Steiner Microcon vertical ad #2, Synapse 1978

Steiner Synthesizers Microcon vertical black and white half-page advertisement from the left side of page 52 in the January/February 1978 issue of Synapse Magazine.

Someone was obviously paying attention.

What an improvement over the last version of this vertical advertisement that appeared in the previous issue of Synapse.

In that previous ad, you will recall that the dark text was appearing over the top of the dark photo of the Microcon being held by the hairy Wookie. Even the name of the instrument couldn't be read.

Look over there and click ----->

But all that changed and this might be Steiner-Parker's best ad yet. Correction - Steiner's best ad yet. That's right, Parker has packed up.

Finally, with this advertisement and it's tall, vertical format, readers could get up close and personal with the Microcon. Most, if not all of the labels on all those switches and knobs are readable.

The ad-copy is also nicely laid out, with the ad-title "Steiner Synthesizers" big and bold. So is the name of the instrument, nestled gently next to the wrist in the photo. And what used to be just big blocks of ad text has been separated into three paragraphs. Much more legible.

A branding expert may have wanted them to retake the photo (assuming that newer versions of the Microcon would only have the "Steiner" name on them - and not the Steiner-Parker logo like in the photo. But I'm not gonna get picky.

Although Steiner-Parker had chose not to advertise the Microcon or any other SP instrument in Contemporary Keyboard since the end of 1976, just the other day I did notice that it did pop up in the Spec Sheet section of the July 1977 issue.

"Steiner-Parker Synthesizer. The Microcon features a VCO, and LFO, a VCF, and an AD envelope generator. It is designed to complement other synthesizer by adding an extra voice to them. The unit is about the size of a small pocket calculator in width and height, but is about four times deeper. A power supply is built in. Price is $300.00. Steiner-Parker, 2258 S. 2700 W., Salt Lake City, UT 84119."

 Two interesting things about this Spec Sheet.

First - the same summer, a similar promo appeared in the What's Happening section of Synapse, and, as I posted in my last blog post, Synapse also included the promo for the Minicon, another one of their synthesizers. But it didn't get mentioned at all in this Spec Sheet promo.

Second - when was the last time you saw something compared to a pocket calculator? And apparently a "small" pocket calculator. How awesome is that!?!? I guess in today's world, the equivalent would be a comparison to the Apple iPad Mini or Google Nexus 7 (I love my Nexus 7   :)

But unless you were an avid reader of Synapse magazine, I doubt many people interested in Steiner's Microcon ever actually saw one. Luckily today, we have Google, and in particular MATRIXSYNTH  :)

There are some good photos to be found in this July 2008 auction post, this August 2011 auction post, and this follow-up auction from October 2012. Most of the details are taken from the Microcon ads of the day.

One other really cool resource I found online was through the electro-music.com forums, where one smarty-pants engineer, David M. Ingebretsen, has created new PCBs for the Microcon. The project seems to have started back in 2011 with the PCBs shipping at the end of 2012. A cool  read for anyone interested in that sort of thing. 

And that thread led me to his own Web site, where he has resurrected a Steiner Synthasystem modular - and it looks fantastic.  He has tons of other projects too - you can read his blog here.  

I've only started to explore these pages... there goes the rest of my Sunday afternoon! 

:)
 

Steiner-Parker Microcon vertical ad, Synapse 1977

Steiner-Parker Microcon synthesizer vertical black and white half-page advertisement from the right side of page 45 in the November/December 1977 issue of Synapse Magazine.

WTF is this?!?!

I don't know where to begin. But, in a nutshell - this ad has been given a really good beating by the ugly stick.

If you recall from my last blog post, it was only six months previous that S-P came out with this rather lovely, mature advertisement for the Microcon. Fairly good layout, lots of white space, large photo, good font sizes.

Obviously a lot can go wrong in six months.

Believe it or not, this advertisement contains the *exact* same ad-copy as that previous Microcon ad. But you wouldn't know it, because you can't read most of it. In fact, you can't even tell what product this ad is for. You can't read that either.

This is not human error on the part of the scanner (me....  :)     This is human error on the part of whoever gave the job of designing the ad to their twelve year old nephew. Could you imagine the damage that kid would have done had Photoshop been around. Two words - lens flares.

And maybe it's because I'm follically challenged, but that arm hair is creeping me out a little too.

The good news: Steiner-Parker decided to continue to use the waveform imagery in their logo. It's squished in there beside the name a little, but I'm gonna take whatever goodness I can squeeze out of this advertisement.

