And Now I'll Finally Be Able To Make Some Music...
From the original Analog Industries archive. Some links and images from that era no longer resolve.
As you probably know, I have, in my possession, this Apple //e, with an alphaSyntauri and a Decilionix sampler. The one piece I’ve been missing for it to be the hub of my analog/digital hybrid 1980s lifestyle was the Roland CMU-800R. The CMU-800R is (more or less) a TR-606, along with a monophonic bass synth, a monophonic “lead” synth – both typical Roland analog voices of the time – and a four-voice “chord” synth, which follows the Juno 106 topology, sorta. It can only be controlled by an Apple //e. (There is rumored to be a PC version of the card and software, but I’ve never seen it.)
One of the loyal AI readers that knew this hooked a brother up this weekend, and a (basically new-in-box) CMU-800R is on its way here as I type this. I’m quite excited, as this has been on my radar for a long, long time. In fact, I bid on this very unit when it was on eBay a couple years back, and the gentleman in question outbid me for it. So it’s synchronicity squared.
In any event, the complete Apple //e music computer, with an alphaSyntauri, Decilionix, and CMU-800R is essentially my unicorn. It’s taken me some 10 years of fairly concerted effort to assemble the complete system in working order, and I’m looking forward to the post next week where I put up a complete process video of the entire system working, as the final mark of success. What’s your White Elephant, that thing you’re searching for that will make it all worth it?
20 comments
imma gonna say "the thrill of the chase" because...
-one of my first synths (1992) was a sh101. loved it. kept it for 8 years. lust fell elsewhere, and sold it. regretted it. got another one. nova modded that shit. liked it, but it needed cosmetic work. sold it on accident. wanted again.
-a minimoog. which is a great synth but fairly limited. great at one thing: basslines. which is funny, because then i end up hipassing it so that the kick can go below it nicely. but its nice and thick. but its soooo limited. but....
-for 5 years it was a matrix-12. then i got one. and i didnt care about it. reason: the fm was silly, the sound wasnt that great, the modulation wasnt really that great. the filters werent that great, etc etc etc. had two and sold both of them.
-then for awhile it was a emulator 3 keyboard. now i have one and its kinda meh. sounds great, but to put a sample in and map it out to keys and save it quickly and edit its great-sounding-but-lopass-only filter... i could do that all in 4.2 milliseconds with Maschine, and with similar results.
-and so on and so on.
ive realized now its the thrill of the chase. i just bought a broken 101 last night. and i realized for the first time i think its actually the thrill of the chase that i enjoy.
My Unicorn/White Elephant is to grow my collection of Cinema Engineering passive EQs and Filters, and then use it to build a mix-buss, where each channel has one CE 4031-B (EQ) and one CE 6517-E (Filter), with gain make-up using something like a V72 or similar.
I have 5 and 4 of these now, see link for pic... (it's the nine units starting at the bottom)
http://www.thewhyproject.com/webpics/ce_rack.png
When I started collecting these, even though they are rare, they were cheap enough. Now I can hardly afford them, so I'll probably never reach the goal :(
I've said it before... You have just completed my dream setup. Throw in an Eminent 310 Theatre for some strings, and I'm done. I'll be in crazed slightly noisy ambient land in no time.
Tell me that you will only record that setup onto an old DAT machine. Modern boutique AD conversion will just kill the vibe. Do the 80s right!
-WGP
@characterstudios: Jesus, you swing for the fences, right? I try to set goals that are at least obtainable without selling a kidney. ;-)
-CR
awesome CR! can't wait to see/hear it all shaking hands. congrats on getting the final bit to make it happen.
i don't know if i have a white elephant. i wouldn't mind coming across a blue sh-101 and various other vintage monosynths but that's really just a matter of disposable income not so much 'white whale' status.
there was a time when i was seriously on the lookout for a lovetone ringstinger but i can't even recall what gave me a boner for that thing.
I have two Optigans, but I don't have the "Mediterranean" model. I really want that funky style and crushed red velvet bench. If I have three Optigans, I can put a tarp over them all and live underneath it in the yard because that's where my wife would put me if I actually got a third Optigan.
