On Wed, 27 Oct 2004 17:34:32 +0200, derek holzer wrote > I've made a few recordings with a friend's Formanta EMS-1 in Latvia. > He said it was just laying around an old theatre in Liepaja > collecting dust when he found it. The synthesized strings on the > keys are fairly tame, but the noise-driven, sample-and-hold LFO is > an absolute monster! > > http://ruskeys.net/eng/base/formanta.php > > Another bonus feaure is the fact that the Formanta sounds > *completely* different about three hours after turning it on than > when you start. Let's hear it for non-linearity, which simply can't > be emulated on the computer. we should try :) I found a bug in my in-development drumsynth last night where the sine oscillator's ever increasing float time value was causing a very slow incremental bit reduction effect - presumably because the representation loses precision and breaks down at high values. Fine when you wrap it properly - but perhaps it should be left in as a quirk of the instrument... > Another friend from Riga occaisionally sells different > Soviet/Russian synths on Ebay. In fact, there seem to be quite a few > of them around. Not the Formanta, it's a rare beast, but if you are > looking for a Polyvox, for example, the going price seems to run > between 500 and 700 Euros. Shipping is what would really kill you, > though. A Polyvox isn't too heavy, but the Formanta is approximately > the size and bulk of a small fridge! there is definately something special about old soviet technology and the like. I guess they didn't have planned obsolescence back then :) dave
