Kawai R-100 drum machine "What good is playing loud if you can't play soft?" advertisement, Keyboard 1986

Kawai R-100 drum machine "What good is playing loud if you can't play soft?" full page colour advertisement from page 11 in the November 1986 issue of Keyboard Magazine.

This gorgeous advertisement appeared in Keyboard Magazine from around November 1986 to February 1987. Somehow Kawai found a little hole in time between promo'ing their K3 ad they had been running, and a K3/K3m/computer ad that kicked the K100 to the curb in March 1987. 

It deserved more. More real estate. More promo. More time. 

This thing is still a beast. A living, breathing animal. Seriously.

You see, I'm not just a fan of the R-100, but also a trained biologist. Botanist/zoologist to be exact. Sure, my last 25+ years in Marketing may have dulled some of this here scientific noggin (*points at head*), but if there is one thing I can still do, it's identify the life cycle of living, breathing organism. And included in that category is gear that would follow the classic Keyboard Magazine life-cycle. NAMM article. Spec sheet. Ad. Review.

Take the R-100 for example. 

I first tagged a wild R-100 specimen while hunting in the forests of the September 1986 issue of Keyboard Magazine. Even though I had just entered university as a science undergrad, I'd like to think my catch-and-release game was already in top form way back then as I flipped through a Summer NAMM article and found this write-up under the "Drum Machines" subheading.

"Kawai continued to expand their line of professional products with their R-100 drum machine ($795). The R-100 has 24 32kHz, 12-bit companded sounds on board, including agogos, timbales, and china bell. It also has a selectable clock rate, tap tempo, individual outs, stereo outs, MIDI key assignments, and real-time tuning.

To put the time period in perspective, also roaming the forests of theis September 1986 issue was Korg's new DDD-1 drum machine ($999.95).

Needless to say, I tagged both for future observation and data collection before pushing forward in my quest to find more info on this new Kawai drum machine.

It would be a few months after that initial interaction that I would see the elusive R-100 again while staked out in my little observation hut. I remember I was sipping some hot chocolate I'd made by the fire pit when I saw fleeting images darting across a deer path. 

Two shadows leaping through the underbrush toward a stream. 

I squinted... remained motionless... and there, in the Spec Sheet section of the December 1986 issue of Keyboard (a month after it's first sighting in an advertisement - okay, no life cycle is perfect), crouched down along-side a K3m, quietly drinking from the stream, was another sighting of the R-100...

"The R-100 digital drum machine features touch-sensitive pads which trigger 24 12-bit/23kHz sampled sounds. Real-time control is provided for tuning, panning level, and sensitivity of each sound. Memory capacity is 100 patterns, 100 songs, and 10 chains. The unit records velocity, tuning and stereo pan for each note. Song position pointer and MIDI data dump are included in the MIDI implementation. The clock rates are variable and a sync-to-tape function is included. Other features include song overdubbing, programmable tempo and volume changes, and ten separate programmable outputs (two stereo, eight direct). The R-100 drum machine :$795.00."

But as I moved in for a closer look, the R-100 caught my scent and they both took off into the night brush. I returned home, telling the tale of this second sighting of the R-100 to all that would listen. 

Then, FINALLY, while walking through the dense woodlands of the February 1987 issue of Keyboard, I found what I was looking for. A review of this magnificent beast by Dave Fredrick!

The article starts, as most reviews do, with a brief intro that includes this rather scientific, fact-based observation on the rather short history of the digital drum machine:

"In as little as six years, we've seen the digital drum machine evolved from a $5,000, 15c rhythm device to today's fully dynamic, keyboard-controllable, tunable, user-sampling MIDI drum machine. And most of these instruments are priced under $1,000. Ain't life grand!"

Grand indeedy!

After a nice thorough review of the instrument, the reviewer concludes with what would become general consensus pretty much everywhere - Kawai had a winner on their hands with the R-100. 

Yes indeedy!

Dave especially liked some of the new features not yet found on other drum machines, like being able to individually assign instrument, tuning and pan placement for each key on a MIDI keyboard, and the "repeat and jump structure" of the pattern sequencer. 

I would have to agree. To this day, the R-100 is one of those pieces of gear that will always have a place in my heart. And, on my specimen table, where it sits waiting the next chance to be turned on.

More Kawai to come in the near future.

Roland Alpha Juno 1/2 "An easy to operate synthesizer with excellent sound quality" brochure, 1986

Roland Alpha Juno 1 /2 "An easy to operate synthesizer with excellent sound quality" six-page colour brochure from January 1986.

Well, since I was discussing Junos in my last post, I figured I may as well keep the theme going by scanning this brochure featuring the next generation of Juno - the Alpha series.

Although not technically a "We design the future" brochure, it keeps all the design aspects of the series, except for the tag phrase itself, which had been phased out years before.  We get a cover page with the giant Roland logo, a large red title and a photo that incorporates some kind of cool background - in this case some kind of semi-transparent folding screen or paper. So I've tagged it with the "We design the future" label anyways.

And, as expected, opening the brochure up reveals a large photo of an Alpha Juno syn... wait a second! In this case, when you open the brochure, you first see a smaller barn door-type page that has the right side of the Alpha Juno 1 on it along with some gold nuggets. The cool thing is it fits perfectly with the left site of the Alpha Juno 2 on the pages within, giving the illusion of a full image of the Juno 1.

Confused? It's a bit hard to explain so I've included a short gif below of what you see when you open the cover page.

Now, when you open that inner page up, it reveals the inside pages that include a large three-page image of the Alpha Juno 2!  That's a great way to problem-solve the issue of trying to fit photos of both large synths on just the inside pages.

The Alpha Juno series of synths were an evolution of sorts for Roland synths. Their DCOs produced significantly more wave forms than previous synths like the MKS-80 and JX-8p, and they had a distinctive 8 parameter envelope. The brochure rightfully highlights both of these features, but only after highlighting the different between the two Alpha synths themselves. Those three differences being:

1. Keyboard size - the Juno 2 with its 61 keys, and the Juno 1 with 49.
2. The Juno 2 had velocity and pressure sensitivity - a no-go for the Juno 1.
3. The Juno 2 had the luxury of a M-64C cartridge for extra patch storage, while the Juno 1 had to suffer with cassette tape back up.

Both machines luckily had the alpha dial - a great (and fun!) way to edit data. I'm definitely Pro-dial. I love it just as much as I love the Alpha's filter.

Last, but not least, no Alpha Juno post would be complete without mentioning its most famous sound... the hoover!

If you've been living under a rock, then you can catch up quickly by reading this wikipedia entry on this unique sound.

There. I mentioned it. Happy?

Roland TR-505 drum machine "The first step..." brochure, 1986

Roland TR-505 drum machine "The first step in forming your own personal music system" four page colour brochure from October 1986.

Well, its May the 5th.

5/05.

505 day.

Sure, it's not as flashy as 808 day. Not as bouncy as 303 day. Not as Latin-y as 727 day. But dammit if I'm gonna ignore the baby of the Roland XOX family today.

Plus, its been a while since I've blogged. For good reason though - I'm getting ready to demolish my house. Everything is getting packed up as we speak. Bubble wrapping synths and drum machines. Boxing thousands of old synth magazines and brochures. And trying to figure out what to do with 10 Commodore 64's. No kidding. Its slow going. But its happening.

But I jut had to take some time out to post this lovely Roland TR-505 brochure.

The layout of the brochure follows the format of all those other lovely Roland brochures - like these two for the TR-909 and TR-808 (click on images to view corresponding blog posts and full sized scans).

