Acquired this 1979 Italian-made organ/synth some time ago but have only just got around to having a closer look. By that I mean that I have only just started to try and understand why it fails to work properly. It does sort of work but only about a third of the keys function. The keyboard is split into bass & treble sections. At present only the bass section makes a sound. Even as a bass synth, looks and sounds great though. All very well, but it would be much preferable and useful to have a fully-working unit. The reduced price payed reflected its current state of functionality. I took a calculated risk on this as I usually have a pretty good idea how to make these things work again. My repair methods are quite basic. This usually involves fuse checking, wire jigglig, a bit of cleaning and reseating of circuit boards. For the most part I get lucky and the instrument under scutiny suddendly finds a new lease of life. However, no such luck with the Crumar T1. Lots of jiggling and reseating of (numerous) boards has had any effect at all on the treble section. This is not going to be an easy fix. Only one thing for it. I've been putting it off but perhaps now is a good time to learn to use a multimeter properly so I can actually test the components...
Acquired my beloved Yamaha SS30 a couple years ago but I consider this to be an item worthy of reappraisal.
Considered to be quite a rare find, particularly in this part of the world (Halifax, Nova Scotia), this string synth from 1977 may not be considered to be one of the classics but it's distinct sound does feature in a number of songs from the late 70's to the mid 1980's. Most people will of course know the 1980 (almost) chart-topping 'Vienna' by Ultravox but would they realise how heavily the Yamaha SS-30 string sound features? Would they even care? I doubt it but that very distinctive lush string wash in the chorus, (alongside the thumping synthetic Dum dum. Dum dum dum dum drum intro and Billy Currie's haunting piano) is arguably the sound of 'Vienna'. The sound of the SS-30 is also very much at the forefront in 'The Voice' (1981) and 'Reap the Wild Wind' (1982). Suprisingly Ultravox continued to use this ageing keyboard until around 1984. Noteable tunes by other artists of the period include... A welcome addition to the Synth Room but a rather obscure recent find. Have searched around but not much around in terms of history/information. From the limited info available, it has been described as a 1960's/70's portable organ. Not sure about the 60's but to my mind could easily be an early 70's model. With its black, moulded casing and chunky controls, the keyboard looks like it was put together by the Suzuki motorcycle division. Really not much to it though. The preset sounds are strings, flute and oboe and nothing special. However, the main attraction is an onboard analogue drum machine. Not fully functional as yet but working on it...
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AuthorMy name is Mike Barker and I have a room full of synths. ArchivesCategories |