon afterward the company became the first authorized Gleeman dealer.

Now, according to AES.org, the 72nd AES show in Anaheim took place in October 1982 - so, if Gleeman didn't have an authorized dealer until late 1982 (over a year after that first ad appeared in August 1981), then could it be that Gleeman had only made a few sales of the first generation Pentaphonic before 1982 - not enough to register on a consumer level scale by most historians?

Does that make sense? I'm still thinking it through as I write it... but based on all the evidence I think I'm gonna start using a 1981 production start date. :)

Interestingly, but mostly unrelated, Gleeman was lucky enough to get ANOTHER small Spec Sheet promo for the Pentaphonic in the December 1982 issue of Keyboard, after the programming module became available. It's smaller than the February 1982, but includes more general information about the Pentaphonic itself. It definitely could be more than just coincidence that Gleeman would have appeared at AES in October 1982 with the updated machine, which would have resulted in a write up by Keyboard staff in November for a December appearance:

"Updated Gleeman Polyphonic. The Gleeman Pentaphonic synthesizer is a 5-voice polyphonic synthesizer that features a 3-octave keyboard, three oscillators per voice, a single VCF per voice, a 300-note polyphonic sequencer, and an LFO. New features include rear panel footswitch jacks for controlling modulation depth and filter cutoff frequency (it uses 0-8 volts DC); a two-axis joystick to control pitch-bend and modulation depth of filter cutoff frequency; and an accessory port to accept a 100-program memory module. Gleeman, 97 Eldora Dr., Moutain View, CA 94041"

Free advertising never hurts. But it wasn't enough to keep the Gleeman Pentaphonic alive.

More on what I found out about that, and on the purposely-ignored Pentaphonic Clear, in my next blog post... promise! :)

Roland SH-1000 "For those far-out sounds" brochure, 1975

noreply@blogger.com (RetroSynthAds) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:30:00 +0000

Roland SH-1000 "For those far-out sounds" 2-sided brochure from 1975.

I'm "down" with the kids these days. Their music. Their hang-outs. Their lingo.

And back in 1975, Roland wanted readers to know they were "with it" too. The company made sure to give those potential customers lucky enough to get their hands on this brochure the real skinney on how the SH-1000 can create all "those far-out sounds". Bring this baby on stage and you'll be looooo-king good. A genuine Stone Fox. You will have all the bunnies getting down on the dance floor. It's total Ace.

Okay. I know... enough already.

So, what's all the buzz about this SH-1000 brochure? Well, for starters, it has the print date on the back! I'm really digging that. Saves me time and effort trying to figure that out. Plus, I have a soft spot for that stylized "R" two-line logo.

I've come across the front half of the brochure online, but the back half seems to be a bit more difficult to find. A shame really - and one I'm hoping to fix with this post, since the second half has all the things I like in a retro synth brochure, including that great little diagram indicating the functions of each and every dial, switch, slider and tab. And it also includes a great little spec sheet underneath the diagram for those that would rather get their information in a more organized fashion.

According to many sources online, including Wikipedia, the SH-1000 was introduced to the world in 1973, and was not only Roland's first compact synthesizer, but the first to come out of Japan altogether. Sound On Sounds' April 2004 article on the history of Roland indicated that "it predated the Korg 700 by a handful of weeks". A pretty good start from a company that would expand on their SH-line for quite sometime after wards. And surprisingly, if online sources are correct, it continued production until 1981.

Looking a little closer at it's specs, the SH-1000 had a pretty good feature set for such a young synth. VCO, Low pass filter with resonance, ADSR envelope generator, glide, white and pink noise... and the list goes on. It also included 10 presets, although the InterWebz jury still seems to be out on how useful they are on their own.

It's brother, the SH-2000 came out a little later in 1973 with three times as many presets, but with less overall features and reduced sound editing capabilities. Some sites, such as Vintage Synth Explorer, speculate that the 2000 was possibly released because the SH-1000 turned out to be too confusing to many potential buyers such as church and home organists. That brochure photo of the SH-1000 sitting atop an organ backs the theory that the company originally was targeting those organists.

