"In 1974, EMS introduced the Synthi 100, designed for those who didn't need a portable system. As [designer, Dave] Cockerell put it, 'You had to take walls down to get it into studios.' The Synthi 100 was originally based on three VCS3s, and grew from there to encompass 12 oscillators and associated filters, envelopes, etc. It also had a three-track monophonic digital sequencer and two 64X64 patch matrices. The Synthi 100 sold for around £10,000 (US $25,000), which limited the number of units sold, but it was the only thing Britain ever produced that could compete with the modular systems from American manufacturers. One Synthi 100 went to the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, which does electronic music and sound effects for a myriad of TV programs, including Doctor Who.
[excerpted with permission from the book Vintage Synthesizers by Mark Vail, copyright Miller Freeman, Inc]
Radio Belgrade,
Woplfgang Dauner,
Daniel Miller,
Melodia - Moscow record label,
Francis Monkman from Curved Air - on
"Phantasmagoria",
Bruno Spoerri - his Synthi-100 was offered for sale in May 1979 for SFr. 48 000 with "new filters, additional envelope shapers, inverters, additional inputs, etc...",
Elizabeth Parker with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop,
Karl-Heinz Stockhausen - on "Zodiac (CD 24) and Sirius (CD 26),
University of East Anglia Electronic Music Studio
[Let us know if you have any further additions to this list.]
