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Subject: Re: Fw: [Mellotronists] Re: Vintage synth tidbit

From: Mark Glinsky <glinskym@...>
Date: 2002-07-12

At 10:56 AM 7/12/2002 -0400, Tony Moffett wrote:
>How about the Freeman string symphonizer? Anyone remember, own or use one?
>I fixed a few and for it's time (already had my Mellotron too), the sound
>was interesting. IMHO it far out did the ARP string ensemble, but was
>substantially larger like something else we cherish.


I have two Freemans, that I was going to make into a double unit, but now I
think I'll
just sample them.

I always liked the Freeman much more than the Solinas, ARPs and especially the
Omni (IMO one of the worst keyboards ever made), and bought my first Freeman
new in 1978. The Freeman weighs 77 pounds, so it was a handful, but the
package was well designed for setting up quickly, and it's a great
instrument to
stack others on.

Wish I could track down one of Ken Freeman's original prototype units (or the
prototype unit, since he kept cannabalizing one unit to make the next), but
I don't
think it exists. As a matter of fact, I own Ken Freeman's old Korg M1
module &
sound cards, and tried to find if he remembered any of his old modifications
for the Freeman circuitry (as well as the Yamaha CS-80 unison modification
mentioned in Peter Forrest's A-Z Synth book), but apparently they're lost
in the mists of time.



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Mark S. Glinsky - Arlington, TX
Email - glinskym@...
http://www.markglinsky.com/ManualManor.html
"Be Seeing You...." - No. 6
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