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

AEGIS Sonix was in my opinion a truly amazing achievement for a piece of home music software that was originally released in 1986.  It is a genuine polyphonic soft synth which could be played in realtime from MIDI running on a humble Commodore Amiga from a single floppy disk with no additional hardware required.

The fact that this works at all kind of amazes me but to see something offering a crude filter emulation, PWM, waveform drawing, 2nd & 3rd harmonics generation, envelopes an LFO and a phaser truly amazes me.   Yes its 8-bit, steppy as hell, and full of digital artefacts but to me that is half of its charm!

In this case Sonix V2 was played live via MIDI and just to keep in line with the humble nature of this setup I decided to record it through an ART MultiVerb LTX which is the first reverb I ever owned in my youth and one I still like to this day for its character and darkness.

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

1986 AEGIS Sonix:  Realtime Polyphonic Soft Synthesis... on an Amiga!

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

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

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 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

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 (87 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