My ultimate white elephant I'll never get because there is only one, the Russian ANS. Used for the soundtrack of the Russian sci-fi movies Solaris (great) and Stalker (not so great).
Link with the best unprocessed sound samples:
http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/listening-to-machine-made-entirely.html
Good close-up video of the giant glass plates and other workings:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3VDx_g3vzE
I'm oddly fascinated with trying to obtain an original Roland RSS Space Sound processing system. I kinda, sorta, just obtained the smaller version of my white whale in that I have a Roland RSS-10 and I just finally got a hold of a Roland MCR-8 to control it with. I keep looking for the old RSS system though.
Actually, I lied in the OP. My other White Whale is a complete "ambient package" version of the Sequential ProFX system. But as boobs said, that's really more a matter of money than anything else. I've seen them for sale a few times, but not had the coin when it happened.
http://electricmusicbox.com/profx/ambient.htm
If one of my dear readers has one they'd be interested in trading + $$$ for the shit you know I have, software, whatever, feel free to drop me a line.
-CR
Dual Synchronicity indeed. Congrats
and I concur with WG, record it on tape. Really looking forward to hearing some Micronaut with it.
But the CMU (especially the 606 snare) cranked all up in them Purples holes...drool...
I no longer have a white elephant, cause I truly am through with hardware, wouldn't mind a Wiard rig and the old Fetcher JoeMeek comp and EQ ( not to knock the new ones, dont know how they match up despite being marketed as identical). Vermona DRM mkIII with patch storage memory and cc control ran through AFB 16 with modern working software or and ebbe un flut thingy, ...throw in a Music Easel for shits and giggles...shit this is why I deleted matrixsynth from my bookmarks, LU$T.
LOL and make sure you take photos of the rig with Film not digital!
@Harrison74: I kind of have this love/hate thing going with you right now.
@Chad: I always read these stories thinking "that's totally fake," and I never thought something like this would happen to me, but there we were, just the three of us...
-CR
I have Adam's "Elephant Island" CD so neener to all of you.
Heres a good one...
iLok giving the option to keep licenses on one of those mini dongles used for bluetooth and newer wireless keyboards..not them fucking hockey pucks on the old wireless stuff.
PPL complain ..ID never keep thousands of dollars of licenses on such a tiny thing, but ppl forget this is something you plug in and is so small you leave it in and forget it...and its optional..so you can still have that boat of a fuckin dongle stickin out your hipster book.
I've never used iLok, so I don't know if that's good or bad. I'm gonna go ahead and assume "bad," until told otherwise.
-CR
The CMU-810 is the one to get for me. It's basically an SH-101 in the same case as the 800r. But with a bunch of sliders. Rarely ever see them though.
My White Elephant is the Crumar Spirit. I remember having a chance to get one back in 1995 for $300, but i didn't know what it looked like. I wanted something with a lot of knobs on it, so i bought a Polysix, as i knew it had knobs on it. Now, Spirits have sky rocketed out of my price range =o[
I have a sample set I made of my Spirit before I sold it. It's basically every sound the thing can make (which is how I roll when I make sample sets, obviously.) My intention was to make a Kontakt patch with all the possible string sounds as layers and what-not. Perhaps I'll finish it and put it in Free Shit one of these days.
-CR
Theres this old mac that I keep giving away that always seems to meander back home somehow. One of these days Im gonna stick an oasys pci.. nah, nevermind(typing it out helps expose the irrationality)
@Adam Is your sequencer a full custom design or based on something like MIDIbox?
I guess it's the CS-80 for me. I keep checking yard sales in vain. I try to convince myself that the Andromeda is close enough, and that I'm the only one that will notice the difference. Then I listen to So and cry.
@fussylizard: Originally it was full-custom but that design collapsed under its own weight. The current plan is to use some of the MIDIbox architecture but I'll probably not build his sequencer exactly, since it has only one row of knobs. There's a somewhat lengthy but relevant entry on my blog here: http://studionebula.com/blog/2010/06/21/clone-of-midibox-core_stm32-microcontroller
--Adam
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