A series of live improvisations and a couple of layered sampled pieces by D.A.Wilson recorded in front of Hammond Novachord number 346 (built in 1938) which was partially restored in 2009 at Hideaway and remains the only working example of this remarkable electronic instrument in the UK.  Please note that these recordings were made directly from the pre-amp output into everything from a touch of simple reverb and delay through to complex modulated chorus/flanger type effects.

Over the years I have found myself getting very frustrated with people endlessly trying to dismiss the Novachord as "just an organ with filters"... frankly this is wrong and disingenuous to Laurens' remarkable vision and his devoted design team. There is a lot more to the Novachord than first meets the eye housing literally twice the number of components a conventional electronic organ of the era (or indeed many years later!) would. Even its unusually complex power supply is a thing of brilliance with its active noise-cancelling HT circuits - something almost unheard of in 1938 and patented for good reason!  

If anything it is a 40 year precursor to the Korg PS-3100 in terms of architecture and design goals. Both of which are examples of analog divide-down formant synthesis featuring 12 free-running master oscillators.

Celebrating her 88th birthday in 2026 - the Novachord was literally decades ahead of its time. It is an all electronic 163 electron tube (valve) 1/4 ton monster with 72 note polyphony, 72 tube VCAs with genuine polyphonic dynamics control, 12 free running master oscillators driving 6 octaves of the world's first divide down circuitry implemented in banks of tube monostables.

Capable of producing huge slowly decaying sustains, it has 6 free running LFOs acting on pairs of master oscillators and a basic centrally commanded polyphonic envelope control acting independently on 72 envelope generators and tube VCAs on every key feeding a common triple L/C formant resonator. It is probably the world's first commercial electronic polyphonic instrument to use the same "charge-transfer" method of envelope control/generation used in popular instruments many decades later.

As a design engineer myself, there is no question the Novachord was influential - Bob Moog explored the Novachord's circuits with a great deal of interest in his early days - something he once recanted in an interview.

1069 were built over a short period. It cost $1850 in 1939 - enough to buy three new cars or a small house. Sadly very few examples have thought to have survived, even less in playable condition, and less than 25 100% restored/rebuilt world wide.

1938 Hammond Novachord #346 In Action (88 Year Old Tube Polysynth!)

Getting creative in the lab with a bunch of gorgeous classic 1960s Brüel & Kjær lab gear I have restored and modified over the years for creative use in the recording studio at Hideaway Studio...

I discovered and fell in love with the 1960s Brüel & Kjær lab gear 15+ years ago and ended up accumulating over 70 of these gorgeous beasts and, during my exploration of them, it seems a few of my friends and clients have since caught the obsession too!

All Recordings Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio, 2014 - 2026.

Brüel & Kjær - Le laboratoire Créatif...

A series of live improvisations by D.A.Wilson recorded in front of some of the myriad of cherished and rare vintage synths returned to life over the past few years in The Lab at Hideaway Studio.

All Recordings are Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio.

The Secret World of Vintage Synths

A 1983 Fairlight CMI Series IIx going through her paces exploring the effects of sampling at lower rates with the channel card filters set wide open.

When played in the lower registers the sample captured is being clocked at sample rates way below 8KHz due to the beast's variable rate sample playback resulting in a sea of aliasing and mirrored frequencies that are musically related to the source material which imparts a glassy effect.

Composition & Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio, 2021.

1983 Fairlight CMI Series IIx: The Nyquist Mirror..

I recently decided to return a 1987 S-330 Sampler back to the fold after parting with mine many years ago and deciding maybe it was time to give it a second chance.  This time round I decided to upgrade to an HxC disk emulator, optical mouse and HDMI colour video output which has made this little 1U beast so much more inviting to explore both in terms of its features but also the considerable sample library that grew up around it.  The S-330 was really quite ahead of its time being one of the first truly affordable 12-bit hardware samplers that featured a graphical user interface and a mouse.  Not only was the user interface advanced for its time but the sampler itself sounds great and even the digital filters have a sound of their own - especially when swept in high resonance.  It also has a nice wide tranposition range which makes it great for playing samples really slow.  All this being packed into a 1U rack means that it hardly take up any space or generates much heat in your studio too - always a bonus!