Luckily regular readers of Synapse would probably have heard pretty much everything there is to know about the Microcon by now either through that previous advertisement in the July/August 1977 issue. Or even an issue earlier when a small promo for the Microcon and Minicon appeared in the May/June 1977 issue of Synapse in the "What's Happening" section:

"Utah's claim to electronic fame, Steiner-Parker, has released two new synthesizers. The Minicon (designed to compete wih the ARP Axxe and the Minimoog) features a traditional compliment of modules and the ability to split one sawtooth oscillator to make it sound as two. It retails for $995. The Microcon is the size of a normal module but features the functions necessary to add another voice to an existing performance synthesizer. The Microcon retails for $300."

$300 bucks! Impressive. That price would have definitely put it on my radar for purchase.

But even more interesting is the mention of another Steiner-Parker synthesizer - the Minicon!

I can't recall coming across an ad for the Minicon in the usual magazines, but a quick Google search brings up the Minicon page on Vintage Synth Explorer. For $995 you got a VCO, VCF, VCA, EG, LFO, noise generator, portamento and S&H. Not too shabby. But apparently very rare. 

Synthmuseum.com also has a Minicon page with some good info, as well as a scan of what looks to be a sell sheet for the Minicon with a lot more info.

Couldn't find a video though. I'll keep looking. 

Luckily, even Steiner-Parker knew something had gone terribly wrong with this Microcon advertisement, and either the company, or Synapse, decided to fix it the next time it ran.

I'll get to that, and more info on the Microcon, in my next blog post.

Happy Valentines Day, everyone... ***grumble grumble*** 

:)

Steiner-Parker Microcon "complete synthesizer" ad, Synapse 1977

Steiner-Parker Microcon "complete synthesizer" black and white 1/2-page advertisement from page 7 in the July/August 1977 issue of Synapse Magazine.

It's been a while since I last blogged about Steiner-Parker. April 22, 2010 to be exact - a half-page advert for S-P's Synthacon and their multi-magazine promotion of a free sequencer with every purchase.

Definitely a good deal.

If there was one thing I remembered about many of S-P's earlier ads, it's that they had balls. Whether it was throwing in a free $500 sequencer with a $1395 synthesizer or going head-to-head with the King of synthesizers. In my mind they were a scrappy bold company ready to take on the world.

But a six-month break from advertising has Steiner-Parker maturing as a company. Out with the bravado. In with the specifications. *A lot* of specs.  This new advertisement for the Microcon is *all* business.

Reading through those specs today, you realize just how ahead of the game they were. The name of the instrument says it all. This was a micro- or smaller sibling of  the big-brother Synthacon synthesizer. And Steiner-Parker managed to package all the basic functions of a synthesizer - VCO, VCF, VCA, LFO, EG - into one compact module. It's a great way for a musician to quickly and easily add to their existing musical set-up while also saving a wack of studio space.

Case-in-point - when first deciding to build my own Eurorack modular to keep my Modular Moog company when I'm away on business, I purposely chose to include a Doepfer A-111-5 Synthesizer module to help save space. A VCO, VCF, VCA, ADSR, and two(!) LFOs in one compact module.  I loved that A-111-5 module so much that when PatchPierre.Net informed me last year that Doepfer was changing the design due to the discontinuation of the CEM3394 chip, I immediately got my dealer to order another one for me. 

But back to the ad - it wasn't just the ad-copy that matured - it was also the design. It's not perfect, but it is a lot more eye-catching than some of their earlier ones. Font sizes are balanced and we get a generous helping of white space. Everything is there - ad-title, ad-copy, large photo, specs. All grown up.

The logo also matured after a brief mid-life crisis. S-P did the adult thing and made the conscious decision to bring back the waveforms image after the name in the logo. They had stopped using those waveforms after the first couple of ads, maybe as a way to save space. But as can be seen in this ad, there is away to fit everything in nicely if you try hard enough. Just feels more like a logo this way.

But the best thing about this ad is the photo. Readers see what appears to be two incarnations of the Microcon -  a stand-alone version in a nice little case as well as a version that looks like it would feel right at home in a modular system.

Reaching in from out of nowhere, the hand looks a little creepy. But having the hand there actually performs two functions. The first is to provide a human element to the Microcon. Now those Microcons aren't sitting all alone and a musician looking at the ad can literally visualize him or herself using the Microcon. The second reason they probably included the hand is to help get across the idea of the Microcon's size. It is about the size of a hand. Itty bitty.

Actually - when I first saw the photo with the hand, I was immediately brought back to the late 1970s. But not in a synthesizer way. In a "Mr. Bill" way.

Mr. Bill was a recurring sketch on Saturday Night Live in the late 70s, and as Wikipedia puts it, "each Mr. Bill episode would start innocently enough but would quickly turn dangerous for Mr. Bill. Along with his dog, Spot, he would suffer various indignities inflicted by 'Mr. Hands,' a man seen only as a pair of hands".