        

Same large lettering on the front page with a ton of white space around it. And a gorgeous, artsy-esque image below. This time, Roland chose to use a dark slate rock formation as the backdrop, and included two of the 505's siblings, the TR-707 and TR-727, to help pump up the TR-505's cred. This wasn't an accident (more on that later).

Flip the page and Roland gets directly to the point with a title that makes it clear who the target market for the TR-505 is.

Newbies and the price-conscious.

Hey, everyone has to start somewhere.

The intro also hits directly at the intended audience with words and phrases like "economical" and "extremely affordable price". And to drive home the point that you are getting lots of value for the money, Roland makes sure to highlight the large number of sounds, large memory and full MIDI implementation found on the TR-505.

Roland references the TR-707 and 727 early on when hyping up the sounds on the 505. Smart move, as its a great way to suggest that what you are getting is the best of those two worlds in one small package.

And guess what... turn to the back page and there they are again. Sure, its a great way to cross promote a few other Roland products (standard fare in these brochures), but also to again make that connection in reader's minds between the the 505 and its bigger brothers. Nice work!

Now... do I have to address the obvious question?  How did the 505's sounds stack up to the 707 and 727. Well, the logical thing to do is plug in all three and hit record on the video camera. But unfortunately all three drum machines are bubble wrapped and wedged into big carrying totes at the moment. So, that will have to wait until next 505 day.

So, I tried to do the next best thing, which was Google it and read a couple of forum comments on the topic. And well, you can guess how that went. Hint: humans are mean SOBs.

So, in the end I loaded up Reason and got my sample packs out. I compared the 505 and 707/727 sounds from two different sample packs, in case any samples in any given sample pack weren't recorded properly. In the end, there wasn't any perceived differences between samples in the different sample packs.

Here's my thoughts*:
*you have a right to your wrong opinion  :)


Bass drum:  ounds are different. The 505 bass drum has less low end than the two 707 bass drums.

Snare: 505 snare is definitely different than the two 707 snares. But all three have some punch to them. And definitely belong to the same family of sounds.

Low, medium and hi toms: Definitely different between the two machines. The 707's toms were longer, with a bit more natural hollowness (for lack of a better word) to them.

Rim shot: Surprisingly, almost exactly the same - with the 707 slightly lower in pitch.

Closed hi-hat: Definitely different. 505 slightly lower in pitch. But both work great to cut through a track.

Open hi-hat: Very similar. Surprised by that.

Low conga: 727 conga slightly longer and lower in pitch than the 505.

High conga: 505 and 727 similar in sound, with 727 slightly higher in pitch.

Timbale: The 505 timbale sounds slightly similar to the 727 high timbale sound, but is a shorter sample with less high-end at the beginning on the sound - less "snap". The 727 low timbale has no comparison.

Cowbell: There are hi and low cowbells on the 505 and only one on the 707. All three sound different, but are pleasing to my ears. I love cowbells!

Hand clap: The 505 and 707 hand claps sound similar, but are definitely not the same samples. The 707 might be slightly beefier and I prefer it.

Crash cymbal: The samples are different, with the 505 having a bit more "crashiness" up front before tailing off. The 707 has more of a steady tail, if that makes sense.

Ride cymbal: Very different samples - you can even see it in the wave form. The 707 ride has much more "ting" at the beginning of the sound than the 505 does, and a lot more body to it as well. I prefer the 707 sample.

Of course, there's a tambourine sound on the 707 that isn't included on the 505. And there are a lot of the 727 sounds that aren't included on the 505 including hi and low bongo, hi and low agogos , cabasa, maracas, short and long whistle, quijada and star chime.

But I think that Roland did a decent job of selecting to include congas and timbales sounds on the 505. Sure, they could always have added more... but remember -  the 505 was created with cost in mind.

Enjoy 505 day, every one!

Korg DDD-1 Dynamic Digital Drums brochure, 1986

      

 

 Korg DDD-1 Dynamic Digital Drums four-page colour brochure from 1986.

I've been slowly learning that Moog Song Producer software, but that manual is so crazy that I need to take a break and work on something else every now and then.

And I gotta say I've also been on a bit of a Korg kick lately that has begun to flow into the blog. First with that lovely 1982 Korg catalog I last posted, and now with this equally lovely D.D.D.1 (aka DDD1 aka DDD-1) brochure.

Where do I begin? How about with that lovely 80s-style front cover design created very much in the style and colouring of the Korg drum machine itself. Stacks of rectangles in the shape of the drum pads representing all sound possibilities the DDD-1 has to offer.

Flip open the cover and you've got tons of interesting brochure copy to read inside. Yet the text doesn't feel too crowded thanks to the large main image and plenty of white space between each column as well as each paragraph of text. Makes for a nice, easy read.

And flip over to the back, and we see all the specs as well as a few interesting options, including an intriguing sampling board! But I'll get back to that later.

In order to understand the significance of the Korg DDD-1 and where Korg was trying to fit this piece of kit into a crowded market place where technology was developing fast and feature/price ratios was falling even faster, we have to look at what had come previously, both from Korg and others. Here's a few examples:

1984
 - Roland TR-909: 10 sounds, $1,195
 - Sequential Circuits DrumTraks : 13 sounds, $1,295
 - LINN 9000: 18 sounds, $5000+!

1985
 - Roland TR-707/727: 15 sounds, $595
 - Sequential Circuits TOM: 8 sounds, $799
 - E-mu SP-12: 24 sounds, $2,745 - 1.2 seconds of sampling
 - Korg DDM-110/220: 9 sounds, can't find a price anywhere!).

1986
 -  Casio's RZ-1: 12 sounds, $599 - .8 seconds of sampling
 -  Roland TR-505: 16 sounds, $395.00

And, now, we slot the DDD-1 into this mix of drum machines with its 18 sounds. All for $995.00.

What's that you say? The Roland TR-505 has 16 sounds for only $395.00?

Yes, but its not just about the number of sounds the drum machine has. It's also about the features!

With the Korg DDD-1, we getting dynamics and tuning. And we can also add more sounds by plugging in up to four ROM cards (from the more than 20 to choose from). Plus, if you shell out a bit more cash, you can get the sampling board, which gives you 3.2 seconds worth of sample time - a lot more time than the RZ-1 had.

My point is, the DDD-1 found a nice niche to settle into and a pretty fair price point with lots of future possibilities for expansion. Unfortunately, I could never track down an original price of that sampling board, which would have allowed a better comparison with some of the other sampling drum machines from the time period. I'll keep looking.

Now to get back to that Moog Song Producer software I've been slowly learning for a near-future blog post.

Roland TR-505 "Light Heavyweight" ad, Keyboard 1986

Roland TR-505 drum machine "Light Heavyweight" colour advertisement from page 17 in the December 1986 issue of Keyboard magazine. Also appeared on page 9 in the March 1987 issue of Electronic Musician.

Well, it's Cinco De Mayo today, and I don't want to take anything away from that. But May 5 also has another name - 505 day!

Sure, its not as celebrated as 303, 808 or 909 day, but to me it's part of the XOX family and deserved a little recognition.

Hmmmm... not buying it, eh? Okay - I'll come clean. I have a personal soft spot for the 505. It wasn't the first drum machine I played on, but it was the first one I bought for myself. I spent hours programming the rhythm patterns to songs like Dreaming of Me and New Life by Depeche Mode into it, along with the bass and melody lines into the sequencer of my Casio CZ-5000.

Yup. That was me.

And I'm  not the only one who digs this machine. Although review sites will often give the 505 a relatively low rating when compared to its brothers and sisters, it only drives users like me to become even more fanatical about it.  For example, Vintage Synth Explorer only gives this adorable battery operated puppy two stars, but the user rating is a much higher 3.72 stars. Just look at some of the comments below the review. Yoiks!