If you had any doubt about the capabilities of the SH-1000, look no further than to the YouTube video below created by AutomaticGainsay - aka Marc Doty. He hosts his own YouTube channel that is just shy of four million video views. He is also a recent Artist-In-Residence with the Bob Moog Foundation and a regular on VintageSynth.com's forums. You can be sure he knows a thing or two about synthesizers.

His description accompanying this SH-1000 video pretty much sums up his point of view on the beast.

"Do yourself a favour, and NEVER READ any review of the SH-1000 on the internet. ALL of them inaccurately portray the Roland SH-1000. Hopefully, this video will bring some accuracy and clarity.

Feel free to link to this video or post it on your page, but please give me credit by marking it "by Marc Doty." Thanks!"

Never read any review of the SH-1000? Now he tells me! Gah! *sound of hand hitting forhead*

Well better late than never. :)

Yamaha GX-1 "The 'Most' Yamaha goes to Mickie" ad, International Musician and Recording World 1978

noreply@blogger.com (RetroSynthAds) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 17:05:00 +0000

Yamaha GX-1 "The 'Most' Yamaha goes to Mickie" 1-page advertisement from page 17 in International Musician and Recording World January (UK) 1978.

I'm a little embarrassed - for two reasons.

The first is a simple mistake - I almost overlooked this GX-1 advertisement because my eye's wouldn't leave a certain ad that sat across from it on the opposite page.

I swear that thing was looking right at me, deep into the recesses of my mind, pondering and judging my darkest secrets. It's like I was hypnotized by that giant mouse.

Okay - obligatory Halloween content finished.

The second reason I'm embarrassed is that I really had no clue who "Mickie" was. Which meant that the whole title thing - "The 'Most' Yamaha goes to Mickie" - was also lost on me. Part of the problem was that extra space between "Mickie" and ""Most" in the first line of the ad-copy. My mind wouldn't put the two words together in my brain and I thought maybe there was a word missing somewhere. I had to ask my GF if maybe the ad was referring to Mick Jagger. Seriously. I had no clue.

But when I finally did figure it all out (thanks Wikipedia!) everything else fell into place. Big producer... Rak Studios in London... Herman's Hermits... I learned a lot this weekend :)

If you recall from my last CS-80 blog post, Yamaha didn't seem to promote the CS-80 through advertisements in International Musician. And it looks like we now know part of the reason. They were spending at least a little of their advertising budget on this advertisement, while (intentionally or unintentionally) letting earned media promotion do it's thing for the CS-80.

Looking closer at this GX-1 ad, its kind of an anomaly. Yamaha usually wasn't one to "pull an ARP" by name-dropping so extensively in an ad. I'm not saying they never did it, but if I look at other Yamaha ads I've posted, usually they relied on throwing out a few technical terms and focusing on the reader as the musician.

But, in this case, Yamaha does the name-dropping job proud by using the Trifecta of "important music business stars" - Mickie Most, Stevie Wonder and, of course, Keith Emerson.

Although Stevie Wonder coined the term "Dream Machine" in reference to the GX-1, to me he will always be associated with samplers (probably just me showing my age group). I would thus argue that from my point of view, Keith Emerson was usually associated more closely with the GX-1 over on this side of the pond. And you don't have to look far for examples - like that awesome photo in the book Vintage Synthesizers of Keith playing a GX-1 while "ignoring" his Moog modular and Hammond C-3 in a Montreal stadium.

Keith also had a column in Keyboard Magazine called "Inside Tracks" where he answered readers' questions on keyboard technique, film scoring, recording projects and other musical topics. Unsurprisingly, a question about the GX-1 makes an appearance in the first run of the column found in the May 1983 issue.

Q: "Did you use the Yamaha GX-1 on 'Honky'"?
A: "No I couldn't get the GX-1 into Nassau, where the album was recorded. The island would hae sunk! It takes about eight people to lift the thing, and it was bad enough trying to get any other stuff into Nassau, let alone trying to get it out. So there's no GX-1 on Honky."

