Synton Syntovox "High performance vocoders" ad, Contemporary Keyboard 1984

Synton Syntovox "High performance vocoders" 1/4-page black and white advertisement from page 86 in the March 1984 issue of Keyboard Magazine.

I got to say, trying to write a last minute blog post while watching Survivor is a lesson in futility. But "Survivor" is kind of a good theme for this post. On a few different levels.

On one level, these Synton vocoders have survived for over four years with just a trickle of advertising. The first half-pager appeared back in March 1980, and its little condensed brother appeared a month later and only ran two or three times. Both of those ads were probably paid for by Parasound, their American distributor in the early days. 

Then, what appears to be a very long break, this third ad made its first showing in mid-1983, popping up again once or twice into 1984. But this time, Synton's distributor had changed to Bob Moog's company Big Briar, Inc.

And there we see that theme of "survivor" again.  I'm talking about Bob Moog.

Walking away from Moog Music must have been tough. But he was definitely a survivor. Starting Big Briar near the end of the 70s until he finally acquired the rights to use the Moog  name again in 2002. All the while taking on consulting gigs with companies like Kurzweil. Dang good. That's a lot longer than I would survive in the woods. For shizzle. 

The ad itself is alright. I miss those luscious lips that used to appear in the name "Syntovox". But what should I expect - this ad did show up three years later. And not sure about the background image of four 222's stacked on top of each other in the top half of the ad. In fact, no model names are mentioned at all. Until I read the line about a choice of models, I wasn't sure if both were still offered.

I figured the best way was to find out when exactly Big Briar took over Synton distribution (and which models were on offer) was to look through old Big Briar catalogs online. Well... that was easier said than done. The easiest one to find was this 2000 catalog hosted on (where else!) Moog Music (that also features Retro Synth Ads' ads!). But, unfortunately, 2000 is long after Synton stopped producing vocoders I think.

But, after a bit more digging, I finally found this 1983 Big Briar catalog (17 MB PDF) on Synthfool.com. Be warned - if you click on the link it takes a while to load. It includes a Synton modular and vocoder price list near the end (yum) - including both the cadillac model 221 20-channel vocoder ($6018.00) and more moderately priced 222 10-channel vocoder ($815.00).

The first section of that PDF also includes some great history and insight into the direction Bob Moog was taking Big Briar. Remember, this is 1983, and Bob Moog is not just taking about electronic music, but COMPUTER music.  And I believe that last paragraph on the last page of the catalog pretty much sums up the support and respect Bob Moog had for artists (and scientists) from all walks:

"Big Briar custom-designs and produced a wide range of one, -two,- and three-output touch surfaces, multiply-touch-sensitive keyboards, and position-sensitive controllers. Applications include music composition and performance, interactive sculpture, dance, computer graphics control, and psychological testing. Inquiries are answered with written proposals and quotations. We welcome the opportunity to collaborate with artists who wish to incorporate touch- and position-sensors in their work."

Interactive sculpture! Psychological testing! Awesome.

While looking for those catalogs, I managed to come across a comparison of the two models (and other models) written by Synton's own Marc Papin on Hypereal.com:

"221 - Big, 20-channel unit. Matrix-panel on the front allows analiser-synthesizer channel patching. Internal VCO, noise generator, Voiced/Unvoiced detection, 40+ LEDs for spectrum monitoring, etcetera. Also, it has a 50-pin connector on the back which provides CV in and out for each channel. I've got one, and I  think it is superior to Sennheiser, Bode (Moog) and EMS. Original RRP: HFL 12000,- (US$ 7500.00)

222 12-channels. Not very flexible, but they have a very musical sound. Original RRP: HFL 1000,- (US$ 625.00)"

The 222 was 12-channel? Not ten as described int he Big Briar catalog? Bah. 10. 12. It was a lot cheaper. That's what mattered most.  :)

I also found some good comparison info on dutchsynth.nl, which seems to be a Web site for most Synton products, and some excellent photos on effectsdatabase.com.

Well, Survivor is almost done - first episode of the new season.

And I'm done too. Dinner time. Then bed. 