I think this time round its a keeper...

In this case I loaded up one of the original factory S-50 choirs partly as an excuse to have another go feeding something through my old Copicat tape delay which I recently modified for a 100% wet signal output which is great for adding instant tape saturated regenerated gronky goodness and movement to a mix.

Composition & Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio 2022.

1987 Roland S-330: Copicat Choir...

Made with several overdubs of various signal sources fed through a gorgeous 1968 Brüel & Kjær type 2107 all-tube regenerative swept band pass filter during final testing following the resurrection/restoration of yet another of these unique and wonderful units with modifications for creative use in the studio. 

The 2107 pass frequency is hand cranked to reveal harmonic content at up to a 50dB per octave crest.  At this sort of resonance little that comes out of the beast sounds even remotely similar to what goes in so its to fun to catch the harmonics on way whilst cranking the huge tuning dial.

Composition & Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio, 2022.

1968 Brüel & Kjaer type 2107: Down to Band Pass Creek

Made with several overdubs of white noise and a lab pulse generator fed through a gorgeous 1968 Brüel & Kjær type 2107 all-tube regenerative swept band pass filter during final testing following the resurrection/restoration of yet another of these unique and wonderful units with modifications for creative use in the studio.

The 2107 pass frequency is hand cranked to reveal harmonic content at up to a 50dB per octave crest. At this sort of resonance little that comes out of the beast sounds even remotely similar to what goes in so its to fun to catch the harmonics on way whilst cranking that huge tuning dial.

Composition & Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio, 2022.

1968 Brüel & Kjaer type 2107: Grasslands of Kjær

Made by splashing water creating ripples in a pan whilst shining a bright light onto it and directly receiving the resulting audio frequency domain modulated reflected light some distance away with a photo sensor as sound.  The resulting raw audio was overdubbed 4 times at different points into the recording and various pan positions to create a pseudo-stereo effect. More sound from light recordings here: 

https://soundcloud.com/hideaway-studio/sets/sound-from-light-optically

Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio, 2022.

Sound of Light Reflected From Water Ripples (Optical Sound Experiment)

Its all a bit hit and miss but its surprising what you can muster up with this thing..  this evening a sort of raspy bowed electric cello sound emerged which really came to life after putting it through a very short delay.  This is pure raw waveform generation from the analog optical waveform scanner - no dynamic filtering or even EQ has been used in this case.

A rough description of how my perceived analog recreation of Daphne's Optical Waveform Scanner works can be found in the playlist description.

Composition & Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio, 2022.

Oramics Analog Optical Waveform Scanner Prototype: Bowed eCello...

A live improv recorded in two takes from a 1977 Polymoog 203A during major repairs and overhaul at Hideaway Studio.

Composition & Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio, 2022.

1977 Polymoog 203A: Undivided Attention..

Having fun testing out an awesome PPG Wave 2.2 Digital-Analog hybrid synth from 1982.  The Wave was one of the first commercially available wavetable synths offering wavetable sequencing and lead the way to the Waldorf Wave series and the Korg Wavestation.  Unlike the later derivatives, the early models definitely had a sound of their own thanks to their 8-bit DACs and SSM2044 filters.  The whole thing has a raw yet warm sound about it and can cover a surprising amount of sonic territory.  I have long since loved the unique sound of 8-bit digital audio into analog filters!

NB: This 100% all came out of a PPG Wave 2.2.. but not necessarily in the right order :-]

Composition & Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio 2022.

1982 PPG Wave 2.2: Evolutionary Digital..

Oh heck do I love the old Brüel & Kjær 1/3 octave fixed L/C band-pass resonator banks such as the type 2112, 2113 and 1615...

Every time I use these units in the studio I find myself bathing in the hauntingly serene sonic aesthetic their inductive resonators produce especially when thrown into a delay or two of them are used in stereo.

