Computer Bits, Audio Processing with a microprocessor Soundboards, Computer Controller/Interfaces
new 27 october 2002 : Computer Music by Hal Chamberlin; Vic-20 D/A, Superboard II, PAiA, Failight CMI and more Computer Sound & Music
Electronic Music Studio (Ltd London UK) Synthi INFO PAGE
Electronic Music Studios Ltd (EMS) London, England. Beginning in a backyard bomb shelter, Peter
Zinovieff has created the EMS Company devoted solely to the production of electronic music instruments.
He has been a frontrunner in the development of computer music techniques and now is in the forefront
of new development in the communications field with the VOCOM which will be described later.
The main studio is located at his home on the banks of the Thames near Putney Bridge. There is also
a factory employing about 60 people, a research laboratory and sales office located elsewhere in or
near London. EMS manufactures a line of electronic music instruments ranging from the large Synthi 100
to small Synthi VCS3 as well as a complement of auxiliary modules. The Synthi 100 offers features such
as a 10.750-bit sequencer, two 60 x 60 pin matrix patchboards, two 5-octave keyboards and many voltaged-
controlled devices such as oscillators, amplifiers, filters and reverb. On a small scale, EMS offers the
Synthi - VCS3 Mark II which supersedes the Putney VCS3. A 16 x 16 matrix patchboard, joystick and
voltage controlled devices are included for approximately $1.000. Two keyboards may be connected. The Dk1
keyboard which is velocity sensitive offers pitch and dynamic voltage control. The KS digital sequencer
keyboard has it own memory to store information. The keyboard is of the capacitive type. A portable model,
Synthi AKS, includes the same devices as the VCS 3 as well as the KS keyboardcompletely housed in an
attache brief case. Auxillary modules such as pitch to voltage converter, random generator and eight-
octave filter bank are als offered. Source: Electronic Music Musical Aspects of the Electronic Medium
by F. CHR. Weiland (Institute of Sonology Utrecht NL)
The Synthi has a great variety of applications and it can be connected to many different kinds of electrical devices. It was designed with the following in mind : as a live performance instrument, as main unit in studio, as a teaching aid. It is possible to use the synthesiser by itself, but you will probably want to use it as the basic unit of a more complex system.