Synton Electronics Syntovox 222 and 221 vocoder "You do the talking..." condensed ad, Contemporary Keyboard 1980

Synton Electronics Syntovox 222 and 221 vocoder "You do the talking" condensed 1/6-page black and white advertisement from page 66 in the April 1980 issue of Contemporary Keyboard.

I really love this advertisement. Enough that I decided to include the Polyphony ad that sits beside it because I knew it wouldn't take away from the main feature - Syntovox! Although I do love that Polyphony logo with its fat letters and the way the "L" connects with the "Y" beside it.

Anyways...

We are going through quite a rapid change at my day job right now. We are "rightsizing" from over 400 people down to under 100 and budgets are being slashed across the company. And, in the middle of all this the choice was made to rebrand too.

But even with all the stress of change and lack of job security (and all the shitty political stuff that goes along with that process) I have to say its a very interesting (and fun!) time to be at an 75+ year old company during such rapid change. Especially in the marketing and communications area. Its a learning experience and "skill-hoarding" experience I'll be able to take with me anywhere else I work.

And this advertisement pretty much sums up all the that change we are going through.

As part of the re-brand, all of our advertisements had to be re-designed, and due to budget cuts, many of those ads were also shrunk down from full- and half-page ads down to 1/4-page. Shrinking down advertisements is an art form unto itself. Images and layout need to be considered, but the toughest part is  usually deciding what ad-copy needs to go. No operations department ever wants to loose ad-copy. But fonts can only get so small before they are unreadable.

Parasound/Synton have done a bang-up job at condensing their initial March 1980 1/2-page Syntovox 222 and 221 vocoder advertisement down to a measly 1/6-page format. So much so that I've already spent 250+ words just building up to talking about it.   :)

Layout still includes tons of white space and they managed to keep the image large enough to still be recognizable. Plus they have kept the Synton logo at a respectable size.

And, as it should be, it's the ad-copy that really took a beating. No mention of the model numbers or the model name "Syntovox" - ouch! And that's a shame because I miss those lustful lips used in "vox" in the 1/2-page version of this ad.

Yup. You just can't cut down your ad-copy to 25 words or less without loosing some of the message. But Parasound did well to cut right to the chase: 1. We are affordable. 2. Contact us for more information.

Good work in cutting 'er down under such tough conditions. 

Well, I finally got around to doing some online research.  Never did find a lot of information on Synton's first distributor Parasound. Well, it's not that I didn't find any information - its just that there are a lot of "Parasound" companies out there. The one company lucky enough to snag Parasound.com has a few things in common with what we know about Parasound in the ad. They are located out of San Francisco and are a creator of audio equipment - now focusing on movie and recording studios. And kinda cool - according to their About Us page, this company is credited in Episode 1, 2 and 3 of Stars Wars. Not too shabby. 

I like the idea of a vocoder distributor from the 80s evolving into a successful company that is still around today. But I never found anything definitive and in the end I just decided to move on.

There is a bit more info out there about the company Synton. According to their Wikipedia page they were a manufacturer and distributor of musical equipment back in the 70s and 80s from the Netherlands.  It was founded by Felix Visser after he purchased an EMS Synthi AKS and decided he wanted more out of a synth. WTF? Who needs anything more than this little cutey!   :)

Synton went on to producer a few vocoders and synthesizers before they finally went bankrupt in 1989. Boo. Interestingly, the Wiki page only list Big Briar (Bob Moog's company in the 80s) as a distributor of the vocoders, even though clearly sales and marketing in the US were run by Parasound at least for the first little while.

I'm not done with these vocoders yet. Gonna keep looking into Parasound. Kinda bugging me.

End note: About that Polyphony ad - I always find it kinda odd when a magazine includes an advertisement for a similar magazine. Maybe Polyphony was different enough from Contemporary Keyboard that CK didn't feel they were a threat. But still, it may have pulled a few subscription dollars away from CK.  Huh.  