In this case a gorgeous type 1615 "Band Pass Filter Set" stepped 1/3rd Octave band pass filter set is simply being fed with a single sustained cluster chord from a Korg Wavestation A/D producing a series of quite haunting harmonically related resonances as the frequency control is moved between the different settings. Each of the 30 precision inductive/capacitive resonator tanks has around 60dB per octave crests resulting in an almost mesmerising natural movement caused by the filter coming in and out of resonance on the edges of its pass band as it responds to the source material. 

First layered with the source material and then hear it on its own driven hard to the point everything starts to saturate :)

Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio, 2023.

1973 Brüel & Kjaer type 1615 in Action - Clustered Resonance..

The result of an experiment made by playing back live composite video output captured from the ULA of a 1981 Sinclair ZX81 home computer 6 times slower so its within the audio range and then processing the result with a mix of delay, Hideaway tube EQ, classic tube mixed Bruel & Kjaer L/C resonator and Hideaway Klockwerks random modulated reverb.

The captured raw audio was transposed 4 times creating an interesting polyrhythm in the process which turned out to be a happy accident :)

Must be weird being an electron trapped inside one of these things!....

No instruments whatsoever were used in the making of this recording

Composition & Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio 2023.

1981 Sinclair ZX81: ULA2C210E Inside the Machine...

A live recording of two alternating crunchy 8-bit cluster chords playing out of a Jarkko AVR Hardware Amiga Module Player into a pair of lovely Bruel & Kjaer type 1621 band pass filters running at around 60dB/octave whilst hand cranking both centre frequencies...

Composition & Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio 2023.

Dual Bruel & Kjaer type 1621: Jarkko Kluster 01

A brief live improvisation I recorded using the first voice patch I managed to program into the 1979 Crumar GDS shortly after I undertook the major restoration (previously owned by the late Klaus Schulze) of this extremely rare groundbreaking early digital synthesizer.   It is named in memory of the late Max Mathews who played a major role in developing the software routines and concepts behind key parts of the GDS as well as in many other areas of pioneering computer based music technology.

Original Composition & Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson 2014.

1979 General Development System: The Max Factor

100% made with sounds dialled into a super rare 1977 Lord Synthesisers Skywave monosyth during revival and major repairs by D.A.Wilson at Hideaway Studio.  Believed to be only one of ten ever built it is clear this curious instrument was designed from the outset as a performance instrument boasting several unusual features such as a three-axis joystick modulating the pitch/filter/VCA/LFO and Sample-Hold features as well as featuring Low and Band-Pass filters along with a built-in Ring Modulator and Phaser.  It all takes some getting used to but there is a lot of sonic territory to explore with this unusual beast.  

I decided to call this piece Desert Awakening as I've often felt like I've been alone in the desert whilst reviving this beast thanks to an apparent total lack of any technical information out there!

Sound Design, Composition & Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio 2024.

1977 Lord Synthesisers Skywave: Desert Awakening.. (Ultra Rare)

There is something very special about the imperfections of old recording technology and sometimes things are so broken they kind of take on a life of their own. Over the years I have come to cherish a knackered old Polish Sochor tape delay in my studio which has so much wow and flutter the effect it imparts into delay and reverb is really quite special and I have resisted attempting to repair it for many years now as I fear that magic would be lost.

Today's happy accident was made by feeding a Roland D-50 via a Fairchild 664 L/C EQ and matching germanium preamp into the Sochor delay which was was pretty much all over the place as usual :-]

Composition & Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio 2024.

Broken Old Sochor Tape Delay: L'entropie Magnétique..

Made by shining torch light through the glass envelope of a 1960s electron tube focused onto the halo getter wire at the top inside and then placing the Optical Mic on the edge of its shadow on the wall a couple of feet away. Whilst repeatedly tapping the tube I was eventually able to capture the tiny vibration of the halo wire resonating like a tuning fork by picking up the audio modulated light cast on the wall using the optical microphone. The resulting recording was noise reduced in iZotopeRX and then looped and transposed.  Like a lot of the experimental optical recordings I've made, the alignment is critical and I doubt a normal microphone would have picked up much of this through the glass envelope. Similarly, if a conventional contact microphone had been employed, the tiny vibrations from the halo wire would have been completely swamped by me thwacking the glass envelope of the tube with the rubber mallet.

