. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. Synthmuseum.com - Your Vintage Synth Resource Home     Site Map    About Us    Contact Us    Support Us
. museum magazine resources classifieds game store

Museum : Electro-Harmonix Room : Mini-Synthesizer
.

. .
. . . . .
. Electro-Harmonix Instruments
Mini-Synthesizer
Super Replay



Search the Synthmuseum.com Classifieds for this instrument.

. .

Electro-Harmonix Mini-Synthesizer

. . .
. Manufacturer:
Electro-Harmonix

Model:
Mini-Synthesizer

Production period:
1980-84

Quantity produced:


Also:
- another Mini-Synthesizer

Famous Fingers
Who played this instrument?

.
. . .

Electro-Harmonix Mini-Synthesizer

owner: The New England Synthesizer Museum, David Hillel Wilson, Curator

other synths in the New England Synthesizer Museum Collection

The Mini-Synthesizer has a membrane keyboard (almost 0 key travel, but not completely touch-sensitive like the Buchla or Serge machines). It also has a single VCO with only one waveform -pulse- and an octave divider (dividers almost always produce square waves, as is the case here). The pulse wave has a dedicated LFO for PWM, controlled by the Phasing switch and the Phase Rate slider. (PWM is electronically easy to do and many manufacturers pretend that their PWM circuit is really a phase shifter). This is run through a filter that can be made to be a real phase shifter! The envelope controls on this filter are deceptively simple: you set the frequency at key down and the frequency at key up and the amount of time it takes to change from one to the other as a key is pressed/released.

The filter has a resonance (Q) switch and a 2x switch that raises one (but not both) of the frequencies being emphasized by an octave or so. The result sounds like (and probably is, although I don't have a schematic) a real phase shifter. Finally, there is a VCA and an effects processor. The effects processor is an analog delay line, with the usual echo controls, and I believe it is only available on the later units. Early ones don't have either the delay line or the strip above the keyboard that works like a ribbon to produce performer-controlled glide.

Between the bizarre filter and the fact that it likes to play notes below middle C - way below - I think this makes an excellent bass machine for serious analog junkies, although the lack of ability to do a percussion envelope will probably rule it out for Techno use. ------ Dave Wilson



Famous Fingers
Who Played This Instrument?

Jean-Michel Jarre during his great concerts in China, Brian Kehew and Roger Manning of The Moog Cookbook, Eddie Van Halen - on Sunday Afternoon in the Park.

. . . . .

[ Home ] [ Museum ] [ Magazine ] [ Resources ] [ Classifieds ] [ Game ] [ Store ]
[ Site Map ] [ About Us ] [ Contact Us ]


Synthmuseum.com
Watertown, MA, USA   Email Us

Site designed and constructed by IRN Internet Services
Original concept by IRN and New Silver Age Productions
Copyright © 2000 Synthmuseum.com. All rights reserved. Our Privacy Statement

Support Amnesty International