 Every time I see this ad, I expect that poor Microcon to suffer various indignities. Giggle.

This particular Microcon advertisement only seemed to have appeared once, but there were more Microcon ads to come. Next time!

Steiner-Parker Two-Voice Synthacon and Sequencer 151, Contemporary Keyboard and Synapse 1976

Steiner-Parker Two-Voice Synthacon synthesizer and Sequencer 151 advertisement from page 30 of Contemporary Keyboard Magazine and the back inside cover of Synapse Magazine November/December 1976.

I've included both the Contemporary Keyboard and Synapse version of the 'Free Sequencer' ads to help make the point that when you are giving away a sequencer with every synthesizer, a multi-publication advertising campaign is probably the right move - especially during the holiday season.

With a Synthacon synthesizer listing for $1395 in 1976, giving away $528 (and 32 cents...) in extras is going to make a bit of a dent in your bottom line. It was a bold and I would guess costly move by S-P to try and wedge their way into a world dominated by 'the big three'. I know I might have been convinced to choose a Synthacon over an Odyssey with an offer like this.

In fact, I'm actually quite surprised that more companies didn't take advantage of both publications simultaneously. More on this in future blog posts.

Looking at the S-P ad that appeared in Contemporary Keyboard, the company upgraded from their usual 1/4-page ad to a 1/2-page ad. The increase in cost was probably considerable, but one could argue that it probably helped get their promotion noticed in the back half of CK.

The third-person ad-copy "See your local dealer or contact the manufacturer" was obviously overlooked by S-P. In my last S-P post, I speculated that S-P was probably getting their ads designed by an outside firm. This text seems to support the theory.

Turning attention to the Synapse ad, I think S-P made a really smart move spending the cash to claim the full back inside cover. S-P had already tested Synapse's waters with a full page Synthasystem advertisement in the previous issue and probably got a good response from the magazine's highly targeted audience. It was probably a no-brainer to spend a few extra bucks to take the back inside cover for this promotion effort.

But there is something wrong with the balance of the Synapse ad. I included as much of the page in the scan as possible so you could see just how much extra white space there is. I'm torn between wanting to use that space to put more information about the sequencer in this ad, and being happy that S-P stayed on-message - buy a synthesizer, get a sequencer - even if it means including less text. A larger font would probably have solved this.

In the case of both ads, I'm also a little bummed out that the S-P waveform logo doesn't appear with the Steiner-Parker logo-text. We'll have to see if this becomes a common occurrence in future S-P advertisements.

Looking online, I couldn't find any reference information about the 151 Sequencer at the usual synthesizer reference sites. But, two on-line videos have become very popular with well known synthesizer Web sites such as MATRIXSYNTH. These two videos also dominate Google results if you do a search for 'Steiner-Parker 151 Sequencer'.

Both videos feature the Synthacon and the 151 Sequencer doin' their thang. You really get a good demonstration of the Synthacon and its sound (what's with all that reverb?!?).

One last observation - In an earlier Synthacon post I made the case that the actual name of the two-voice Synthacon is 'Synthacon II' based on findings in a 1975 dealer sheet. You will notice that in these scans, one ad refers to the synth as a 'two-voice Synthacon' while the other as a '2-voice Synthacon'. Using these names to describe the synthesizer more clearly to readers makes sense (some readers at the time may not know what the 'II' means). But the lower case lettering helps me cling to my belief that the actual name was the definitely cooler 'Synthacon II'. :o)

Steiner-Parker Synthasystem, Synapse 1976

Steiner-Parker Synthasystem modular synthesizer advertisement from page 7 of Synapse Magazine September/October 1976.

I recently found myself glancing through my Synapse collection more and more - and that's where I first started noticing Steiner-Parker advertisements. So, it is fitting that this S-P ad be first Synapse ad blogged about on Retrosynthads.

The first thing you notice about this full page advertisement is how *big* it is when compared to some of the Steiner-Parker 1/3-page square ads that appeared in Contemporary Keyboard Magazine around the same time period (Blogged: Synthacon II and EVI). Those CK ads had no choice but to look small in that confined space. Small photos.... small fonts... It can be hard to get a reader's attention with a small ad in the back half of any magazine.

But with Synapse, S-P obviously decided that bigger was better. And darn cute too with that "Cooper Black"-type font. But where's the logo with those nice little waveforms? I'm guessing that this ad was probably created by the in-house design staff rather than being supplied by S-P.