A tube getter commonly consists of a metal wire structure (in this case, shaped like a halo but some have a rectangular profile) flashed with a deposit of reactive material (commonly barium) that is placed inside the tube to complete and help maintain the vacuum over time. When gas molecules strike the getter material, they combine with it chemically or by absorption to remove small amounts of gas from the evacuated glass envelope. The shiny metallic deposit often seen at the top of the inside of the glass outer is where the getter material condenses at high temperature onto the glass during manufacture.

Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio 2024.

The Optical Microphone: Tube Halo Knocker...

A sequenced instrument from Hideaway Studio's Orbitone Collection played at 240bpm recorded onto a 7-track TEAC MR-30 analog laboratory data cassette recorder at 38cm/s as FM encoded audio and then played back at quarter speed on the deck at 9.5cm/s resulting in a wonderfully distressed sonic sepia effect. 

Originally designed to record sensor signals down to DC in laboratory experiments, using FM encoding to record audio results in a noise and natural compression profile that is really quite different to conventional tape recorders and has the distinct advantage that there is no tape roll and when it comes to experimenting with extreme slo-mo playback there is no bias oscillator to be exposed even playing back at 1.2 cm/s. Trouble is, you only get 10 minutes recording time on a C90 tape using this thing!

Sound Design, Composition & Recording D.A.Wilson, Copyright Hideaway Studio 2024.

1983 TEAC MR-30: Diffuse-1 (FM Encoded Tape [Lo-Fi/Slo-Mo])

A live improvisation by D.A.Wilson shortly following restoration of 1982 Digital Keyboards Synergy number 1032 at Hideaway Studio running in conjunction with the SynHCS host editor on a Kaypro II CP/M computer under HxC disk emulation.  

In this recording you can hear the Synergy's unusual continuously variable random vibrato in action.  The Synergy is an all digital synthesizer with 32 oscillators featuring both FM and additive synthesis.  It is a direct relative of the 1979 Crumar GDS.

Original Composition & Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson 2015.

1982 DK Synergy 1032 Awakens: Evolutions

Recently recorded during post-installation testing using only samples from the Hideaway AKAI S612 Sample Library currently bundled with the popular XD-280 Disk Emulator I developed a few years back. The XD-280 consists of a modified Gotek disk emulator and a custom drive interface which bolts directly onto the rear of the S612 replacing the bulky and sadly very unreliable original MD-280 Quick-Disk Rackmount with a modern USB flash drive based solution.

These 12-bit samplers might only have a tiny 1 second sample memory but they sound lovely and, in a weird way, I often find their extreme limitations quite inspiring!

Sound Design, Composition & Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio 2025.

1986 AKAI S612: Heavenly-01 [Hideaway's Sample Library For the S612]

Introducing Elfin-04, Hideaway Studio's Compact New 4-Voice MIDI Polysynth...
 
Elfin-004 is an inexpensive compact quirky little 8-bit 4-Voice (4 x [2osc+1sub+LFO]  with a detuned unison mode and velocity to VCA/VCF mapping) midi polysynth housed in a solid metal enclosure with 1960's style passive transformer-mixed output voicing with over 20 pre-production units already with early-adoptors and receiving very positive feedback from their new owners....... the Elfin-04 measures just 16x12x3cm and has full and fluid real-time control over her 32 parameters via simple midi ccs with 15 built-in patches. 