The ad itself looks to only have appeared once in Keyboard Magazine and Electronic Musician. I suspect its rarity can be attributed to the fact that it was released after the Super JX and right before the D-50. Roland only had so much ad space to allot to a budget drum machine when sandwiched between those two heavyweights. Technically, the 505 also appeared in another set of Roland Family ads - I'll get to those later.

In fact, it was so far off the radar I don't think it even ever got a review in Keyboard. But, luckily, it did make it into Keyboard's Spec Sheet section back in June 1986.

"Roland Drum Machine. The TR-505 Rhythm Composer features 16 PCM drum sounds, including five Latin percussion sounds. The unit is MIDI-compatible and has a memory capacity of 48 programmable patterns, 48 preset patterns, and six tracks, storing a total of 423 bars. MIDI velocity controls dynamic response. A cassette interface in included. The TR-505 can be powered with batteries or AC. RolandCorp, US, 7200 Dominion Circle, Los Angeles, CA 90040-3647" 

I'm almost as fond of the advertisement as I am about the drum machine itself. Roland had been using this colour pallet for a number of earlier synths including the Super JX and Alpha Juno series ads. In particular, I love the low-res computer graphics that were becoming all the rage in the 80s, as MIDI and personal computers started becoming more common. Alas, this was to be the last ad to use the design style before the introductory advertisement for the D-50 took on a totally new 4-page look and feel.

The text of the ad makes me happy as well. Phrases like "Spunky new TR-505". "Thoroughly modern MIDI instrument". "Our new champ still has a few moves you haven't seen". "Scores an easy technical knockout". And its

Read the whole thing and tell me it doesn't make you happy.

As happy as I am right now on Cinco De Mayo!

Roland Alpha Juno 1 & 2 "Flash boards" ad, The Music Technology Magazine 1986

Roland Alpha JUNO 1 & 2 "Flash Boards" full colour advertisement from the inside front cover of the July 1986 issue of The Music Technology Magazine (U.S. edition).

There are just so many reasons to love this ad, and the first is that this ad is from 1986. Let's face it, the 80s were a kick-ass time to be into synthesizers (as well as the growing MIDI music software industry). And with kick-ass time periods come kick-ass advertising art.

It just so happens that the 80s was also a time when affordable computers started popping up everywhere - in the office, at home and in the studio. More than a few commercial artists decided to try their hand at this medium called "computer art".

All that said - I can't even begin to speculate what the imagery in this advertisement is supposed to be. Except for many that face in the bottom right-hand corner. Yeah, I think that's a face.

But I know what the result is:

1. Awesome advertising art.

2. Awesome 80s advertising art.

3. Awesome 80s COMPUTER advertising art.

Another reason to love this ad is that it showed up in the "inaugural" issue of "The Music Technology Magazine". According to the editorial on page 3, the reason the magazine launched in 1986 was because they "felt there was no publication adequately catering for the needs of America's modern musicians". Apparently it was time for one.

Now, some of you readers from across the pond may be wondering - what are you talking about, that magazine has been around for years?!?! Well, they are related.

According to the "History" page of the Recording Magazine Web site, founders of the American version of the magazine were already well-established in the UK:

"In 1986, Music Maker Publications, Inc. (MMP) was formed to launch Music Technology magazine in the United States.

Founders Terry Day and Dennis Hill had already established a successful publishing operation in the United Kingdom, which published several music magazine titles including Music Technology and Home & Studio Recording. Their idea was to establish a company in the United States that would mirror their publishing operation in England.  

Partnered with a U.S. based management team, Terry and Dennis launched Music Technology magazine from their new corporate offices in Canoga Park, California and the timing was just right. In the days when MIDI and digital technology were being developed and refined, Music Technology rapidly gained a devoted readership, passionate about their music and hungry for news and information about the evolving technologies in the audio industry."

The rest of the page is quite an interesting read too, including many different music magazines you are probably familiar with.

I couldn't find a publication date in that inaugural issue. It just has a copyright date of 1986. I had to go to the second issue, dated September 1986 to get more info. In the editorial that appears on page 2 of that second issue (Tony Banks from Genesis appears on that cover), it states that "it's nearly two months now since we launched Music Technology with our inaugural issue...". Bam! That's reason enough to give the inaugural issue a July 1986 date for publication purposes.

Anyways - where was I...? Oh yeah - this was the first issue of the American version of TMTM. So, who better to show up on the cover? Peter Gabriel, that's who. No surprise to find him sitting there beside an Emulator.

Even more interesting is who else the magazine decided to interview in this first issue.

You may have already read the name on the cover image to the right - Douglas Adams! If you don't recognize the name, duck, because I'm about to punch you in the neck. Second, if you don't recognize the name, maybe the title of the article will help jog your memory:

"The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Macintosh".

And for anyone else still in the dark - here's the Wikipedia link. 

According to the opening paragraph, Douglas Adams was not only an author, but also a musician with an interest in music technology. Enough of an interest that article writer Matthew Vosburgh refers to Douglas as an "expert on the Apple Macintosh computer and its associated software".

Well, waddaya know!

I will forgive Matthew for probably thinking he is the biggest Douglas Adams fan ever born. Many people around the world make this mistake simply because they haven't met me yet. So to hear that Douglas Adams was also a synth-nut?!?! My head nearly exploded. Point being that when I first came across this issue some time ago, I actually ignored all the synthesizer and MIDI software advertisements to flip directly to the article.

Matthew's article is a fantastic, funny and entertaining read that gives us quite a few juicy tidbits of synthy knowledge. For example, Douglas Adam first used music software for the Mac called Concertwave Plus. Oddly I don't think I'm the first person in the world to punch that in to Google - but all that came up was cracked software sites. Moving on...

Reading the article, we soon find out that some of the first synths Douglas Adams looked at were the Casio CZ3000 and 5000 on account of them both being multi-timbral. But after listening to a Yamaha DX7, he ended up walking out of the store with a TX-7 module and a Korg DW8000. And what good are MIDI synths without MIDI software? It was then that he decided to get Mark of the Unicorn Performer software.

And well, I think many of us can relate to what happened next. He got GAS (look it up...).

According to the article, he picked up THREE more TX7s, A Korg EX800 and a Yamaha RX15 drum machine played through a Roland Octopad (although he regrets not going with the RX11 with its better MIDI implementation). Everything was wired through a Seck mixer and into a Fostex 260 four-track recorder.

Later, Douglas Adams also checked out the Emulator II, Kurzweil, and Fairlight, but opted for a Mirage sampler instead. As luck would have it, the Mirage never came in, and he "wandered off" with the Emulator. That happened to me when a Kawai K1 didn't show up at my local music store and I ended up walking out with three more expensive synths, a drum machine and a sequencer. I kid... kinda.

The behind-the-scenes stories and anecdotes are amazing to read - more so 28 years later. If you can find a copy on eBay, definitely pick it up. Buy two like I did because you will want one copy by your bedside at all times because chances are your Fruitloops and milk are going to spill onto it.

What? No... that has never happened to me. :)

Sequential Prophet VS "When an innovative new technology..." ad, Keyboard 1986

Sequential Prophet VS "When an innovative new technology..." full page colour advertisement from page 89 in the April 1986 issue of Keyboard Magazine.

While working on that recent Yamaha CX5M blog post I made the mistake of flipping through that April issue and came across this beauty. Almost simultaneously, in another tab of my browser is a link to Dave Smith Instruments latest big announcement on their new beauty - the PRO2 mono synth.  "One voice to rule them all" - Hell Yeahz!!!

