The VCS3 Synthesiser
I was always interested in synthesisers since the 70s. There were basically 3 companies Moog, ARP and EMS. Moog: was e.g. the sound of Rick Wakeman, ARP: Jarre and Vangelis, EMS: Pink Floyd. Of course there was no strict differentiation. There were also other synths out there with each keyboarder having his or her favourite sound that made them distintive.
In the film 'Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii' from 1972 there are a few scenes with Gilmour and Waters playing around with a VCS3 synth working on the 'On the run' track from 'Dark side of the Moon'.
I was fascinated with the weird sounds you could get out of the VCS3; the patch panel was different to the other synths of the time, which used either switches and/or patch cables. Of course I wanted to see one and play with it, but I couldn’t find any shops in London with it on display. I thought I’d go to the source, so I rang up EMS in Putney and asked if I could visit and look around, they said ok!, maybe they through I was from a rock group and going to buy one.
I went down to the studio and was shown around. Peter Zinovieff was the founder and this was his studio. The picture shows the man himself, a VCS3 up front and the flagship EMS100 at the back right. He wasn’t there unfortunately, would have liked to have met him. I can’t remember that much about the visit, we are going back 4 decades here. As I didn’t want to leave empty handed, the only thing I could afford was the VCS3 manual! I still have it somewhere in the cellar.
Also I bought a limited edition of Tristam Cary's Trio for 2 turntables and the VCS3. Both useless with out the hardware but somewhere in the back of my mind I contemplated get the VCS3 one day.
If I remember rightly they were going for about £450. I was getting £35 a month working in a hospital lab so there was no way I was going to afford one!
They are rare these days and go therefore for a price; the picture of the VCS3 left is a restored MkII sold a few years ago for, can you believe, £9.990!!
Now 45 years on with more powerful hard and software under my belt, it still nags me that I didn't try and get one.
Which
reminds me..
I was at the premiere of extracts from Dark Side at the Rainbow Theatre
in 1972. Can’t remember much, it was dark and dingy, and the
quadraphonic effect on the track “Money” hooked me on eventually getting
a 4 channel tape deck. Still have the program (see right).
I mentioned the EMS visit to a friend not long ago. He said that he was also in the Putney studio about the same time and had met up with Zinovieff. This was 10 years before I met my friend and 30 before I found this out!
In the film 'Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii' from 1972 there are a few scenes with Gilmour and Waters playing around with a VCS3 synth working on the 'On the run' track from 'Dark side of the Moon'.
I was fascinated with the weird sounds you could get out of the VCS3; the patch panel was different to the other synths of the time, which used either switches and/or patch cables. Of course I wanted to see one and play with it, but I couldn’t find any shops in London with it on display. I thought I’d go to the source, so I rang up EMS in Putney and asked if I could visit and look around, they said ok!, maybe they through I was from a rock group and going to buy one.
I went down to the studio and was shown around. Peter Zinovieff was the founder and this was his studio. The picture shows the man himself, a VCS3 up front and the flagship EMS100 at the back right. He wasn’t there unfortunately, would have liked to have met him. I can’t remember that much about the visit, we are going back 4 decades here. As I didn’t want to leave empty handed, the only thing I could afford was the VCS3 manual! I still have it somewhere in the cellar.
Also I bought a limited edition of Tristam Cary's Trio for 2 turntables and the VCS3. Both useless with out the hardware but somewhere in the back of my mind I contemplated get the VCS3 one day.
If I remember rightly they were going for about £450. I was getting £35 a month working in a hospital lab so there was no way I was going to afford one!
They are rare these days and go therefore for a price; the picture of the VCS3 left is a restored MkII sold a few years ago for, can you believe, £9.990!!
Now 45 years on with more powerful hard and software under my belt, it still nags me that I didn't try and get one.
Which
reminds me..
I was at the premiere of extracts from Dark Side at the Rainbow Theatre
in 1972. Can’t remember much, it was dark and dingy, and the
quadraphonic effect on the track “Money” hooked me on eventually getting
a 4 channel tape deck. Still have the program (see right).I mentioned the EMS visit to a friend not long ago. He said that he was also in the Putney studio about the same time and had met up with Zinovieff. This was 10 years before I met my friend and 30 before I found this out!
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