Originally based on a highly expanded form of a customized software synth-core design by ISGK in Japan, I think the Elfin-04's unique voice ouput/mixing transformers do add something for sure - they are driven full-swing with 60KHz PWM resulting in a lot of additional harmonics/mirror frequencies and some saturation that all gets trapped within the transformers which adds a richness/darkness to the sound (no-doubt inspired in part by my beloved DK Synergy). In the Elfin-04, the 4 voices are passively mixed but, unusually, by the topology of the output-transformers themselves which is a trick that used to be found in some more exotic 1960s valve test equipment where multiple signal outputs were mixed on isolated outputs. Each voice CPU is independently clocked so everything is genuinely free-wheeling across the voices so even the noise phases slowly when played on multiple notes and unison which is pretty cool.

Any questions, please PM me here on S/C or to EF86 on GearSpace.

All Sound Design & Recordings Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio 2025.

NEWS UPDATE: The second batch of 20 pre-production Elfin-04 poly expanders are in final-assembly and I am now taking pre-orders for delivery in January 2026. A new Patch Editor/Librarian App & VST/AU plugin with full automation has also been developed complete with a new library of over 250 sound patches for Win/Mac/Linux which is free to all Elfin-04 and 08 owners.

Hideaway's Elfin-04 Polysynth: Detuned Unison Mode Montage

Introducing Elfin-04, Hideaway Studio's Compact New 4-Voice Polysynth...
 
I have been working round the clock for weeks now on my dinky little 8-bit 4-Voice (4 x [2osc+1sub+LFO]) VA Poly Expander with 1960's style transformer-mixed output voicing and finally No's.000 thru 010 are born to the world and receiving very positive feedback from their new owners...... this 4-voice polysynth measuring just 16x12x3cm has full real-time control over her 32 parameters via simple midi ccs and 16 built-in patches. 

Based on an expanded form of a customized software synth-core design by ISGK in Japan, I think the Elfin-04's unique voice ouput/mixing transformers do add something for sure - they are driven full-swing with 60KHz PWM resulting in a lot of additional harmonics/mirror frequencies and some saturation that all gets trapped within the transformers which adds a richness/darkness to the sound (no-doubt inspired in part by my beloved DK Synergy). In the Elfin-04, the 4 voices are passively mixed but, unusually, by the topology of the output-transformers themselves which is a trick that used to be found in some more exotic 1960s valve test equipment where multiple signal outputs were mixed on isolated outputs (eg. my huge old Panoramic TTG-2 tube Dual Sinewave Generator). Also, each voice CPU is independently clocked so everything is genuinely free-wheeling across the voices so even the noise phases slowly when played on multiple notes and unison which is pretty cool.

All Sound Design & Recordings Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio 2025.

NEWS UPDATE: The second batch of 20 pre-production Elfin-04 poly expanders are in final-assembly and I am now taking pre-orders for delivery in January 2026. A new Patch Editor/Librarian App & VST/AU plugin with full automation has also been developed complete with a new library of over 250 sound patches for Win/Mac/Linux which is free to all Elfin-04 and 08 owners.

Any questions, please PM me here on S/C or to EF86 on GearSpace.

Hideaway's Elfin-04 Polysynth: Polyphonic Patch Montage

Elfin-08 No. 000 (basically two stock Hideaway Elfin-04 Poly Expanders bolted together running modified firmware with a stereo output) fires up for the first time on all 10 of its 8-bit processors and 8 output transformers!....

The allocation of the 8 voices has been distributed between the left and right audio outputs with even voices on one channel and odd voices on the other giving a rather pleasing stereo effect. The Detuned Unison Mode on the 8-voice is just massive!

All of the sounds in the test recording are factory Elfin-04 patches loaded up from the new Elfin Controller VST/AU/Standalone (win/mac/linux) patch editor which currently has around 260 patches built in.
 
NB: I am building these 8-Voice proof of concept variants in very limited numbers for those who can't wait for the official Elfin-08 otherwise the current Elfin-04 offers the very same sound but with less polyphony.

Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio 2025

Hideaway's Elfin-08: 8-Voice Functional Prototype Awakens...

A segue of recordings played back at normal, twice and half speed of the sound of laser light being modulated by plumes of dust kicked up by dropping nuts and bolts into dry icing sugar in a large glass jar. The optical mic was positioned on the far side of the jar and sometimes you can just make out the glass walls pinging as the bolts land on the bottom of the jar.