It is not just the name-dropping references that make this such a great ad to me. The instrument is gorgeous and even this classic crappy black and white photo proves it. A friend has used the term "rocket body" to describe two things in life - p0rn stars and synthesizers. And the GX-1 probably fits nicely into both of those categories.

But it is that third paragraph of ad-copy that really puts this ad into perspective.

"The Yamaha GXI is the test bed of Yamaha Technology. Spin offs from this project have been utilized in the new ranges of Yamaha home organs and professional musical instruments."

So, this isn't so much an ad for the Yamaha GX-1, but an ad for *all* Yamaha instruments. No one is expected to spend 40,000 pounds on an instrument after reading this ad. But I bet a few musicians thought about buying a few of the less expensive organs and synths, and maybe even a CS-80 or two, after reading about the trickle-down effect of GX-1 technology.

Lucky for me, I'm now in 2011and have friends of the blog like FlameTopFred and Micke to help guide me through synth-tech connections like those of the GX-1/CS-80/E-70. There is also that thing called the Internet - and a quick Google search (Web and images) brings up a wealth of information, including the well-written Wikipage article. Great tech information, as well as other fun facts such as finding out that Aphex Twin (Richard D James) acquired Mickie Most's GX-1. Also check out Gordon Reid's two-part series on the GX-1 found in the February 2000 and March 2000 issues of Sound On Sound. You will learn more than you ever wanted - including info about those speakers behind the machine in the photo. Digging a little deeper into search results is well worth the effort.

Making a huge buying decision without the Internet seems frightening to me now. I'm guessing name-dropping ads like this one might have been the tipping point for many of my purchases back in 1978 - more so if I had known who Mickie Most was... :)

But in the end, the biggest name-drop of all in this ad isn't Mickie - or Stevie or Keith

It is the GX-1 itself. Nice work Yamaha.

Yamaha CS-80 "Finally" advertisement, Contemporary Keyboard 1977

noreply@blogger.com (RetroSynthAds) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 18:59:00 +0000

Yamaha CS-80 synthesizer "Finally" 1-page advertisement from page 9 in Contemporary Keyboard December 1977.

I had originally posted this ad way back in 2009 before I had a lot to say. But now, after posting that well-received CS-80/60/50 12-page brochure, I guess I have a little bit to say after all. And most of what I have to say is related to advertising vs. earned media, and in some ways, the CS-80 would have been a good study to test the effects of each.

CS-80 information began to show up in a number of mags pretty much around the same time period during the winter of 1977. Here in North America, Contemporary Keyboard and Synapse both started to run this CS-80 advertisement in December (well... for Synapse it was the November/December issue). This was probably around the time the CS-80/60/50 brochure started to appear, and I'm kind of surprised that Yamaha didn't sync up the design or ad-copy a bit more between the two. Sure, you can say a lot more in a brochure, so you don't expect the well-written ad-copy of the brochure to be identical to the ad. But I would have thought Yamaha in America would have translated some of the design elements of the brochure over to the ad.

Speaking of the design elements - there isn't much in this ad. But that close-up photo is awesome! I love seeing those four rows miniature memory panels in the foreground with the two rows of programmable panels running off into the distance. It's a little romantic :)

As far as ad-copy is concerned, Yamaha did keep the general theme of the brochure at play in the advertisement - focusing on the creativity that can be expressed live through the CS-80. And the ad does at least give the CS-50 and CS-60 a final thought at the end of the text.

So, Yamaha clearly chose to focus on advertising in North America. Meanwhile, across the pond, the company took a different approach - at least as far as International Musician and Recording World was concerned. Not sure if it was the company's intent, but somehow they got the magazine to review the instrument, not once - but TWICE within six months.

The first write-up showed up as a "KeyboardCheck" review in the January 1978 (UK) issue of IMRW. Rod Argent took the CS-80 out for a test drive on page 46, where he managed to haul the 4,350 pound/220lb synthesizer into the studio for the recording of Andrew Lloyd-Webber's "new set of 23 Paganini Variations". Not able to save the best for last, in the third paragraph, Rod writes:

"I must say at once that the Yamaha passed these tests with flying colours. In fact Mr. Lloyd-Webber was so impressed that he bought one after three days of recording and by all accounts is now threatening the time schedule of "Evita" by insisting on lengthy demonstrations to everyone who comes to his flat!"

