Posted in synthesizers on January 16, 2012 by pyraphonic
The Roland PMA-5 is a hand-held composition unit from 1996 that has a touchscreen interface with a stylus. Before today’s pocket computers (called ‘smart phones’ by their users) this was quite a novel device. I bought one cheaply on the used market in 2006 and decided to make some music using ONLY the PMA-5. I composed one track on an airplane and another in bed while my wife was asleep next to me. Some of the results are posted on MySpace under the moniker “Party Chambers”. Check out the tracks here:
The Optigan is an “optical organ” from the early 70s created and sold by Mattel that uses waveforms printed onto clear discs which are read much the way a movie soundtrack is read off of films. As of 2011, they can be found on the used market in the neighborhood of $400 USD, but the discs can often fetch $20-50 USD each, so keep that in mind. In addition to that, they are notoriously finicky and require a lot of patience and maintenance. Although there is no needle (light shining through the discs is read by photocells) there is still a scratching sound imparted on the output, and the high frequencies are quite muted giving the sound a haunted, dated feel.
Everything you could possibly want to know about them and more can be obtained here via Pea Hicks’ incredible labor of love: http://www.optigan.com/
I recently used my Optigan when I was asked by the Language Dept. to supply music for their collaboration with Meghan Eplett for a Kate Spade special project called “Orange“. The music needed to be cyclical, upbeat, whimsical, playful and suit the lo-fi nature of the animation, and I thought the Optigan (using the disc called “Rollin’ Easy”) met those requirements quite well.
Here is the video:
I obtained my Optigan in late 2009 at a thrift store in Michigan while visiting family for the holidays. It came with 18 discs. It cost me…$9.99 USD. Yep, ten dollars. Though I was 2000 miles away from home, I couldn’t pass up such a deal.
The first order of business was to test it out – it actually worked but only two of the many chord buttons were functioning and the 5 ‘fill’ buttons were intermittent. The next task was to figure out how to get it home. I naturally went straight to Pea Hicks’ Optigan site I mentioned above and started searching. Turns out the model I picked up (35011) could be subjected to a mod lovingly named the “Choptigan” – in other words, the speakers and pedal could be removed from the circuit and the remaining necessary components from the bottom could be relocated to the top section. Then the top could be removed making the Optigan much like a really thick and super heavy keyboard.
Thankfully, my in-laws not only allowed me to perform this absurd task in their home, they also had a giant pile of inch-thick cardboard which I ended up using to pack up the Choptigan for shipping to California. Ground shipping was $52.47 bringing my total cost up to $62.46 USD.
Incredibly, it survived the shipping to Los Angeles with no problems which surprised me considering the electro-mechanical nature of the inner workings as well as its age. Right away I took it all apart for cleaning and to remove the foam that turns to sludge in the chord button section (see it below to the left).
Yeah, this is a bit better.
Once I reassembled the unit all buttons and keys worked perfectly. Next I sanded down the wood and pondered what color to stain it, even though it looked kinda cool unfinished.
My wife helped me stain it a reddish-orange and give it a nice clear coat. Here is where it currently lives between my Rhodes piano and Roland RS-202 String synth.
(What’s with the Roland D-5 you ask? I got it for $25 at a yard sale and use it as a MIDI controller for my Akai S-900 sampler)
In April I started my modular system. There are several formats to choose from but I decided on the Eurorack format as it’s generally cheaper and there are a lot of manufacturers in this format, which means lots of choices.
What I love best about it is that it ends up being a different instrument each time it is patched from scratch and the discoveries seem endless.
Having done a ton of research before going down this road, it didn’t take long to fill my case with modules.
The case I went with (from Tiptop Audio) folds up for portability and is small enough to take along on a flight as your carry-on.
Though I imagine security may have a few questions.