There's just too much "synth-sexy" popping up on my screen! :)

Anyways, when chatting with other gear heads about vintage Sequential Circuits Instruments gear - the Prophet-5 is almost always where the conversation tends to veer. And for good reason - sweet machine. But more often than not, I will make an attempt to pull the conversation towards the Prophet VS.

That machine is just as sweet.

So it makes sense that when Sequential made the decision to reintroduce the Prophet name in a kick-ass new instrument, they must have known they had something awesome. And thus the Prophet VS was born. That "VS" in the name stands for "vector synthesis". And if you were around *before* the Prophet VS came into existence, chances are when you finally did hear one for the first time in a music store, you had probably never heard anything like it coming out of a single synthesizer. It can sound analog as heck in one patch, and as crispy digital with its bells and clangs in the next. But it could also "swirl". Yeah.... that's right. SWIRL.

Keyboard Magazine's Jim Aiken reviewed the Prophet VS in the August 1986 issue of Keyboard. And I think the opening paragraph will give you a good idea on just how incredible the VS was.

"Sure, it's a radical new approach to synthesis. But does it sound good? Yes, it sounds good. It sounds very, very good. If Sequential's new Prophet VS sells as well as it sounds, it's going to be the success story of 1986."

Jim's three page review ends with similar praise:

"From the moment we turned the Prophet VS on, it was apparent that Sequential has a winner on their hands. The factory presets sound wonderful, and many of them have a distinctive character that differs in subtle ways from anything we've heard before... There are a lot of fine synthesizers out there these days, but Vector Synthesis really does put the VS in a class by itself."

So, its obvious that at the time it was introduced, it was receiving high praise from everyone and their dogs (and cats). But that Keyboard review is from 1986. And history really ended up doing a number on Sequential, as well as a number of other American manufacturers finding themselves up against the deluge of synths that were being pumped out of the rest of the world.

To see exactly what happened, we can jump ahead a decade or two and take another look at what was being written about the Prophet VS. One of the best VS "retro" review articles I've ever come across on the Web is a Sound on Sound retrospective on the machine that appeared in the November 2001 issue written by Rob Alexander. Rob was definitely a fan. Probably more of a fan than me.

Sure, he does an awesome job explaining the machine and in particular vector synthesis, but for me it's the article's opening paragraphs that really helps give readers (and you!) a great synopsis of the time period and the synth market environment Sequential found themselves in the 80s. 1983 gave the world Yamaha's FM synthesis, '85 presented us with Casio's Phase Distortion and Korg's DWGS (Digital Waveform Generator System), and Roland pulled LA (Linear Arithmetic) synthesis out of their hat soon after. In Rob's words, "Such was the rather muddled state of the synth market in the summer of 1986."

Yup. Sure was.

The article goes on to explain that although the VS was definitely one of the best sounding synthesizers on the market, the high US dollar led to a rather high price tag in other parts of the world. Also, Sequential couldn't make units fast enough due to financial restrictions within the company at the time.

The result... well, I'll let you read the rest of the article to find out how it all turned out, but if you are a fan of Sequential and Dave Smith Instruments, you already know. Happy ending indeed with the new PRO-2.

I haven't really talked about the ad itself and it deserves a bit of attention. The layout is as clean and well laid out as the Prophet VS's own front panel. Even with the amount of content needed to explain exactly what this "radically different" synthesis method is all about, the designer managed to keep the photo of the Prophet VS relatively large, with that VS joystick front and centre.

The ad is almost as rare as the instrument itself. According to that Sound on Sound article I mentioned earlier, only about 2500 Prophet VS keyboards were produced and 900 or so racks. This particular Prophet VS ad only seems to have appeared in Keyboard Magazine in the February, March and April 1986 issues.

One other thing about the ad content I just have to find out...

I wonder if Dave Smith really did almost name the Prophet VS the "Tsunami"?

Yamaha CX5M music computer "The world's first music computer now has a broader repertoire" ad, Keyboard 1986

Yamaha CX5M music computer "The world's first music computer now has a broader repertoire" two-page full colour advertisement from pages 84 and 85 in the April 1986 issue of Keyboard Magazine.

Over a year after CX5M's 1985 "You've always had an ear for music..." introductory advertisement started running, Yamaha finally came out with an encore in another two-pager.

This time around, Yamaha had two messages to get across

1. Show readers how much the music software and hardware had grown for the platform.
2. Push the business side of the machine.

On the music software/hardware front, there really has been some good developments. In the original ad, Yamaha promoted four pieces of software with the CX5M - their FM Voicing program, FM Composer program, the FM Music Macro program and the DX7 Voicing program. By the time this ad came around, that list had grown to also include, listed in the order they appear in the ad:

• MIDI Recorder program - compose, edit and arrange music in step-time or real-time
• RX editing program - for editing Yamaha's RX11, RX15 and EX21 digital rhythm machines
• DX21 Voicing program
• Keyboard Chord Master
• Keyboard Guitar  Chord Master
• Graphic Artist Program
• Second generation FM Music Composer
• Second generation FM Music Macro program

Did you catch that in the middle of this list? They threw a graphics program in there! And they even thought it was such a great addition to the system that they let a screen shot take up some valuable real-estate in the ad.

Hardware for the CX5M also got some good coverage in the ad. And not just in the ad-copy. That big photo of the computer itself has a lot more things attached to it in this advertisement when compared to the original ad. And Yamaha included a whole subsection on the topic of hardware, including the oh-so-description:

• SFG05 - FM tone generator module with 46 of its own preset voices, an 1800-note sequencer and room for 48 user-programmed voices.
• YK01 and YK10 keyboards
• FD05 and FD03 Micro Floppy 3.5" disk drives (with MSX-DISK BASIC language "built into the disk drive interface cartridge" - what ever that means?!?!
• PN101 dot-impact printer
• MU01 mouse

Again - Yamaha has made an interesting choice to use up precious page real estate to include a photo of that Yamaha printer, and although that printer is printing out music notation, its clear that Yamaha is also positioning this thing as a business machine.

If that big photo of the printer isn't enough evidence of the business side of things, you only have to look at that ad-copy. Before Yamaha even begins to give readers insight into the new MUSIC hardware and software available, Yamaha spends **two paragraph**s talking about TeleWord - CX5M's word processor.

Teleword featured "advanced" (my air-quotes) word processing functionality such as global search and change, cut-and-paste text transfer and on-screen page layout. On the communications front, it included an auto-dialer with redial, 50-entry digital phone book and complete adaptability with 300 and 1200-baud operations.

Remember - this was 1986. Telecommunications among pleebs like us was still occurring mostly through services like Compu$erve at dial-up speeds and huge connection costs.

Still, I love this line from the ad.

"So whatever you create with TeleWord's word process (or other CX5M programs), you can send to computers anywhere in the world."

And I'm still waiting for a good one to pop up on eBay.

Linn Electronics Inc. LinnDrum Midistudio "Put a complete studio in your lap." ad, Keyboard 1986

Linn Electronics LinnDrum Midistudio "Put a complete studio in your lap." colour advertisement from page 19 in the February 1986 issue of Keyboard Magazine.

Here's a good question...  What does the Akai MPC series of sampler/sequencers and the Atari ST have in common?

In reality - not much. But in my mind - well... quite the opposite.

I've been infatuated with both for the last couple of weeks after a chance encounter landed a MPC 2000xl and an early model Atari 520 ST (in the original boxes - see photo at right ---->)  in my possession.