The slowly building up vortex was made by swirling the icing sugar and then playing back the resulting return to still  air in reverse.

Rather like the oil in water and electrolysis experiments, since it all takes time to disperse, you get a kind of natural decay tail effect.

Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio 2025.

Sound of Light Through Icing Sugar Dust: Nut Drop Field Segue...

A multi-track recording made whilst testing out  a supremely rare 1985 Mulogix Slave 32 previously revived at Hideaway Studio. The Slave 32 was the rare rackmount version of the Synergy II+ by Digital Keyboards and was the last incarnation of the 1979 Crumar G.D.S. which utilised the identical High Speed Digital OSC pcb assembly. All of the variants featured pure digital synthesis in 16-bit digital audio which was pretty impressive for mid 1970s technology!

Original Composition & Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio 2025.

1985 Mulogix Slave 32: The Perfect Storm...

A gorgeous 1967 Brüel & Kjær type 2107 all tube regenerative swept band pass filter in action.  A quick test recording following the resurrection/restoration of over 30 examples of these wonderful units with modifications for creative use in the studio at Hideaway Studio.  Here demonstrating the beautiful effects of sweeping the filter over a sustained chord to reveal its harmonic content at 50dB per octave.

Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio, 2014.

1967 Brüel & Kjaer type 2107: Harmonic Rider

I originally wrote Red Autumn Leaves whilst testing a rare 1984 UMI-2B MIDI interface and sequencer running on an Acorn BBC Micro Model B computer after returning it to life a few years back.

Composition & Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio 2025.

Red Autumn Leaves...

Originally built in 1938, Novachord 346 has proven to be a very special source of raw material for my sample libraries over the years. I recently decided to return to what was the first commercial sample library at the time to capture the beauty of this remarkable instrument and revisit some of the sounds I made shortly after I returned Novacvhord 346 to life back in 2009. This would not have been possible without the help, encouragement and skill of my late friend Stephen Howell known to most as Hollow Sun who I miss dearly...

Composition & Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio 2025.

1938 Novachord 346: The NC Affair (Sampled/Layered Novachord)

To my great relief the now 88 year old 1/4 ton, 163 valve (tube) beast came out of a five year long slumber not only without burning the house down but managing to survive a two hour long recording session without even breaking into a sweat.. the 7 rail noise-cancelling high-voltage power supply was barely warm by the end of it - just staggering really if you think about it!

Despite a ton of divider calibration issues and some dodgy tuning I managed to make it through the live recording in one take captured directly from the preamp output into just basic reverb with no delay or modulation effects added and no EQ applied.  A handful of edits and dubs were made mainly to smooth out the flow of things a little.

Composition & Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio 2025.

1938 Novachord #346: Beauty of the Beast.... (88 Year Synth in Action)

A sneak preview of Hideaway Studio's new SONICbytes 101 - an experimental and characterful battery powered "bare-bones" 8-bit Ring Modulator & Tremolo featuring a built in multi-wave oscillator with a level sensitive "flinch-mode" and 8-bit audio pass-thru mode with analog negative feedback regeneration.

As with the Elfin-04 polysynths, several units are now out with early-adoptors - feel free to contact me if anyone is interested in having their own to experiment with.

Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio 2025.

SONICbytes 101: Introducing Hideaway's Experimental New 8-Bit RingMod..

A live improvisation by D.A.Wilson on an extremely rare 1982 Buchla 400-T computer controlled 6-voice hybrid synth (digital "arbitrary" oscillators into analog filters) running MIDAS-III complete with flat pressure sensitive Touch Controller housed in a custom Teak solid wood cabinet awakens during return to operation and overhaul and Lotharek Rev.F HxC virtual floppy disk retrofit at Hideaway Studio.

The touch keyboard was a nightmare to get used and it took a great deal of my concentration to perform this as the pressure-to-pitch modulation was pretty intense on the patch I'd dialled in that day but it certainly resulted in something from the heart.  The highly responsive playing surface opens up some interesting possibilites for expressive patch design and playing!