Most of the rest of the review is your usual tour of controls and functions, and Rod concludes that it is a beautifully constructed instrument with a good layout with an "extremely satisfying" sound. Nothing we didn't know there. :)

The second IMRW review showed up exactly six months later in the July 1978 (UK) issue (with the same 4,350 pound price tag). And this time Dave Simmons gave the CS-80 true "synth" status by reviewing it in the "SynthCheck" section rather than "KeyboardCheck".

Dave's introduction made it clear he didn't get as much time in with the instrument as Rod did six months earlier, but was just as eager to praise the synth right out of the gate with this introduction:

"Since I have been doing synthesizer reviews for International Musician there have been two pieces of equipment that have particularly impressed me. One is the Roland Guitar Synthesizer and the second is the CS80 from Yamaha. As with the guitar synthesizer, I could easily have played for weeks with the CS80, but because of large demand for this instrument, the only one available for review belonged to someone else and so I was unable to take it out of the warehouse, or try it out in a band situation."

Later in the review he states that the CS-80 is the best synthesizer he has ever played, and suggests that you actually can "throw away your other synthesizers" if you buy one. He prefaces these remarks by noting that he is NOT on Yamaha's payroll. :)

Interestingly, I can't find a CK review for the CS-80. In fact, it looks like very little Yamaha gear got reviewed before 1980.

So, in the end, I have to wonder. Did Yamaha think they got a better deal out of spending cash on a year and a half worth of 1-page advertising in Contemporary Keyboard, or by taking the chance of getting TWO over-the-top complimentary reviews by lending out the instrument to IMRW?

I know I would have taken the chance on the two great reviews. But then again, with the awesomeness that is the CS80, it's not that big a chance to take. :)

Yamaha "CS-Series Synthesizers" brochure featuring CS-50, CS-60 and CS-80, 1978

noreply@blogger.com (RetroSynthAds) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 16:55:00 +0000

Yamaha "CS-Series Synthesizers" 12-page brochure featuring CS-50, CS-60 and CS-80 synthesizers from 1978.

[PDF version to be provided later once I figure out an alternative to SkyDrive]

Sometimes I just don't feel like writing. And this morning I also didn't feel like going outside to rake the rain-soaked leaves that continued to accumulate at an increasingly fast rate during last night's freakish thunder storm. Instead of trying to stubbornly pull myself in either of these directions, I turned on the coffee maker in the kitchen and then turned on the computer and scanner in the extra bedroom. Time to do some mindless scanning.

This time I managed to blindly pull a Yamaha CS-50/60/80 brochure out of the archive, figuring it would keep me busy for an hour or so. But I soon started spending more time reading through the brochure than actually scanning it. Part of the problem was that I'd never actively researched the differences between these synths, so to have all this information packaged together so elegantly was a quick way to get acquainted with all of them at once.

( Three hours later... )

And.... done. :)

The brochure is divided into four sections:

1. Introduction: "A Fascinating New Way To Create Musical Sounds" - 1 page
2. CS-50 info - 4 pages including that awesome fold-out photo of the synthesizer
3. CS-60 info - 2 page
4. CS-80 info - 3 pages
5. Block diagrams of each synthesizer - 1 page
6. Specifications - 1 page

The odd shape of those first couple of scans is because that first page actually is a fold out - so scan 1 (the cover) and scan 2 (the introduction to the brochure) actually make up the first real page. Scan three is the other side of that long fold-out page which features the giiii-nomous large photo of the CS-50. Scan 4 (the first page of the CS-50 info) sits opposite of scan 3, and then you have the rest of the pages sitting opposite each other as laid out above... hope that all makes sense.

If you don't know much about these three synths, then I would recommend first flipping open the fold-out page to read the "Feature comparison of CS-50, CS-60 and CS-80" chart on that intro page. Then, flip directly to the inside of the last page to see the block diagrams. And finally check out the back cover of the brochure for side-by-side specs. Then go back and read about each synth in their respective sections. Awesome reference info all around.