The MPC was in rough shape, in need of seven or eight new buttons, a new rotary encoder and variation slider (soldering isn't my strong suit), as well as about 10 or 12 screws that had gone missing after years of use/abuse. A quick search online for parts brought up MPCstuff.com - and I not only ordered the parts I needed, but also got a memory upgrade AND some thick black pads.  Gonna totally hotrod that thing.

So, while I waited for those parts to arrive, I decided to do some research on the Atari to figure out what kind of MIDI software might still be available to play around with. And lets face it, maybe get a blog post or two on the software ads I came across.  :)

As you may have guessed by the title of this blog post, those Atari software ad scans will have to wait because while I was digging through old Keyboard magazines for software ads, I came across this Linn Electronics ad for the almost-totally-unknown LinnDrum Midistudio.

What a great looking machine. You could almost mistake it for one of Akai's new MPC controllers! Like, seriously!

The LinnDrum Midistudio was the last product of Linn Electronics Inc. to be advertised in Keyboard Magazine, appearing in the February and March 1986 issues. And it looks like it was scheduled to appear in the April issue as well since it is referenced on page 140 of the magazine in the advertising index, but when you flip to its referenced position on page 87 of the magazine, it has been replaced by one of Keyboard Magazine's own ads for their "Rock Keyboard" book.

What caused Linn to pull the ad in April? Well, sadly, according to the "Past Products Museum" page on Roger Linn Designs' current Web site, it was around February 1986 that the last of the Linn 9000's were sold and Linn Electronics "closed its doors due to strong competition and the growing pains of a small business". Boooooo. Makes me sad  :(

Wait... what? Linn 9000? That was the last product by Linn Electronics? Not the Midistudio?  Roger Linn's own museum page doesn't even mention the Midistudio.

Wussup?

Turns out that many sources on the Web, such as Vintage Synth Explorer, consider the Linn 9000 to be the last product by Linn Electronics and that machine is also referred to as the "original MPC60". And let's face it - it kinda was. Because it was actually a machine you could buy.
 
But, according to the few LinnDrum Midistudio sources available on the Web, including an April 2008 post by MusicThing, the actual direct descendent to the MPC60 was the LinnDrum Midistudio - although it apparently never made it into production (see blogger comments below that MusicThing post for a sighting of an actual unit in a music store).

According to the page, the Midistudio was announced at the 1986 NAMM show as the replacement for the Linn9000.  As you can see from the photo,  it included the now-famous 4x4 pad configuration whereas the Linn 9000 had a more traditional drum machine-style long rows of drum pads. The Midistudio also featured that beige colour that became another trademark design feature of the MPC series.That post also includes one of the best photos of both the control unit and the actual rack unit, attached together by a 100ft cord between the two! Hence the the name of the ad: "Put a complete studio in your lap". And your lap could be all the way across the studio.

An "In the Studio" feature from the October 1986 issue of Keyboard Magazine titled "What happened to the Linn 9000" (online version by the author available) included a letter from Roger Linn to Linn dealers and service centres that explained the situation the company was in as well as a bit more evidence on the Midistudio/MPC lineage - bolding in the below quote is mine:

"NOTE: Mail addressed to the old Linn address is being forwarded to Roger Linn personally. During the recent NAMM show in Chicago I spoke with Roger Linn and he is now working with Akai. He is working on a new product, which he would not divulge what it would be, my suspicions would lead me to believe this new product to be a spin off of the Midi Studio."

Synthony.com has a page on the Midistudio as well, and explains its relation to the Linn 9000. According to the page, "all the 9000 features are retained including dynamic buttons, cue tempo, repeat, interchangeable sounds, 32 tracks per sequence and more." The page also gives us a list price for the Midistudio - $5,990.00.

So, was the Midistudio the direct descendent to the MPC range, that then continued on to evolve into my broken down MPC2000xl and beyond?  I'm gonna say yes, even if it never made it into production. The 4x4 pads, the beige colouring, and the few references I've found online is good enough evidence to me.

And what happened to my MPC2000xl? Well, I managed to fix the buttons,install the RAM and make the pad upgrade - easy stuff. Chickened out on the soldering though.

Will leave that to my favorite local tech. :)

Casio CZ-230S "...designed so a musician doesn't have to be a technician" ad, Keyboard 1986

Casio CZ-230S synthesizer "...designed so a musician doesn't have to be a technician" full page colour advertisement from page 113 in the June 1986 issue of Keyboard Magazine.

Oh, what a confusing and frustrating beast you are, Mr. CZ-230S. So confusing that they must have realized it and decided to only push this ad twice in Keyboard - June and December 1986.

In Casio's own product catalog from 1986, this beast isn't even listed in with the other processional CZ-series synths (CZ-1, CZ-5000 and CZ-2000S [and FZ-1]). Nope. It was demoted and listed under the "High Quality Sound" group, along with the HT-700 and HT-3000. And when you look at that page in the catalog, the facing "Drum Solo Keyboards" page includes this image:

Yeah... that association makes me a little nervous. And this perception of Casio consumer/prosumer keyboards probably had the same effect on other musicians who Casio were trying to convince to buy their professional products at the time. Now, I'm not saying Casio never managed to get over that hurdle (I bought a CZ-5000 and it still rawks!), I'm just saying that it was probably an up-hill battle.

Even CZ's Wikipedia page questions the 230S's abilities as a professional keyboard:

"The CZ-230S was released in 1986. Despite the CZ-230Ss model numbering, it was not really a programmable synthesizer; the specifications of this model more closely resembled that of one of Casio's home keyboard models. It used the synthesizer technology of the CZ-101 in a 100 tone preset sound bank, had a mini keyboard of 49 keys, incorporated the RZ-1 drum computer technology and had a built-in speaker. Only four of the sounds in the sound bank could be programmed by linking the synthesizer to a computer via its MIDI port."

Now, I admit that I get concerned whenever I see any Casio keyboard with a built-in speaker. And normally this is a major sticking point in my head when trying to convince myself this is a professional machine. I actually turned down a great deal on a Roland HS-60 for the same reason. Even a Juno-106 with speakers screams "consumer".

But in this ad, Casio tries to convince readers that the built-in speaker is a positive:

"And an on-board speaker (almost unheard of in a synthesizer)".

Yeah - unheard of for a reason.

Even better, if you look closely in the photo, it looks like Casio is comparing the 230S to a... wait.. what?  Is that aRoland JUNO-106?!?!?  Alongside a dude who's obviously not capable of connecting a patch cord.

So wrong.

On so many levels.

And yet I love that Casio had the balls to do this, especially if that is a Juno-106!!!! Makes me **smile**.  

And Casio was serious about marketing this keyboard to professionals. They slapped MIDI into this thing. And made it look semi-professional looking.

But I wonder  - was Casio strategically trying to blur the line between professional and semi-professional gear?

Or were they blindly trying different things on different keyboards to see what would stick?

Don't think that is a legitimate question? Let's just remember this is the company that slapped MUPPETS on to two of their instruments. But that's not the surprising part. Apparently May 1987 was a slow month at Keyboard Magazine, because they had the room (and even bigger balls) to include it in the Spec Sheet section of their professional magazine. No kidding.

from Toys of the 80s blog

"Casio Muppet Keyboards. Two new Casio mini-keyboards feature portraits of two mini-Muppets. The EP-10 has a portrait of Kermit the Frog, as well as four preset sounds, ten preset rhythms, and 29 monophonic keys, each one identified by colored tabs, which allow beginners to play along with Casio's color-coded songbooks. The EP-20, which Miss Piggy adorns, has eight sounds, 12 rhythms, 32 keys, and built-in speaker and tempo control. Users are guide through simple tunes by following a pattern of lights that blink above the keys. The EP-20 also comes with a songbook. The EP-10 retails for 69.95, the EP-20 for $119.50."

