Elka Synthex at Musikmesse 2015
Paul Kevin Wiffen talks about the unique features and sound of the Elka Synthex, explaining why he prefers it to other famous polysynths.
Jean Michel Jarre Explains Why The Elka Synthex Reissue Matters
Jean-Michel Jarre makes the case for why we need to bring Elka Synthex back, and opens up on his deep passion for his 3 Elka Synthexes. Be part of it at http://BringElkaBack.com
Finnish company brings back the Elka Synthex
Finnish keyboard and pro audio products manufacturer Generalmusic – which announced plans earlier this year to reintroduce its ‘legendary brands’ GEM, LEM and ELKA – has gone live with a new site, dedicated to Elka.
In 2015, we want to bring back the legendary Elka Synthex synthesizer. If you love the Elka and want to see it make a comeback, sign up and be a part of something exciting.
There are some things that are too good to be forgotten – and the Elka Synthex is one of them. Be a part of its return this year.
The Elka Synthex and its unmistakable sound are loved and used by some of the greatest musicians of the 20th century. Be a part of its return this year.
The Elka Synthex synthesizers will be made with selected original vintage parts in Salo, Finland. And now you can be a part of its return.
The Elka Synex is an 8-voice polysynth, manufactured from 1981-1984. It offers 2 oscillators per voice, multimode filter and a 4-track sequencer.
“As good as new” – on Elka organs
“As good as new” was the first track on ABBA’s Voulez-Vous album from 1979.
I am old enough to have heard it on the radio back in 1979 and I remember recording it on the horrible Electown cassette tape recorder that was my only means of recording sound back then.
Here I play it on the two Elka organs EP-8 and Preludio 22L.
“Equinoxe III” – on Elka organs
Cover of the Jean Michel Jarre classic Equinoxe III on vintage Elka organs, details below:
The Preludio 22L shares some of it’s technoloy with the more famous X-705. And since Jean Michel Jarre used the X-705 for some time in the late 1970’s I thought it could be fun to play one of his compositions while I had this old thing fired up. The only part of Equinoxe III that I couldn’t play on the Preludio was the string parts because it doesn’t have a phase modulator. For the string parts I therefore used the EP-8 instead.
“The Boys” – on Elka X-1000
Very little info can be found on this machine, but here is a short description found on Ebay:
This is an extremely rare Elka C series X1000 Drawbar organ, multi synth, mono synth, real-time Arranger and 8 track sequencer. This was the flagship keyboard produced by Elka in the 90’s. It was expensive, exceptionally comprehensive, and has an amazing, huge powerful sound. There is little information available about this model but it is in excellent working condition together with it’s original flight case style casing. The instrument is divided into 8 real-time sections
Background video description:
Moving to another house often means that you find things you had forgotten about. I found a little wooden toy – a sort of monocular with a lens that splits everything you see into many small pictures instead of one big. I cut the eye hole a bit bigger so it could slide over the lens on my camera and then I took some videos of the colourfull Elka organ. Then I added some video taken through a kaleidoscope to complete the psychedelic madness.
The melody is also played on the Elka X-1000. It is a song called “the Boys” and was originally performed by Danish singer Kim Larsen in the early 1980’s.
Creating the classic Jean Michel Jarre Laser Harp sound
This is the classic Laser Harp sound Jean Michel Jarre use. It is actually a preset in the Elka Synthex, number 46. Jarre used other presets on the Synthex right out of the box. To create a laser harp sound, synchronize OSC2 to OSC1 and here comes the secret why many fail to create the sound. The sound uses Glide with Speed and Amount to modulate pitch of the synchronized oscillator. Many people think that an envelope is modulating pitch but it is Glide.
The sound also use pulse wave on OSC1 and OSC2 use OSC1 to PWM and ring modulator.
The Synthex is a very lush sounding classic analog 8 voice synthesizer. Later versions implemented basic MIDI functions. It has 30 knobs, 6 sliders, 80 switches and a joystick. Powerful sounds with 2 oscillators per note, separate envelope generators, chorus and even a sequencer! The use of stable DCO’s (digitally controlled analog oscillators) and oscillator cross modulation of Pulse Width and a multimode filter made it unique in its time.
There is a cool joystick that replaces traditional pitch/mod wheels and allows for greater variable real-time control over the two LFOs, oscillator and filter modulation. The 6 sliders beside the joystick assign what (LFO, osc and filter) goes to the joystick. Voices can also be layered or split across the keyboard. Other great features include the onboard digital Ring-Modulator, Chorus effect and Dual or Layer modes available. And also a four-track sequencer rounds out this synths host of features. Two of it’s tracks can output MIDI data. This is just an extremely good analog and unique synth excellent for pads, drones and glistening lead sounds. They’re a bit of a pain to service and find parts for.
The programmable drum machine on Elka X-30
Background video description:
It took a while for me to figure out the correct way to programme the drum machine on the Elka X-30 organ. The manual doesn’t say anything about the fact that you have to press SAVE before pressing STOP. If you press STOP first the edited rhythm will not be saved.
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From modern prog and pop to dance, electro, hip-hop and experimental, Vintage Legends is a deep and versatile sonic resource that’s sure to inspire artists working in any style.
Special introductory price : $299 instead of $349
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Take 6 iconic vintage synthesizers, carefully restore them, create a massive array of presets and deeply multi-sample them, professionally process and master the sounds, infuse them into the industry proven UVI Engine — giving you endless sound shaping options, then wrap the results in immaculately prepared GUIs and you’ve got UVI Vintage Legends.
At UVI we’ve been producing sound for over 20 years and designing our own software for over 12.
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Taking these classic tones into new sonic territory, the UVI Engine delivers massive unison spreads, abundant polyphony, thick-modeled filters, drive, reverbs, modulation, FX and much, much more. These instruments will never need to be serviced or go out of tune, and they’re far easier to lug around than hardware.
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* Yamaha, Elka, ARP, Rhodes, Kurzweil, D.K, CS70M, CS40M, CS20M, DX1, Synthex, Chroma, K250, K1000 and Synergy are trademarks of their respective owners and are not affiliated, endorsed, connected or sponsored in any way to UVI or any of our affiliate sites; therefore do not be confused between UVI and these brands.
Short noodlings on the Elka Synthex
The Synthex is a very lush sounding classic analog 8 voice synthesizer. Later versions implemented basic MIDI functions. It has 30 knobs, 6 sliders, 80 switches and a joystick. Powerful sounds with 2 oscillators per note, separate envelope generators, chorus and even a sequencer! The use of stable DCO’s (digitally controlled analog oscillators) and oscillator cross modulation of Pulse Width and a multimode filter made it unique in its time.
There is a cool joystick that replaces traditional pitch/mod wheels and allows for greater variable real-time control over the two LFOs, oscillator and filter modulation. The 6 sliders beside the joystick assign what (LFO, osc and filter) goes to the joystick. Voices can also be layered or split across the keyboard. Other great features include the onboard digital Ring-Modulator, Chorus effect and Dual or Layer modes available. And also a four-track sequencer rounds out this synths host of features. Two of it’s tracks can output MIDI data.
In this video:
A series of short noodlings on my Elka Synthex, all using the brilliant onboard sequencer. No other synths or effects are used. One track also features my E-Mu Drumulator, which the Synthex sequencer is sync’d to (somewhat unpredictably) via trigger pulses.
DATAMASKIN