Original Composition & Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio 2015.

1982 Buchla 400 Awakens: Haute Tension

A series of test recordings made whilst testing Hideaway Studio's brand new prototype MIDI Front Panel Animator retrofit for the AKAI S612 finally giving David Cockerell's infamous 30 year old sampler full realtime control over the infamous 612's Sample Start & End Splice points, the Filter Cutoff and the Vibrato controls under 5 MIDI CC Controllers. 

The FPA Modules are in production and have been proving very popular..

AKAI S612 MIDI Front Panel Animator (FPA) Test I

A live improvisation recorded in front of 1938 Novachord #346 recorded directly from her generator chassis line output into modern chorus and reverb during testing following partial restoration back in 2009 at Hideaway Studio by D.A.Wilson.  346 is the only operational Novachord in the UK.

Celebrating her 88th birthday in 2026 - the Novachord was literally decades ahead of its time.  It is an all electronic 163 electron tube (valve) 1/4 ton monster with 72 note polyphony, 72 tube VCAs with genuine polyphonic dynamics control, 12 free running master oscillators driving 6 octaves of the world's first divide down circuitry implemented in banks of tube monostables.  

Capable of producing huge slowly decaying sustains, it has 6 free running LFOs acting on pairs of master oscillators and a basic centrally commanded polyphonic envelope generator on every key feeding a triple L/C formant resonator.  It is probably the world's first commercial electronic polyphonic instrument to use the same "charge-transfer" method of envelope control/generation used in popular instruments many decades later.

1069 were built over a short period.  It cost $1850 in 1939 - enough to buy three new cars or a small house.  Sadly very few examples have thought to have survived, even less in playable condition, and less than 25 100% restored/rebuilt world wide.

Original Composition & Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio 2009.

1938 Novachord #346: Into The Ether (88 Year Old Tube Polysynth!)

A live test improvisation recorded in front of a 1982 Rhodes Chroma analog polysynth after finally springing into life during a particularly arduous debug session to determine the root cause of a failed auto-tuning system during major overhaul at Hideaway Studio. 

Easily one of my favourite vintage polysynths (even over Prophet 5 and OB-X) and one I consider to be extremely underrated - a complex and remarkably flexible 16 oscillator beast with a warm but biting character all of its own!!

Original Composition & Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson 2017.

1982 Rhodes (ARP) Chroma: Autotune-ONE

Having another play with Hideaway Studio's truly insane Klockwerks system.

Here a classic Korg Minipops 45 is being fed into the a MultiVerb LT (patch 09) modified as a "donor unit" for the Klockwerks system.  The LT is being modulated with various LFO rates and waveforms from one of the clock modulator programs on the Klockwerks handset....  in this case the LFO shape, depth, offset and rate are being tweaked on the fly by hand but these can be acurately controlled from a MIDI sequence using up to 4 separate CC channels as well a CV input.  LFOs and slide effects can also be synchronised to MIDI clock at various clock rate divisions.

One powerful and unique aspect of the Klockwerks system is that it binds clock modulation patches with patches on the donor FX unit to form an instant recall system.  Such patches are stored in NV memory and then called up instantly via MIDI program changes.

Patch 09 on the MultiVerb LT seems to respond well to this sort of thing!... the resulting output is truly mangled beyond recognition!!

Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio.

Klockwerks System in Action: Mangling a Korg MiniPops 45!

Made by feeding a single sustained chord played from a Studio Electronics Omega 8 into a classic Brüel & Kjaer type 2113 L/C band-pass resonator bank, sampled through 21 different filter settings, and then randomly sequenced live into a 1969 Dolby A301 for some multi-band compressed magic!...

Composition & Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio

Brüel & Kjaer type 2113: Random Resonations...

An improvised montage of sounds recorded live from 1938 Hammond Novachord No.346 shortly after partial restoration to working order by vintage synth specialist D.A.Wilson in the UK in 2009.  It is very rare to hear a direct modern recording (non-acoustic through chorus/delay/reverb directly from the generator chassis)of one of these instruments in action as less than 50 remain in known working order.