There can be no question that it made sense for S-P to spend their advertising dollars with big ads in this magazine. While Keyboard Magazine tried to appeal to a wide range of classic and contemporary artists and enthusiasts during this time period, the core audience of Synapse was obviously hard core synthesizer fans. Seriously, what other magazine in 1976 could you find an interview with Kraftwerk AND Tom Oberheim (not together, silly), schematics to hot-rod your Gnome with a seven stage frequency divider, and an article entitled "Playing Music With Calculators: It All Adds Up To Music" (lets just say it involves calculators, an AM radio, and a touch of dexterity - see link to the article below) ?

I would guess that smaller companies like S-P would have been happy to spend some highly-targeted advertising dollars in a magazine with this type of reader base.

And it also makes sense that a highly-targeted Steiner-Parker ad in Synapse magazine would include a really large photo of a Synthasystem modular synthesizer.

The Synthasystem was a compact, configurable modular synthesizer (thumbs up to carry-case handles) built during the last half of the '70s. According to Vintage Synth Explorer, it couldn't really compete with likes of Moog, ARP and EML, but was great for sound processing and design.

The classic Synthasystem photo in this advertisement can be found on many reference and forum sites, and synthmuseum.com's page has even included an information break-down of all the modules in the photo! The site also tells us that the top row (sequencer, frequency divider, and VC phaser) was optional and photos of the system with the blank top panel can be seen in early reference sheets also linked to from the page.

Synapse Magazine its a treasure chest of historical information - amazing articles and advertisements. I have no doubt that you'll be reading about more Synapse advertisements in the near future.

End note: Cynthia Webster, founder of Synapse and editor of the first few issues before Doug Lynner took over, currently builds Modcan and Serge compatible modules. She has posted scans of many of the magazine's pages on her Web site under the Goodies section. Definitely check the scans out for some great articles!

Especially the article by Craig Anderton on playing music with calculators. Gonna try this next weekend with some old calculators. :o)

Steiner-Parker Synthacon II, Contemporary Keyboard 1976

Steiner-Parker Synthacon II (aka Two Voice Synthacon) duophonic synthesizer advertisement from page 22 of Contemporary Keyboard Magazine September/October 1976.

Although this second Contemporary Keyboard magazine advertisement from Steiner-Parker may look quite different, on the surface, from their first CK ad, it is actually quite similar - and I'm not just talking about size and shape. In that first advertisement, S-P shows a little attitude by declaring that S-P is the "fastest growing synthesizer company in the world".

This ad not only brings back the attitude, they dial it up a notch. You don't have to look very hard to realize that the name of the synthesizer is no where to be found. Either they expected everyone to know what synthesizer is pictured in the ad, or it was a ploy to get people curious enough to mail in for all the details. Either way, it was a ballsy move. And even more ballsy was that S-P went on to compare this unnamed synthesizer to a very well known competitor.

So, what synthesizer was S-P promoting?

The synthesizer in the advertisement is the duophonic Synthacon II. I've noticed that many on the 'net call it the 'Two-Voice Synthacon'. I think this might be because the description of the keyboard on the 1975 price list some people reference is:

"TWO VOICE SYNTHACON: The SYNTHACON II is identical to the monophonic version described below, except that when two keys are depressed, it plays two notes."

Sure, 'TWO VOICE SYNTHACON' is in all-caps, but that to me is more of an introductory description, and the fact that 'SYNTHACON II' is also in all-caps leads one to believe that this was the actual name of the synthesizer. Plus, it sounds cooler. :o)

The Synthacon came in both monophonic and duophonic versions. Early models featured a silver front panel, while later models, like the one photographed for this advertisement, had a black front panel.

Looking at the layout on the front panel, S-P was even ballsy when it came to the design of the Synthacon. Unlike most synthesizers that conform to the usual signal-flow lay-out from left to right (VCO --> VCF --> VCA) the Synthacon did the opposite. VCO's were located on the right side of the panel, and the graphic representation of the signal flowed to the left. Awkward during performance? Probably until you got used to it.

You can find some great photos and reference information on the Synthacon at synthmuseum.com and vintagesynth.com.

In fact, you definitely have to check out the Synthacon in colour. To me, the color-coded toggle switches, especially great lookin' on the silver-faced model, are reminiscent of the colorful sliders on the earlier ARP Odyssey models.

And what synthesizer was S-P comparing the Synthacon to?

I'm thinking they are referring to the Minimoog. The Minimoog was the Big Cheese at the time. And according to my Moog 1974 price list, the monophonic Minimoog was retailing for $1595.00, while according to the S-P 1975 product list featured on synthmuseum.com, the duophonic Synthacon was going for $1395.00. So, two Mini's are going to cost you $3195 - a difference of $1795.00 for one Synthacon. Coincidence? I think not. But I'm open to other theories. And don't even start me on the drifting-oscillators jab.