Now, someone will no doubt write me to say that educational professionals probably also read the magazine, and this was a good teaching tool. So, there is that.

And now I've acknowledged it. And saved someone the time.  :)

Casio RZ-1 Digital Sampling Rhythm Composer reference sheet, 1986

Casio RZ-1 Digital Sampling Rhythm Composer reference sheet from 1986.

Here we have Casio doing what it does best.

1. Take something that's professional and costs a lot.
2. Keep it professional and make it affordable.

Sure, there was a drum machine or two on the market that could sample their own drum sounds, but I don't think they were in this price range.

Casio first did a great job of this strategy with their CZ synthesizer series, especially with that $499.00 CZ-101. And now they are doing it with drum machines. And - spoiler alert - a professional sampling keyboard isn't far behind.

The RZ-1 may have only started to appear in Casio ads alongside other "x"Z instruments in September 1986, but the buzz around the instrument started months before. One of those early appearances was a one-pager Keyboard Report in the May 1986 issue of Keyboard Magazine.

Reviewer Dave Frederick gets right to the point in the introduction, explaining what makes the $599 RZ-1 drum machine unique:

"The first thing you notice about the RZ-1 is that it has a lot of features not usually associated with drum machines in this price range. For instance, separate audio outs for the instruments, slider-controlled levels, a lighted display, and user sampling."

And eyes must have gone wide when reading this review in 1986 when realizing this thing has 10 audio outs, individual slider volume controls and user sampling! Jack pot. Especially that last bit - user sampling. Dave Fredrick agrees...

"The sampling is very clean and the sampling process couldn't be easier. The .2-second sampling time is adequate for percussive sounds. We were able to create great new percussion instruments by taking random samples from the radio. Or use the four notes of your favorite bass sound and sequence your bass parts along with the drums. If you need longer recording times, it's possible to combine the sample times to create two .4-second samples, or one .8-second sample."

I bought my RZ-1 years after it was released, used, and at a bargain basement price. I just had to know what it sounded like next to my other 80s drum machines from Sequential, Roland and Oberheim (yes, my 80s drum machine collection became a bit of a fetish, not surprisingly around the time eBay came into my life). And even if I wasn't as happy with the sounds of the machine itself, the fact that I could sample from those drum machines into the Casio made it rock. A 909 sample, even at 8-bit, sounded delish.

I also tried the bass trick from the Keyboard Review too, but didn't find I liked the results as much as I liked the general idea of a pulsing bass coming out of my drum machine. Maybe it was the 20kHz sample rate/10kHz frequency ceiling that I ran into. Even bass sounds need some high-end.  :)  

A month before that Keyboard Review showed up, it appeared in a rather unassuming April 1986 Spec Sheet promo bundled in with a few consumer products - the SK-1 and MT-500. I've just included the RZ-1 content for this blog post.

"Casio announces the RZ-1, a programmable drum machine with 12 PCM-encoded sounds. User sampling is included.  Sampling time varies between .2 and .8 seconds. The unit's memory holds 100 patterns and 20 songs. Individual line outputs and MIDI connections are provided. $599.00."

Remember how I said Casio's marketing around the xZ instruments during this time period was a little scattered? I ventured a guess that this was at least partly due to all the other professional, semi-professional and consumer keyboards Casio was also trying to hawk at the time, and the lack of planning around a strategic, consolidated, marketing campaign.

This Spec Sheet  is a good example of how those other non-professional products, although cool (the SK-1 was a crazy little consumer keyboard and consumers and bedroom musicians everywhere ate it up), were getting in the way when trying to get good info about the RZ-1 out to the professional readers of Keyboard Magazine. The RZ-1 description, if promoted by Casio on its own, could probably have been a lot larger, but instead its just one of three products on an already crowded page.

To make the point, I've listed below all the keyboards Casio promoted in their catalog from this time period that includes their whole line of consumer, semi-professional and professional keyboards.

They included, using Casio's own groupings...

 *ahem* - had to clear my throat before listing them...

Digital Sampling Keyboards: SK-1, SK-5, SK-8, SK-100, SK-200, and SK-2100
Casio Piano Sound: CPS-2000, CPS-101, CPS-102
Spinet Type Keyboard: CST-2000
Popular Tone Keyboards: PT-1, PT-31, PT-82
Mini Keyboards: MT-20, MT-25. MT-55, MT-110, MT-210
Standard Keyboards: CT-360, CT-605, CT-620, CT-630, CT-6000, CT-6500
Melody and Chord Guide Keyboards: MT-88, MT-820, CT-805, MT-28
Arabic Keyboards: SK-8A, AT-400
Drum Solo Keyboards: MT-205, MT-520, CT-450, TC-510
High Quality Sound: HT-700. HT-3000, CZ-203S
Cosmo Synthesizer: FZ-1, CZ-1, CZ-5000, CZ-2000S, AZ-1, RZ-1, SZ-1, TB-1

Good lord.  Just looking at that list makes me tired.

And, like I said above, could be a reason that musicians reading Keyboard at the time may have had a bit of a problem distinguishing the kid's toys from the big boy's toys.

Casio CZ-1, AZ-1, RZ-1, and TB-1 "Note worthy" ad, Keyboard 1986

Casio CZ-1 synthesizer, AZ-1 controller, RZ-1 drum machine, and TB-1 MIDI switching thru box "Note worthy" two-page colour advertisement from page 82 and 83 in the September 1986 issue of Keyboard.

Normally I call these types of group advertisements "family photos". But even though these instruments have been nicely arranged for the photo, it still just looks like they are milling about not really aware that a photo is being taken. Like a family standing around a BBQ waiting for their steaks to be done unaware their neighbour is photographing them (and the TB-1 is probably having a veggie burger because he swore off meat at the age of 16 while going through his teen vegan phase).

And this ad is about as rare as finding a photo of my own family standing around the BBQ too.  It looks like it only appeared three times - September and November 1986, and February 1987. I never liked the family photo growing up... (probably again much like the TB-1 in this ad, I'd be sitting over in the far corner pouting).

Hey, if this blog can't be therapy, what can it be for?!?!   :)

Side note: Speaking of the TB-1 - I love that thing. It has two MIDI-INs (A and B) and eight MIDI-THRUs that are each individually switchable between the two INs. I have two of them strategically arranged in my studio so that I can easily flip the control of my synth stacks quickly between my computer and stand alone controller keyboards.

If I recall correctly, all the gear in this ad are making their first photographic appearances in Keyboard in this September 1986 ad. The CZ-1 didn't get any early advertising dollars. All that went first to the CZ-101 and then the CZ-5000.  And oddly, the CZ-1 won't make an appearance in a solo advertisement for another ten months or so. No kidding.

Even weirder, the RZ-1 actually did make appearances in the Spec Sheet section five months EARLIER in April 1986, and the Keyboard Report for the RZ-1 appeared four months EARLIER in May 1986 (more on those  in a near-future RZ-1 brochure post - weeee!). 

As for the TB-1 MIDI through box... I wouldn't expect any other advertising, but the AZ-1 MIDI controller is awesome. There should be some solo advertising around that, but I haven't found anything else in terms of ads yet. Although, during my Keytar-fetish-blogging period, I did post this AZ-1 brochure with a slick-looking dude I affectionately named Blane in reference to the dude from Pretty in Pink. 

My point being... er... what is my point?!?!? Oh yeah...

