Synclavier II sound clip

CZ Rider · Post by **CZ Rider** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 8:03 am

Here is a clip from my 1982 Synclavier II, for anyone wondering what a Sync II sounds like.
A really strange sounding synth. The oscillators seem to whine at the low notes, kind of like a jet turbine engine sound. This one is a has 16 FM/additive oscillators, running release I/R. No sampling option or terminal.
There are 4 different patches, one about every minute. First a brass sound. (Tough to keep a straight face playing this patch, sounds like something from an old gladiator movie.) Next is a poly rez patch thet uses FM to get that filter resonance effect. Then there is a plucked string patch and last a bowed string sound.
Just a little reverb from a Zoom 9050 on the clip. You can here all of the noise and strange artifacts that would get lost in a mix.

The sound of the Synclavier II!
A 4 minute clip, 6 Meg download that hopefulluy keeps working!?

aXL · Post by **aXL** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 12:39 pm

That is some sweet stuff you got going on there. How does a beast like that work for you these days, with regards to stability, ease of use, and suchlike?

Synthaholic · Post by **Synthaholic** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 2:25 pm

Nice clip. I love the sound of well-programmed FM patches.

The DX7 can do a lot of the same things. Is the pitch-bent stuff portamento or pitch bender?

Villi · Post by **Villi** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 2:44 pm

Maybe it is the ribbon controller(?)

Bitexion · Post by **Bitexion** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 6:01 pm

What sound engine does the Sync have? I never really read much about them. Is it additive or FM or both? How does it work? I mean, with additive synthesis you suddenly have thousands of parameters in a single sound due to the nature of the synthesis. But there is no display on the Sync?

The brass and resonant sound is very DX-like..
I think it's poly portamento.

Synthaholic · Post by **Synthaholic** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 6:09 pm

The Sync has 4-operator FM, and later models have sampling capability as well. The units with sampling can use samples as FM operators as well, AFAIK.

Bitexion · Post by **Bitexion** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 6:19 pm

And 16 oscillator additive? Does it have a full LCD display or panel of any sort? I can't imagine doing FM programming without a screen.

Villi · Post by **Villi** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 6:39 pm

I thought the synclavier had a computerish unit and a screen as well as the keyboard?

Synthaholic · Post by **Synthaholic** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 7:10 pm

It was all pushbutton programming but you could add a VT100 "green-screen" terminal to it if you really wanted to get in-depth with the programming.

The synth with the screen you are thinking of was probably the Fairlight.

Everything you ever wanted to know about the Synclavier but were afraid to ask...

Here's a pic of the Sync II:

Bitexion · Post by **Bitexion** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 7:19 pm

h**l, that's a LOT of push buttons! I'd love to try one some day.
I'd be lost for days just dialing up a preset, and press buttons to see what they do.

According to the article, one would want a Synclavier with the latest software, since they updated it so often to make it more userfriendly for the "creative types" who didn't want the synth to work against them. Fair enough when you pay the amount of a small house to get one. You'd want a little more than just regular customer support.

It seems to be best loved for the sampling.

"If you mix 8 digital voices together to present toa DAC to convert to analogue there will be some colouring and phasing of the resultant sound output, no matter how slight. When a Synclavier plays a full orchestra it fills the room. Play the same samples and sequence on ANY other system and the sound will collapse to narrow by comparisson. We have cases where users sample synths into their Synclaviers because they swear the resultant output sounds better when performed on the Synclavier."

Here's a whole album recorded only to show off the power of the enormous Synclavier 9600 system
http://www.500sound.com/Uploads/Light%2 ... go%20Blue/

http://www.500sound.com/synclavier%20for%20sale.html

Micke · Post by **Micke** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 8:25 pm

In comparison to the earlier Synclavier II, the 1984-85 Synclavier VPK-keyboard sports a much larger programming display to provide more detail about the parameter being altered, and a much more comprehensive front-panel that allocates one separate button to each function.

Below is a close-up of the newer LED display (32-character digital readout window) as used with the 1985 Synclavier system:

As for the ribbon controller, I was told by producer/Synclavier owner Mike Thorne that his original Synclavier (#6, delivered summer 1979) came with a Yamaha CS80 ribbon controller incorporated, replaced later with the inferior standard version after Yamaha caught on as to why they (NED) were buying all these ‘spares’.

Says Mike; "I didn’t want the square control panel (he's referring to the original Synclavier), inconvenient at 90 degrees, so I commissioned a special housing with an angle that anticipated the Sync II, to which I upgraded later."

waveterm · Post by **waveterm** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 11:02 pm

Here is a couple of pics of the original Synclavier with 90 degree panel

http://home.earthlink.net/~yaking/html/ ... nPSY1.html

WT

Sealed · Post by **Sealed** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 6:19 pm

Thanks for the .mp3s - 'Beat It' was the only Synclavier sound I knowingly heard.
Track 02 reminds me of YAMAHA SY77's factory demo song. It included a patch that sounds like this track (envelope-looped bass sequence with some atmosphere). YAMAHA may have imagined SY77 as a compact integration of Synclavier.

synthetic88 · Post by **synthetic88** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 7:59 pm

Cool demo. That reminded me of half the movie soundtracks from the '80s.

Martin P268 · Post by **Martin P268** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 9:03 pm

Here's a pic of the Sync II:

Looks like Little Phatty's older and bigger brother-in-law