Interestingly, Moog pulled a similar 'you-know-who-we-are-so-we-don't-even-have-to-tell-you-the name-of-the-synthesizer' advertising stunt years later in a 1979 Minimoog ad. And in their case, they pushed it up to a whole new level. Moog had both the reputation and silhouette-recognition factor to not even have to include their logo, let alone the model name of the synthesizer. That takes *balls*.

Steiner-Parker Electronic Valve Instrument (EVI), Multiphonic Keyboard, and Selective Inverter, Contemporary Keyboard 1976

Steiner-Parker Electronic Valve Instrument, Multiphonic Keyboard, and Selective Inverter advertisement from page 43 of Contemporary Keyboard May/June 1976. Plus, Steiner-Parker Dealer List advertisement from page 45 of the same issue.

This 1/3 page square advertisement was probably the earliest Steiner-Parker advertisement to appear in CK. The company's various ads actually caught my attention in some old issues of Synapse, so I did some digging in CK and found that this one is slightly older than the ones that I have from Synapse, so I thought I better start here. I've also included a dealer list ad that appeared two pages later in the same issue. Figured I'd add it 'for the record'.

Steiner-Parker isn't one of the more well-known companies from the 1970's (well, to me anyways), so it's nice to see that there is actually quite a bit of information available on the Web about the company and many of its instruments.

A great starting point is synthmuseum.com's relatively comprehensive 'Get to Know Steiner-Parker' page, which provides quite a bit of history on the company. In a nutshell, the company was started in 1975 by Nyle Steiner and Dick Parker, along with a third partner that apparently has remained nameless all these years.

Within the year, they had a number of products on the market including all three featured in the above ad. The same page on synthmuseum.com includes this 1975 product list, showing that they cranked out a lot of gear designs in that year, and great evidence toward their claim that they were "the fastest growing synthesizer company in the world".

Except that the company dissolved in 1979.

But one piece of gear has lived on...

Steiner-Parker, and Nyle Steiner in particular, is probably best known for the creation of the Electronic Value Instrument - aka EVI - a trumpet-based synthesizer controller.

According to the first chapter of Ron Cole's doctoral dissertation, "The Electronic Valve Instrument: Nyle Steiner's Unique Musical Innovation" (an edited version of this first chapter can be found on the extensionsjazz.com Web site), development of the EVI began as early as 1971.

I found a great photo of an EVI prototype on Synthmuseum.com's EVI page (image originally from Audities Foundation Calgary AB, Canada)

According to the dissertation, the first EVI's rolled off the manufacturing line in 1975 and were quite 'basic' in ability - 'only controlling on/off tone generation in a dedicated synthesizer module'. But, by the end of the 70's, the company had sold around 200 units and the EVI had expanded to include 'CV (control voltage) directed volume via manipulation of air pressure at the breath sensor, a vibrato sensor, a "bite sensor" for controlling a portamento effect, and pitch bending plates (albeit retro-fitted by Steiner)'.

Here's an image of a production EVI also from the synthmuseum.com page (image originally from Audities Foundation Calgary AB, Canada).

Although the Steiner-Parker company dissolved at the end of the '70s, Steiner continued to build and promote theEVI through Crumar, imaginatively calling the instrument the 'Crumar EVI' (why mess with a good name).

During this time period, MIDI popped onto the scene and JL Cooper Electronics and Steiner created a midi adapter for the EVI, allowing 'the Crumar EVI to transmit MIDI note on and note off, aftertouch, pitchwheel (pitch bend), and breath control (which could be used to control several effects, including volume)'. Interestingly, Crumar never modified the EVI itself to include MIDI.

By the mid-80s, Steiner continued to develop the specs of the EVI and also started to develop a similar instrument - the Electronic Woodwind Controller (EWI), originally known as the Steinerphone (okay, good call on the name change...).

The latest prototypes of both instruments were sold to Akai in 1986 and commercial units known as the EVI-1000 and EWI-1000, along with the accompanying EWV-2000 synth module, came out the following year. The EVI was eventually discontinued in 1990, but the EWI continued to sell and has eventually evolved into the EWI-4000.

Steiner continues to convert EWI3000+'s into EVI's, shoving the innards into a newly redesigned EVI body. Cost is around $200 bucks (BYOEWI).

Still with me?

Then go check out Patchmanmusic.com's official Nyle Steiner home page that includes *a lot* of great info, facts, photos and links about the man and the instrument.

Once you have checked that site out, then go get your Mark Hatch on.