Synton Electronics Syntovox 222 and 221 vocoder "You do the talking..." ad, Contemporary Keyboard 1980

Synton Electronics Syntovox 222 and 221 vocoder "You do the talking..." half-page black and white advertisement from page 26 in the March 1980 issue of Contemporary Keyboard.

Never heard of them. Well, maybe I have. But if I had, these vocoders didn't leave much of an impression. And I dig vocoders. My Roland SVC-350 has been in my rack for years and years, and I always try to find an excuse to patch it in. And one of the big reasons I love my Korg Wavestation A/D is because of its audio inputs and vocoder effect.

But these Synton Syntovox vocoders... drawing a blank at the moment.

Hmmm. What to do... what to do... I usually have two different "go-to's" when drawing a blank:

1. Kick-start some company research on the Internet
2. Jibber jabber about the ad itself.

And since I'm feeling a bit lazy today, I think I'll start by just gaze at this ad for a while. Save the online research for later.

This particular early advertisement only appeared once in CK as far as I can tell. And it's not too shabby. Nice balance, a smart, witty ad-title, and a nice big Synton logo. It took a while to realize what I like best about this ad - the lips in the second "o" of "Syntovox" in the ad-title. I missed it for a long time, but now that I know they are there, its the first thing I focus on. They're a little dirty even.

So, what's not to like? I'm not a fan of justified text in ads. And not a fan of it in this ad either. You get enough of it in the magazine articles themselves. My eyes are tired even before I've begun reading. But for the first time out of the gate, Parasound gets an "A" for effort.

Still knee-jerking from starting any online research, I decided to flip through my database and a few other issues of the magazine to see what came up. I never did come across a Spec Sheet for the 221 or 222 vocoder in my readings, but unexpectedly the next best thing does appear in a later issue of the magazine. A lot later. Like three and a half years in October 1983.

But it was probably worth the wait for readers because we're talking Keyboard Giveaway contest!

Before I go on - did you catch that?

The ad came out in March 1980 in Contemporary Keyboard, but the contest was in Keyboard magazine.  Yup! they took so long that the magazine changed it's name! Hee hee.

Okay, maybe I'm the only one tickled by that fact. So back to that Keyboard Giveaway contest.

Sure enough, the October 1983 giveaway was for a Syntovox 222 vocoder, and the description reads like a good solid Spec Sheet:

"The syntovox 222 vocoder is a professional audio rack-mounted sound modifier that is designed for live performance or studio use in inparting vocal articulation to musical signals. Two speech (program) inputs are provided: one for balanced microphones signals and the other for line-level signals. The articulation and spectrum of the speech signal are imparted to the carrier signal. the carrier input is usually an electronic keyboard or other instrument, but may be any line-level signal with a broad spectrum. The 222's output consists of the articulated carrier, plus adjustable amounts of straight speech and/or carrier signals. An internal "unvoiced sound synthesizer" is included for increased intelligibility.  Articulated carrier and unvoiced sound signals may be turned on and off by a panel switch or external footswitch. List price is $815.00. Syntovox products are sold in the United States by Big Briar, Leicester, NC 28748."

Like I said - a nice little write up.

And... did you catch it (again...)?

Looks like the magazine wasn't the only thing that was going through a wack of change during those long three and a half years. It seems distribution for the Syntovox changed hands too - from Parasound to Big Briar - sometime between March 1980 and October 1983.

Like the vocoders themselves, I don't recall the name Parasound either (yeah yeah, I'll get to that online research later), but I do know quite a bit about Big Briar.  That's the company Bob Moog started after leaving his original company Moog Music back in the late 70s. There are some really interesting Big Briar ads that I'm sure I'll post in the future, including one for the Syntovox 222 vocoder! Yay!

But, any more research will have to wait until the weekend. Because when I knee-jerk, I KNEE-JERK.

Like the year I refused to watch Toy Story because everyone loved it so much. KNEE-JERK.  And then attended Siggraph that year. Siggraph is *the* international conference and exhibition on computer graphics and interactive techniques.

The result: I got boo'd by everyone else in the room during the Pixar session. Even by my best friend, who I swear knew it was coming.

True story. And now that I think about it, I may have already told that anecdote.  Gah.