My point being that Casio didn't seem to have a solid marketing plan when they started releasing their professional gear. Marketing around all of Casio's new gear so far just seems to be scattered throughout a two year period between February 1985 and February1987.

I'm starting to think the real problem is that Casio's semi-pro line of keyboards are just getting in the way. I've been ignoring those ads in Keyboard Magazine, wanting to pretend for as long as possible that they just don't exist. Casio has been pumping out so many keyboards lately that it would be hard to actually come up with a campaign that could involve everything. So, instead, you get a sprinkle of CZ-101 ads over here, a couple of CZ-5000 ads over there, and a few CZ-1 ads waaaaaaay over that way.

But, these family ads are a step in the right direction towards corralling in all these instruments into a campaign. And to be honest, I have to admit that gear-porn ads like this turn my crank more than a little bit.

The ad-title is actually really good, although a little predictable - "Note worthy". But its the way its laid out in the centerfold that bugs me.  Because each word was given the same amount of space from the left-side margin of their own pages, the words are too separated. Maybe it was a gimmick. But there's no need for it.  And the other thing that disappoints me is that Casio's ad designers have taken out that human element I was digging so much in those early xZ advertisements. Boo. Much cooler would have been all this gear in a rack and a dude rocking out with it. We've already seen Casio use a Bruce Springsteen/Lover Boy stereotype (CZ-101) and a Miami-Vice stereotype (CZ-5000), and even Blane from Pretty in Pink (in that AZ-1 brochure) so how about a New Wave-decked-out dude a la Devo or Flock of Seagulls kicking it on all this gear. Okay, maybe that would only get my attention.  :) 

Also, you have to give Casio credit for at least trying to keep within a single naming convention ("x"Z-1). That goes a long way in keeping all these different products straight, recognizable, and memorable in a readers mind.

Plus, we also have the luxury of looking into the future, and so we know Casio does get a little better at all this.

A little.

Akai S-612 "Sample a Sampler" ad, Keyboard 1986

Akai S-612 "Sample a Sampler" one page colour advertisement from page 61 in the July 1986 issue of Keyboard Magazine.

It's hard to believe I can ever forget how thick that July 1986 issue of Keyboard is. That is until the next time I have a good reason to pull it off the shelf again. We are talking over 170 pages of juicy Keyboard goodness  - this time with a big cover photo of Lyle Mays sitting in front of a big-ass Oberheim 8-Voice.

And whenever I do pull it off the shelf, I immediately forget that I have a blog post to write and end up sitting at the end of the bed flipping through the mag. Although I've probably gone through this issue of Keyboard cover-to-cover more than a dozen times, my eyes always find something new.

This time, I notice this one small little descriptive sentence used with the Keyboard News section in the table of contents:

"Synthesizer sales hit new high"

I immediately flip to the news page to find the info. According to the small article, imports of synthesizers, mini-keyboards and organs had increased over 890% over the last five years - from $21 million in 1980 to $280 million in 1985. With over 98% of these instruments coming from Japan.

My immediate thought was - man, the US must be pissed that Japan is importing all this synth-love. But then the article notes that the US industry was keeping up, with exports of American synthesizers and electric pianos rising 19% in number of units and 17% in value when compared to the previous year, "with increased shipments especially to Switzerland and Japan".

The same news page also had another little blurb on Roland gray marketers - something that Yamaha addressed in a full page "Special Announcement to Purchaser" advertisement back in the February 1984 issue:

"The war against gray marketers - unauthorized importers of electronic equipment - stepped up on March 28, when Roland filed suit against ABC International Traders. The suit alleges that ABC infringed the manufacturer's trademark and rights under the custom laws by selling equipment intended for sale in countries other than the U.S..."

Interesting stuff.

But enough about the magazine - how about this ad, eh? 

Finally! Akai's S-612 sampler getting some full-page solo loving. To date it had been relegated to a 1/2 page format - first in 85's black and white "Would you like a sampler...?" ad, and then in the first half of 1986 in the "Finally Sampling Made Simple" colour advertisement. To be fair, it also got to share the stage with it's synth brother the AX60, but this is the first time Akai had decided to give the S-612 its own full page space.

And for good reason to - the price. Sure, its the same $995 as in previous ads. But now the "optional" MD-280 disk drive is not-so-optional and is included WITH the sampler. According to the November 1985 Keyboard Report on the S-612, Akai was selling the MD-280 on its own for $299.00. (And, BTW, you could also get a set of 10 pre-recorded disks for $79.95 and a box of ten blank disks for $49.95.)

But now, that $995 gets you both the sampler and the disk drive. Not too shabby.

The ad itself isn't too shabby neither. We got a really nice to-the-point ad-title. A nice big photo of both the sampler and the disk drive - actually the best photo yet, showing off that legible front panel and all that is simple and great about the S612.

Again, Akai has chosen to (TM) the heck out of the term Sampler. In the ad-title. In the ad-copy. Everywhere. It actually gets a little tedious. But I guess when you are trying to protect a trademark, you can never go to far.

It brings back to mind (but in no way related except that lawyers were probably involved) the recent Jack Daniel's friendly cease and desist letter. If you happen to be friends with any PR people, no doubt they sent you an email with a link to this news item in another tedious attempt to show you how much of a PR expert they are. Oh wait, I sent that email around too. Ooops.   :)

But, as a collector, what I like most about this advertisement is the collateral material available - not just a demo-sampler cassette, but also a T-Shirt! When I see that, I start to drool on my keyboard, and while the keyboard is drying off, I have to add those items onto my list of collectable items.

To me, vintage synth t-shirts are right up there with belt buckets.

Yum.

Akai AX60 "Synth With A Split Personality" introductory ad, Keyboard 1986

Akai AX60 "Synth With A Split Personality" two-page introductory colour advertisement from page 14 and 15 in the January 1986 issue of  Keyboard Magazine.

Akai ads are just getting bigger and better, and this two-page full colour advertisement for the AX60 just knocks my socks off. It had a rather good ad-run too, appearing for a number of months between January and April, and then making a brief appearance again in September 1986.

But, be warned. My objectivity may have taken a vacation today. So, full disclosure - I own an AX60 and I **LOVE** it. Yes, four **asterix** worth of **LOVE**.

It was one of the first synthesizers I bought off the Internet - from a cool dude in the Analog Heaven email list. I can recall the excitement of the transaction, the anxiety of waiting for it to arrive, wrestling with shipping box when it finally did arrive, and sliding it out of the box to reveal this gorgeous beast for the first time.

Yum.

The best thing about this ad is the fact that the front panel of the synth takes up the whole bottom half of the two pages. You can clearly read every control. It's magnificent and gives readers a good indication of EXACTLY what they are purchasing.

A close second best thing about this ad is the inclusion of the $795.00 price tag.

And a close third best thing is its association with the S612 sampler. Up until now, the poor S612 has spent most of its time in half-page ads, usually in the back-half of Keyboard.  But now at least it was getting a bit more air-time with its younger brother. These two peas in a pod even share similar markings, grays with a dash of pastel reds and blues. 

One thing I hardly noticed in this ad at first was what I thought was a lightning bolt down the center of the two pages. But then I realized its the "split" in the "split personality" aspect of the ad. Ha!

There are many reasons to like this advertisement, but there are just as many reasons to love the synthesizer itself. All the controls are located on the front panel, it has an arpeggiator, you can split the keyboard to create two different sounds, I could go on and on...

But for me, the coolest feature of this synthesizer is the VCO MOD control in the VCF section. It makes this synth scream and burble and gargle and gack. The AX60 manual has this to say about it:

"This unique feature produces musically useful timbre shifts when moved; the action is similar to tone control, but more sophisticated."