Enjoy.... while I go out and finally rake leaves. Gah.

EML SynKey 2-sided brochure, approximately 1978

noreply@blogger.com (RetroSynthAds) — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 18:15:00 +0000

EML SynKey brochure from approximately 1978.

This brochure was sent to me, along with quite a few others pieces of EML literature, by George Mattson. George was an independent factory sales rep for EML before he built the Syntar (drool).. and more recently, is the man behind Mattson Modulars (more drool).

Side note: Although my Doepfer obsession has reached new heights recently, I am about to decide whether to get a Mattson starter modular, or the six-pack - which looks too dang cute!

Sorry - got side-tracked for a sec. Can't... stop... looking...

Like this advertisement for the SynKey that I recently posted, this brochure is rather rare. Almost as rare as the 75 or so SynKeys that were produced (according to Mark Vail's book Vintage Synthesizers).

The front side of the brochure is one you may have come across on the Web, and includes ad-copy that builds on the text found in the SynKey's Contemporary Keyboard advertisement. It clearly carries the SynKey's message of simplicity and ease of use.

The back side of the brochure seem to be much more rare to find online, and includes ad-copy that focuses on the SynKey's three big promotional features - programming, second touch and pushbutton semitone select. Definitely take the time to read through it to get a good idea of how the SynKey operated. The back of the brochure also provides a list of the programmable parameters that are available on the SynKey. All in all, a very well-written piece.

My only peeve is my usual one - the document doesn't have a print date. Gah.

When a document such as this doesn't have a date I usually rely on pricing info to get an idea of when exactly the piece was created during the life cycle of the instrument. In the case of the SynKey, I have one good price reference - the programmable SynKey was listed in Contemporary Keyboard's May/June 1976 Giveaway contest #5 at $2,195.00. I also have another price reference point - but it's a bit sketchy. Mark Vail's Vintage Synthesizers book lists the programmable SynKey price at a much lower $1,350.00 - but that includes a production start date of 1979. Considering the first ads for the SynKey were out in 1976, we know the actual production start date was much earlier. BUT, could that $1,350 price tag be the price that the unit cost in 1979? The huge price drop could have been on account of the card reader technology which would have quickly devalued the instrument as RAM memory costs went down in competitor's synths. But this is all just a hunch. And it all doesn't matter anyways because there is no pricing info on the brochure to cross reference with.

But, I do have one other theory to give this brochure a 1978 print date:

The brochure includes information on the non-programmable SynKey (model 1500) as well - but its kind of been added on as separate ad-copy underneath the main photo of the instrument in a *completely* different font. Sites such as synthmuseum.com often include a scan of the front of this brochure - but the scan doesn't include the extra text about the non-programmable version. To me, this suggests that the scanned ad found on synthmuseum.com is probably the first version of the brochure. And this could possibly suggest that the non-programmable model 1500 SynKey came out later and was added to the brochure at that time.

The book Vintage Synthesizers lists a production start date for the non-programmable version at 1978 (and a cost of $925). I know - a long shot. I've asked a few people for more info on the two model's different start dates.

Note to readers: My theories have about a 20% success rate :) Will update when I learn more.

Changing topics, I've found a few good sources for photos and demos of the SynKey online.

MATRIXSYNTH posted a relatively recent April 2011 ebay auction that included some great photos of the programmable SynKey. That baby blue accent color found on the instrument is gorgeous. Another even more recent May 2011 auction post also has some good photos - and close up, you can see the baby blue bars are actually stylistic punch cards with hole punches! Nice design touch.

But, my favorite MATRIXSYNTH SynKey auction post is this one from MARCH 2009 because it includes photos of the colour punch cards as well (same blue colour!) as well as a few other pieces of literature.

The only place I've come across a colour photo of the orange non-programmable model 1500 SynKey is VintageSynth.com. Scroll down to the second photo to see the gorgeous orange accent colour of that machine.

As far as demos are concerned, I really enjoyed YouTube contributor "xgregcompositionx" vids. He's uploaded three SynKey video demos that show off it's great sound.

Check 'em out below. Time for me to watch Survivor :D