7 thoughts on “Synth Museum”

  1. I have photos of the FIRST polyphonic digital keyboards for analog and digital Synths designed by myself in 1969. It was used by people like Stevie Wonder (Malcolm Cecil-TONTO), Quincy Jones – (Brothers Johnson album), Henry Mancini, Sergio Mendes, Don Lewis and others. There were about 20 units made during the early 70’s well before Oberhiem even entered the Synth market. When Tom introduced his SEM-1 I was adding them to my system which much later prompted him to attempt to design his own keyboard which was limited to 61 or less keys. My keyboard had networked keyboards (61 keys) and a networked processor system with velocity, touch and other real time sensing while EVERYONE else was only able to play one and then TWO notes. Check with Mark Vail who did an extensive telephone interview with me. Any of the albums from the above artists will give an accurate time/date conformation as well.
    At the present I may be reintroducing a new kind of keyboard. To be announced.

  2. Armand

    I’d love to see the photos and learn more about this.

    Let me know if you have a link to more information on your keyboards. Otherwise, send me a note using the feedback form!

  3. I just found some old albums and photographed them so that I could email them (photos). These are THE VERY FIRST EVER polyphonic analog/digital Synth recordings released to the public. NO ONE was doing ANYTHING like this at that time. Check the album dates etc. Malcolm Cecil was the first Quincy Jones and Sergio Mendes were the next to use this brand new techonology in connection with WestLake Audio in LA. Send me your email and I will zip them to you. I would love to do an article (Mark Vail did an extensive interview) about how it all started back then and give credit to the many people that contributed to getting this age off the ground. Back then many believed the it couldn’t be done (microprocessors were not available yet) and most attempts failed. Thank you, Armand

  4. Do you have an email address that I can send the Album photos of the FIRST time ever a recording was made using a polyphonic keyboard? These Albums are an important piece of music history. The feedback form lacks that ability. My latest attempts to send photos to you have had those photos returned as undeliverable. I would like to hear from anyone who has one of the keyboards that I built back then. I can provide support if needed. Just contact me at [email protected]. Thank you, Armand

    1. Yes It is called the SDX3700. I also designed a couple of other DJ products for Steve.
      I wrote a Dance DJ program which has been posted on the http:\\www.Dancetips.org web site.
      It is a free download without any “strings attached”! I hope everyone enjoys using it to manage their music and dances. This program was written for dancers!

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