Greetings!
I'm just wondering if anyone has any opinions, information etc on these beasties?
Apart from that they have a matrix panel and go for silly amounts of money on ebay for broken ones.
Anyone have any sound demos or thoughts on their sound compared to other synths?
Cheers,
Maplin/ETI/International anyone??
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I was fortunate enough to play a Maplin 5600S

in a store. They had it on display in the window.
It looked just so awesome I had to ask them what the h**l it was.
The Maplin is a DIY kit synth, which means the build quality can be HUGELY different from one synth to the other. The one I tried had very noisy outputs, like when there were no patchings at all on the synth, and I pushed a key, I could hear slight noise coming out. It was also very gritty and noisy with the VCO's.
I guess it all depends how skilled and meticulous the one that built it was.
But h**l, 4 VCOs, matrix panel..insane possibilities, and quite mind-boggling.
If you ever see a pre-built one (I think they are extremely rare), remember to try it FIRST, because the build quality can vary from excellent to awful, as all these were kit synths from 1976 and you had to solder everything yourself.

in a store. They had it on display in the window.
It looked just so awesome I had to ask them what the h**l it was.
The Maplin is a DIY kit synth, which means the build quality can be HUGELY different from one synth to the other. The one I tried had very noisy outputs, like when there were no patchings at all on the synth, and I pushed a key, I could hear slight noise coming out. It was also very gritty and noisy with the VCO's.
I guess it all depends how skilled and meticulous the one that built it was.
But h**l, 4 VCOs, matrix panel..insane possibilities, and quite mind-boggling.
If you ever see a pre-built one (I think they are extremely rare), remember to try it FIRST, because the build quality can vary from excellent to awful, as all these were kit synths from 1976 and you had to solder everything yourself.
They look like an interesting project.
Afaik the PCB/kits are available. A bit much for my skill level at the moment, but I hope to have a crack at it one day.
There's also website with PDF scans of the original construction manual.
Just type 'eti 4600' in google, its within the first few results.
Anyone here built one?
Afaik the PCB/kits are available. A bit much for my skill level at the moment, but I hope to have a crack at it one day.
There's also website with PDF scans of the original construction manual.
Just type 'eti 4600' in google, its within the first few results.
Anyone here built one?
- Bitexion
- Synth Explorer
- Posts: 4230
- Joined: Fri Apr 15, 2005 7:43 pm
- Gear: Alesis Andromeda A6
Roland D-50
Creamware Minimax
Yamaha DX7s
Analogue Systems modular
Ensoniq SQ-80
Waldorf Blofeld - Location: Drammen, Norway
Who knows, you might be real lucky and it works flawlessly with minimal noise. Good luck, they sure look great 
The 5600S I tried was not really for sale, because most of the matrix pins were missing. And it was very noisy on the outputs.
They had it in the window more to draw in synth interested people methinks.
Sure worked with me, hehe.

The 5600S I tried was not really for sale, because most of the matrix pins were missing. And it was very noisy on the outputs.
They had it in the window more to draw in synth interested people methinks.
Sure worked with me, hehe.