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

A1 Grouchy Acid 137 AM

vilted

A live improvisation resulting in one of those happy accidents tweaking various parameters in a SynHCS patch editor session running on a Kaypro 2X CP/M computer while testing out a 1982 DK Synergy during major restoration after successfully building and installing one of the superb new Tauntek Synergy II+ upgrade kits.  This digital wonder was streets ahead of its time and remains easily my favourite vintage digital synth - every time I sit in front of one of these beasts it leaves me in awe with a deep respect for the talent and dedication of its creators at Digital Keyboards and Bell Labs in the late 1970s.

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

1982 DK Synergy II+: Binary Chaos Machine... (Tauntek Upgrades)

apnea in vacuum | selection of drafts, tests, etc ... in progress.
https://soundcloud.com/nike_vomita/sets/apnea-in-vacuum

Jordan's Training (ex.pax_toner)

A 1983 Fairlight CMI Series IIx going through her paces whilst testing out her realtime controllers following major repairs and overhaul here in the workshop.

Having sampled a tiny snippet of speech a lab signal generator produced a distorted bipolar ramp wave which was fed into one of the pedal controller inputs (as a CV input) with the Fairlight programmed to modulate the sample start point with the control signal.  The loop length was set to one segment thus causing a weird sample walk-thru effect where the rate of walking through the sample is determined by the frequency of the ramp waveform.

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

1983 Fairlight CMI Series IIx: Ramped Sample Walk-thru Vocal-FX

I came up with this test recording today whilst trying out my first set of four slides in the prototype optical analog waveform scanner.  It is quite hard to predict just how each slide will sound and its been quite good fun coming up with various shapes and patterns to produce various timbres, textures and effects from simple/musical to much more bizarre effects such as intermodulation (using patterns) and almost sync like effects.  In the process of exploring the slides I have come up with a beam scan method that increases the linearity of the optical response to the slide profile resulting in a softer, less pulse-wave laden waveforms.

What I am now convinced about is that Daphne would have quickly learnt that its much more effective to scan areas of limited width and Y-axis position / modulation.  The result is a remarkably fluid control of the timbre and how it modulates with time.   

Although there is a ton of reverb in this recording there is absolutely zero dynamic filtering - it is all due to modulating the Y-axis scan slit with a slow LFO so that the waveform is continuously changing over time.

The recording was made direclty from the optical scanner (not sampled) in two takes - one for the drone effect and one for the lead synth.

A rough description of how my 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: Morphed Slides...

https://mikeparadinas.bandcamp.com/

https://www.discogs.com/de/release/6990714-%C2%B5-Ziq-1st-Live-Set

µ-Ziq - 1st Live Set

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

Silenced Voices

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

19 01 2010 Ursprung

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

Entangle 81z

redemption track XX

202, 303, 606, 707, 808
SH2, JX-3P
Cirklon

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 (85 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 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

1982 DK Synergy II+: Binary Chaos Machine... (Tauntek Upgrades)

Hideaway Studio

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