Posted on 01/06/1985
This unit was one of the first commercially available MIDI-to-CV Interfaces to be produced. It has several operating modes, including Mono (4 Mono voices on 4 MIDI Channels) Poly (Up to 4 voices on 1 MIDI Channel) Used to control the Fluxic Modular System from Logic Pro X on the main DAW. Manufacturer: Roland […]
Posted on 01/05/1985
Taking the very synth heavy DéFilm production on the road was no easy task in 1985. The keyboard rack required massive synth power and total recall while still being roadie-friendly and stable enough to handle the rigours of the road. For this purpose some truly special and spectacular flightcases were built by Dansk Studio Teknik […]
Posted on 25/04/1985
I owned or operated every major early brands of Hard Disk recorders in the mid 80’s. Together with the NED Synclavier II (with Sampling Option), the AMS “Audiofile” system was the most prominent and well-executed. It came with an absolute serious price tag, that made it too expensive for regular studios. Around € 40,000 (1985) for the basic version. […]
Posted on 01/04/1985
The appearance of the MIDI standard and MIDI equipped samplers and drum machines spawned a new segment in the musical instrument industry – the MIDI controller. Unable to produce any sound by itself, the controller acts as an interface between the musician and the sound producing units. Keyboard controllers (“Mother Keyboards” or “Master Keyboards”) were […]
Posted on 01/04/1985
When it was time to take DéFilm on the road, there was a lot of attention on the gear. The first tour involved a string of major festivals, and we were recommended to take all precautions to make setting up the gear as smooth as possible. So everyone in the band had specially prepared, high […]
Posted on 05/03/1985
The Roland MKS-80 was launched as a rack successor to the big and beautiful Jupiter-8 synth – the unofficial king of the 80s polysynths. The MKS-80 had several additions to the JP-8, with MIDI and Velocity response as the most important. This made the instrument a lot more expressive, than the sweet sounding but more static […]
Posted on 02/02/1985
Thud-tick-whack-tick… The LM-2 drum machine from Roger Linn is an absolute classic, and the model you probably refer to when mentioning “LinnDrum”. Incidentally this is also printed in large letters on the front. When first launched it was considered to be one of the most realistic sounding drum machines. Countless classic hit records have been made with – or […]
Posted on 01/01/1985
Akais first serious shot at a MIDI controlled digital sampler. The S-612 is really simple to operate: It is basically Record, Set Start/End and Play. It records at 12bit, 32Khz, and has a recording time of 8 seconds total. The resulting sample can be player with 6-voice polyphony. It offers a Sound-on-Sound function where you […]
Posted on 18/10/1984
It may seem odd today, but the Roland SBX-80 sync box was a real relief for syncing up MIDI sequencers to analog tape recorders. Released in the mid 80s, it was the perfect companion for e.g Rolands own MSQ-700 and MSQ-100 MIDI sequencers, but could be used with anything that slaves to MIDI sync. After […]
Posted on 01/10/1984
Same, same – but different Synclavier is an FM synth with add-on sampling. Fairlight is a sampler with additive synthesis capabilties. This is the major conceptual difference between the machines, that also have major operational differences. I was a long time resident studio programmer in PUK studios using both machines in the 80s. Had them […]