--- In
emlsynth@yahoogroups.com, Bob Lee <bob_lee@q...> wrote:
> >I'm curious, now if they actually owned those, after all it's never a
> given that stuff used in live shows belongs to the band rather
> than being rented, loaned, belonging to the support team), what
> strikes me is that as far as I know EML wasn't well known at all
> in the UK or Europe. They could have bought those in the U.S.,
> but why?
>
> Anyone care to comment on EMLs availability and use in
> England (or Europe, Japan etc.) before collectors in the 90s
> started to pick them up. After all I know the Keyfax book (UK
> 1996) has only a short paragraph for the whole company when
> usually every model has a listing. I also remember Forrest's
> Analogue Synthesizers A-Z first edition had similar scant info
> though the current revised edition covers them acceptably.<
>
> I think it was probably a matter of PF's seeking whatever would do the job
> satisfactorily. Although the company never reached the prominence that Arp
> or Moog enjoyed, they were certainly not unknown in the mid 70s. I was in
> high school during those years, and as an avid reader of "Contemporary
> Keyboard" magazine I certainly knew of EML. In fact, when my family moved in
> 1976 to Vernon, Connecticut, from Albany, New York, my consolation was that
> I'd be living in the same town as EML. (I tried a couple times to land a job
> there but was never successful.) John McLaughlin used a rudimentary guitar
> synthesizer made by EML, so the company couldn't have been too hard to find
> for Brits who put a little effort into searching. ;^)
While everything you say is conceivable it just doesn't seem likely. It
made sense that you knew about it, but then you were devouring local
magazines because of your interests.
> When the ElectroComp 400 sequencer was on the market, I don't know if there
> was another sequencer available that was as reasonably portable and
> reasonably easy to program.
Actually what was the release date on the 400? 1978? (from Vintage
Synth Explorer)
They all match up differently and it depends on the exact year but
aside from the one on the Moog modular British acts were often using
Arp's stand alone sequencer. EMS had their 256 step digital sequencer
out real early. You don't have the sliders or knobs but you can play
into the digital ones (Oberheim and the Roland MC-4 & MC-8). Back to
England and knobby ones, Vangelis was very partial to the little one on
the System 100 and the larger System 700 sequencer block, both were
sold separately and are self contained .
Importantly these brands had service reps in England & Europe. It just
seems strange PF, who had money would turn to a brand best known in
education and budget minded experimental musicians solely in the U.S.
market
> To my knowledge, EML faded from the scene gradually, without being purchased
> by a larger company like Norlin, which otherwise might've helped sustain its
> visibility a while longer, or at least maintain its legacy for a bit. That
> may explain why documentations done in the 80s and early 90s of the analog
> synthesizer industry were often quite sketchy about EML.
I see no evidence that these units were any more than vaguely known in
Europe. Forrests' 600+ page volumes on Analogue Synthesisers now has 3
sentances about the 400/401 in it's revised edition. (no info in it's
first edition)
As to the Norlin story - It was pretty much known to have been a sort
of a con job going on in making the company look like they were moving
a lot of product.
On a more straightforward level, the companies that had technologically
advanced product did manage to be sold or have their work purchased and
continued when they folded. EML I don't think had any advanced
technology when they ceased - as Moog did around the same time as EML.
Moog even had computer based product, but they were in serious catch up
mode.
Still curious.
Did any non US acts definitively use any EML before the 1990s (aside
from the PF mystery).