Subject: Re: [linux-audio-user] Russian synths ?!
From: Dave Griffiths (dave_AT_pawfal.org)
Date: Wed Oct 27 2004 - 17:51:20 EEST
On Wed, 27 Oct 2004 17:34:32 +0200, derek holzer wrote
> I've made a few recordings with a friend's Formanta EMS-1 in Latvia.
> He said it was just laying around an old theatre in Liepaja
> collecting dust when he found it. The synthesized strings on the
> keys are fairly tame, but the noise-driven, sample-and-hold LFO is
> an absolute monster!
>
> http://ruskeys.net/eng/base/formanta.php
>
> Another bonus feaure is the fact that the Formanta sounds
> *completely* different about three hours after turning it on than
> when you start. Let's hear it for non-linearity, which simply can't
> be emulated on the computer.
we should try :)
I found a bug in my in-development drumsynth last night where the sine
oscillator's ever increasing float time value was causing a very slow
incremental bit reduction effect - presumably because the representation loses
precision and breaks down at high values. Fine when you wrap it properly - but
perhaps it should be left in as a quirk of the instrument...
> Another friend from Riga occaisionally sells different
> Soviet/Russian synths on Ebay. In fact, there seem to be quite a few
> of them around. Not the Formanta, it's a rare beast, but if you are
> looking for a Polyvox, for example, the going price seems to run
> between 500 and 700 Euros. Shipping is what would really kill you,
> though. A Polyvox isn't too heavy, but the Formanta is approximately
> the size and bulk of a small fridge!
there is definately something special about old soviet technology and the
like. I guess they didn't have planned obsolescence back then :)
dave
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