Yes, yes it truly does.

If you have not heard this sound, I've uploaded a simple arpeggiated saw wave demo to SoundCloud. Its a little distorted (caused by SoundCloud, not the VCO MOD function) so I've enabled the wave download button so you can download the original wave file (11 MB I think) if the audio gets to be too annoying.



Listening to the demo, you can really hear the harmonics/distortion added to the sound with this one simple slider interacting with the cut-off and resonance, and you can see why I used the VCO MOD *a lot* in angry songs I was created in the mid-late 90s. I would ride the slider up and down throughout some songs.  :D

Like the ad, the manual also spends a a fair bit of time talking up the AX60's connection to the S-612 sampler. Six of the 43 pages to be exact, running through the basics of set up, editing sampled sounds, stereo effects, and using the AX60's keyboard split function with the sampler.

But it is the final section - 11F: A Word to Creative Musicians... - that seals the deal for me, and makes me reach for the eBay app on my new NEXUS 7 Google tablet to buy one (nope, didn't get paid by eBay or Google to say that, just wanted to brag):

"The AX60/S612 combination is a powerful one. It will take you some time to master using the two devices together, but practice makes perfect. After you become familiar with the system (maybe even before!), you will be able to produce some absolutely marvelous sounds."

All this writing about the AX60 has me truly excited about this machine again. Now I gotta go play on it some more.

There goes the rest of my lovely afternoon.

Gah!

Yamaha TX81Z brochure, 1986

Yamaha TX81Z brochure from 1986.

Brought to you by popular demand... or more correctly... a promise I made to one guy who I was talking with at a local electronic music festival last weekend.

We had both downed a couple of beer already, and had been talking about our mutual adoration for the TX81Z. I don't remember everything about the conversation, but three hazy points stand out in my mind.

1. The TX81Z is an awesome piece of kit
   
2. I promised I would scan the brochure and put it in a blog post
3. We both agreed that the TX81Z, along with many other Yamaha synths, would have made a great name for a Star Wars droid

So, yah, I'm obviously a TX81Z snob. And proud of it.

I think it was unfortunate that the machine was (and still is) often compared to Yamaha's other 4-operator synths such as the DX100, 21, and 27. And more unfortunately, it was even compared to the lowly FB-01 tone generator. Bleek. :D

But the TX81Z was so much more than those sine-wave-only-wannabes. It's beauty lie in the eight different waveforms that each operator could produce, "generating sounds more complex than were possible with previous 4-operator FM synthesizers". Read the call-out box on the inside of the brochure for more info.

In fact, even putting those waveform options aside for a moment, those crazy program engineers were obviously having a good ol' time designing the innerds of this thing. The new "Reverb" voice parameter simulated "the lingering decay of sound in a live room by slowing the EG release rates when the operator level falls below a certain point". In RL, not so good, but definitely fun. And the panning, transposed delay, and chord effects made the TX even more fun to play with.

Interestingly, Yamaha chose to promote the TX81Z's microtonal abilities on the cover of this brochure - as found in the screen of the synth in the photograph. Sure, it was a great feature, but I think a photo showing a screen shot of the multiple waveforms would have looked much cooler, considering those waveforms really are at the heart of the expanded sound space of the TX81Z. Just my opinion.

Anyways, take all these features, and add a list price of under $500, and you get a very popular synthesizer. For years after it's release, patches for it could be found regularly in magazines like Keyboard, and especially common in Yamaha's own monthly AfterTouch magazine.

A bit about AfterTouch magazine

Yamaha's AfterTouch magazine started in 1985 as a free promotional magazine sent out to those lucky individuals that actually remembered to fill out their warranty cards. Many of these readers thought they had automatically subscribed to the free mag, so when they stopped receiving issues after three months, the complaints started rolling in.

Turns out, the initial mailing had to be only a three month affair. According to the magazine, general postal regulations required that a signature be acquired by the sender to ensure the receiver actually wanted whatever was being mailed on a regular basis. So users had to fill out a proper subscription card in order to keep receiving AfterTouch after the three month grace period.

But I think these postal regulations were actually good for Yamaha. Costs to keep producing this high-quality magazine and mailing it out to readers was going to start adding up. Without measurements on whether users wanted it or not, the cost/benefit ratio couldn't be calculated. The subscription card gave Yamaha a much better idea of how many users are actually finding the magazine useful.

An even cooler fact about AfterTouch: Back in the day, Yamaha would PAY readers when they sent in patches and other useful information.

For example, if the magazine published your crazy DX patch - that's $25 in your pocket.

Got a cool synth trick to share - that's another $25 bucks.

And if you happened to develop a whole new approach to programming, or discovered an "important secret" regarding the use of one of Yamaha's synths - $100 bucks is yours!

Okay, so these AfterTouch facts won't get you chicks. But in my defense, at that electronic music festival I mentioned earlier, my girlfriend compared the electronic sounds that "come out of those little boxes" to "magic". And, putting the requisite Arthur C. Clarke quote aside for a moment, apparently magic can get your chicks.

Just sayin'...

:D

Subscription forms and associated material, Keyboard 1986

Subscription form/envelope from page 161 in Keyboard Magazine November 1986.

Folding instructions? Tape?

Yes, I know I'm milking this subscription form thing. But I really do find it interesting. Especially when you look back at subscription forms from 1975 and from 1976, and then jump a decade into the future and see just how much the style and design have changed, probably mostly due to advances in printing technology. And, what a difference a decade makes.

So, as I was saying... folding instructions?! You know you trust the capabilities of your readership when you including folding/taping instructions in your magazine subscription form. And, even crazier, the 'tear' design of the page rotates the folding lines off on an angle, making folding the page a tad confusing.

But, Keyboard was obviously aware of this potential issue, so on the back of the page, the business reply address label is deliberately printed on an angle as well so folding on the angled lines actually works for the most part. Nice save.

My only other concern is that I would think that the more work you make a potential subscriber do (fold and tape), the less chance they will take the time to do it. But then again, I'm lazy (or, as I prefer to call it, "efficient").

Looking at the design, I can't help but instantly be transported back to the 80s. The 'teared page' layout brings back the days of ripped jeans and turned-up collars, and the front cover images used on the page immediately had me humming "Don't You Forget About Me" by Simple Minds.

So, after figuring out the whole folding issue and then recalling how great the 80s were, I then realized, "Hey, this is the November issue? Why isn't this subscription form holiday-themed and why doesn't it include a gift subscription form like in the the decade before?

Well, actually, turns out these can be found in the mag. I just somehow missed it the first time I was flipping through it. The gift subscription form/envelope is attached between pages 82 and 83. And, on page 83 is the accompanying full-page subscription promo ad.

Just look at that pile of magazines with the Martha-Stewart-esque bow wrapped around 'em. And reading the ad-copy, I realized that the coolest thing is that along with the subscription form/envelope attachment, as seen below...

... Keyboard also includes a gift card/envelope attachment (see below) to send directly to the friend you generously gave the subscription to. That way they don't have to wait the 6-8 weeks to realize you weren't a cheap bastard. And thinking back, I actually recall receiving this envelope in the mail from MY MOM when she renewed my subscription one year, even when we lived in the same house. Seriously. How awesome is my mom!

Well, I'm seriously thinking about taking next week off. Recharge the brain, work on music, and all that fun stuff. And, I may be able to put the final touches on my latest project and get that launched. But, like I said earlier, I'm lazy efficient, so it may be a while longer before that stuff sees the light of day.

But I got at least another four days to figure all that out... Happy holidays everyone. :o)