The Novachord is generally accepted to be world's first commercial all electronic polyphonic instrument featuring dynamics control and specifically designed to emulate timbres beyond those of an organ such as strings, harpsichord and piano.

See more on this extremely rare beast at www.novachord.co.uk

Original Composition & Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio 2009.

1938 Novachord #346: Creepy Montage (88 Year Old Tube Polysynth!)

Hideaway Studio's ever popular Filter Defeat Module in action for the AKAI S612..  the board takes control of the clocks for the switched capacitor filters in the 612 allowing them to be fixed wide open with no tracking for maximum crunch in the lower registers, or overclocked thus giving a brighter than normal tracking characteristic or locked to the last positiion with no tracking thus allowing for very warm sounds or fixed formants across the full transposition range.    Each of the 4 modes are cycled between using a push button fitted in place of the Sample Trigger socket.

In the test recording you can first hear the normal tracking characteristic where the 612 becomes very muffled in the lower registers... then the filter is defeated to wide open allowing you to hear the 612 in all its crunchy 12-bit glory...    in the last part of the recording you can hear the filter locked to a very warm setting in Mode 4...

The FDM Modules are in limited production and have been been well received since release..

AKAI S612 Filter Defeat Module (FDM) in Action..

With some intrepidation I decided to have a go firing up Novachord 346 for the first time in what turns out to be 8 years since I resurrected and partially restored this 1/4 ton behemoth!...

To my great relief, this now 88 year old quarter ton 163 tube beast came out of slumber with all 12 of her master oscillators in action and pretty much in the same order she was in last time I hooked this monster to the power!...

After some initial tests I made this recording consisting of one overdub of a plucked Attack setting over a slow sustained Attack setting whilst occasionally moving some of her triple L/C formant resonator controls, the Bright/Mellow control and the Vibrato Depth.  

The source is 100% Novachord and the recording was made directly from the line output of the pre-amplifier into basic delay and reverb but with no form of added modulation processing such as chorus/ensemble/flanger.  Any natural chorusing you hear is due to the Novachord's 6 free-running vibratos acting on pairs of her 12 master-oscillators.

It still truly astounds me that an all electronic instrument originally on the drawing board in the mid 1930s can sound like this.. and even moreso 85 years after she left the factory!!

We are so used to hearing muffled scratchy recordings from the 1930s – but that is not to say its what it sounded like on the day of the recording – the HF the NC produces is amazing for its era.

Composition & Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio, 2020.

1938 Novachord #346: The Beast Doth Gently Awaken (88 Year Old Tube Polysynth!)

D.A.Wilson is an Electronic Engineer, Sound Designer & Vintage Synth Specialist with a particular interest in combining vintage tube, classic analog and modern digital technologies working as a synth engineer looking after a very considerable amount of vintage studio equipment for Will Gregory (Goldfrapp / Moog Ensemble) and a number of other internationally celebrated electronic musicians and producers.  Having undertaken several major restorations and produced custom electronic designs for a number of major artists including Jean-Michel Jarre, Dani is also known for fully restoring two out of the world's four remaining 1979 Crumar GDS and partially restoring 1938 Novachord 346 (the only known operational Novachord in the UK) to playable order along with developing and producing the new Elfin family of 8-bit polysynths and the popular MIDI Front Panel Animator (FPA), Filter Defeat Module (FDM) and XD-280 Drive Emulator upgrades for the AKAI S612 sampler.

Demos of the S612 Upgrades in Action: 

https://soundcloud.com/hideaway-studio/sets/hideaway-studios-s612-front


Hideaway Studio Kontakt Sound libraries may be purchased directly from: 
https://www.lootaudio.com/category/kontakt-instruments/hideaway-studios
 

..and a nice introduction by Cory Pelizzari to the Hideaway Studio Kontakt Libraries:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-C7a3ChC9U&feature=emb_title


For more on releases from Hideaway Studio for Kontakt please visit the blog at:  www.hideawaystudio.net

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