[sdiy] Cite de la musique, Paris

[Bob Weigel]

Ya know, this brings up a good question.  Has anyone started a 
*directory* for synthesizer collections that are open to viewing?  I 
could put one on my page I guess if not.   Otherwise send me the link!

David G. Dixon wrote:

>I went to the Music Museum at Cite de la Musique in Paris today.  It's
>brilliant.  If you enjoy looking at musical instruments, and find yourself
>in Paris, you really should plan to spend half a day there.  They give you
>an electronic doodad with headphones, and all the displays have one or more
>audio presentations, and there are quite a few video presentations as well.
>All in all, it has to be one of the nicest museums I've ever seen.
>
>They have a reasonably interesting synthesizer collection, including a giant
>modular synthesizer/mixing desk/tape recording station which looks like
>something from the Apollo mission (Houston, we have a problem!  Your VCOs
>aren't tracking!).  It was built in 1967 (according to the little sign) and
>was apparently the first modular synthesizer built in France.  The modules
>are very simple, but there are a lot of them -- about 12 VCOs, a few
>envelope generators, a couple of filters, a few VCAs, and a couple of ring
>mods, all patched from an enormous pin matrix.  Oh, and it has two big,
>spherical metal speakers on either side.  Neato!
>
>They also have something called a "gmelophone" (IIRC) which looks like a
>cross between a mixing desk and a Swedish modern dinette set, two Moog units
>(a 900 series from 1965 and a Moog Percussion synthesizer of about the same
>vintage (who knew?), a giant E-Mu system which apparently belonged to Frank
>Zappa (which the sign said was built "around 1960" even though the company
>wasn't formed until 1971 (!) -- when I pointed this out to the guide, he
>said that was why the sign said "around" 1960), a VCS-3, a couple of Ondes
>Martenot (but no mention of Messiaen!), and a few other odds and sods.  I
>was expecting a bit more, and I must say the whole display was a little
>dead.  The E-Mu was so far in the back that you had to squint to see what
>the modules were (man they used a lot of jacks!).  Also, nothing was
>patched, and it didn't look like any of the stuff was ever used (unlike the
>rest of the museum, where the instruments are used fairly often).  It was
>almost as if they all wished the 20th century had never happened (musically,
>anyway).
>
>I'm a huge fan of harpsichords and lutes and stuff, though, and that part of
>the museum is absolutely fabulous!
>
>_______________________________________________
>Synth-diy mailing list
>Synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
>http://dropmix.xs4all.nl/mailman/listinfo/synth-diy
>
>
>  
>