> >Dave Bradley says he bought his Moog ribbon controller brand new in the
> >early 1970s ... This makes me wonder ...
> >
> >How old is everybody here ?! :)
OK, OK, so I'm not 29.
Short history:
I turned 46 Sunday. If Paul is old as the hills, what does that make me -
old as dirt? I got interested in synthesizers about 9th or 10th grade. At
the time, the only info available was this obscure little thing called "The
Nonesuch Guide to Electronic Music", that laid out the basics of voltage
control and oscillators, filters, etc. The VCS3 was just starting to be
heard about. Then "Switched on Bach" came out, and suddenly there was Carlos
on the Today show with this giant Moog blinking lights...
I bought an EML-101 as my first synth because I didn't connect with the
Minimoog - I wanted lots of features and it seemed too basic. For my next,
I chose Emu because you could buy their circuits in potted submodules, and
construct a high quality system a lot cheaper than you could buy one off the
shelf. I knew nothing about electronics except that I'd learned to solder by
working on Hammonds. Dave Rossum and Scott Wedge taught me what a summing
node circuit was over the phone. I got away from modulars and analogs in
those dark disco years when I was playing a lot of Top 40, but I'm back,
baby!
I built a second system in the late 70's around 8 Emu voice demo boards (SSM
based) and an Emu 4060 poly keyboard/sequencer. It was recently sold to Dave
Kean and will go in the Audities museum, which is how I'm financing my MOTM
system!
Dave Bradley
Principal Software Engineer
Engineering Animation, Inc.
daveb@...