Overview Wolfgang Palm developed the 300 series modules as a replacement for his original Moog Modular like 100 series in 1976. He re-used some of the circuits and added new front panel designs. The 300 Modular Synthesizer consisted of 17 modules, plus cabinets and keyboards. Some of the later modules are very rare, perhaps never […]
Continue Reading
Overview Back in 1974 G.D.Shaw designed the Practical Electronics Minisonic 2 analog synthesizer. It was published as a magazine project to build, and complete kits were available from a company called Phonosonics. I was lucky enough to get this kit as a Xmas present in 1974 and I gradually built the whole synthesizer with the […]
Continue Reading
Overview What if Sequential Circuits had launched a rack mount version of the Prophet 600 in 1983, as one of the first MIDI synth rack modules? Roland took this approach when they ported their first MIDI synthesizer the JX-3P in 1983 to the rack mount MKS-30. Having some time spare in the 2020 Covid lock […]
Continue Reading
Overview On 22nd June I fitted the factory diagnostic EPROM and switched on the P600, hoping it would boot into diagnostic mode. In fact it did not boot up at all and left some of the LED’s on the control panel on, and the membrane keyboard does not appear to work. So it is not […]
Continue ReadingOverview In December 2021 I started to work on a replica of the 1974 Minisonic 2, designed by G.D.Shaw. The two PCB’s arrived in mid 2022 and by the Spring of 2023 I had completed the initial testing of the prototype. The original design has some unconventional design aspects, which make it tricky to drag […]
Continue Reading
Overview The RS-09 Organ and Strings keyboard was the most popular keyboard product from Roland from 1978 – 83. It sold over 15,000 units and had a hefty profit margin, and retail price of £500 back in the day. In May 1980 Roland refreshed the design, from serial number 94750 onwards, the same chassis but […]
Continue Reading
Overview Back in 2018 I bought an original Jupiter 4 Voice Card with the plan to turn it into a complete single voice synthesizer in a Moog 60 HP case. In 2020 I got as far as a prototype (see photo of the Motherboard and Panel PCB’s) but with some problems, which resulted in the […]
Continue Reading
Overview Back in 2018 I bought an original Jupiter 4 Voice Card with the plan to turn it into a complete single voice synthesizer in a Moog 60 HP case. I added a replica Controller PCB and a new Pot PCB that holds the switches, LED’s and potentiometers. In 2020 I got as far as […]
Continue ReadingOverview In 2021 I acquired a set of original Oberheim Xpander PCB’s – the Voice and Processor boards, so that I could build my own Xpander at around £2000. This is an expensive and crazy project that requires lots of difficult to source parts. In 2021 I bought the CEM3372 and CEM3374 chips, and waited […]
Continue Reading
The Moog Modular system has internal signal busses, which from 1968 onwards were controlled by utility modules, both full height like the 992 and 993, and half height like the CP3. These modules are very useful as they replaced external patch cables, provide switches for routing and potentiometers for mixing. The original control panel range […]
Continue Reading