Seiko's Forgotten Synthwave Dream Machine

[@Hainbach]

SEIKO DS Soundpack: patreon.com/hainbach IMPORTANT: I LOVE THE AMIGA AND 16BIT GAMES

[@edwardfletcher7790]

I'm guessing you're using the Deutsch pronounciation of the name ? In English it's "Sayko" my friend 😆 Also don't disrespect the Amiga, it had amazing sound quality for 8 bit back in the day ! 😜 This unit probably cost as much as a really good secondhand car when new ! I absolutely love watching you discover and play with these obscure machines 👍😆 Thank you...

[@mikemorrisonmusic]

I will join your Patreon. I love your work!

[@Hainbach]

@@edwardfletcher7790 I would never diss the Amiga, I am Team 500 myself 🙂

[@Hainbach]

@@mikemorrisonmusic Thank you Mike!

[@shpongled587]

Call me a psycho but this Seiko makes me want to play Heroes of Might & Magic or at least listen to the game's music. Nostalgia ftw!

[@christoroppolo8742]

The source of the additive synth was born in Cupertino California! The first synth from a start up company called Grey Labs who created the Baysyn minstrel . That engine was eventually sold to Seiko! So cool to see it still alive in this instrument! Peace 👽

[@painstruck01]

ALL HAIL THE GREAT TRIVIA MASTER!! seriously though, if you're free on Thursday evenings, we've got an opening in our pub quiz team at The Dog & Duck, Wokingham UK.

[@danielleohallisey4218]

Christo, it's great to see you pop up in this discussion! Loved your documentary; keep rockin' on...

[@JoeM1314]

Bay Area is super important for synths between Dave Smith, Roger Linn, and a Stanford professor who researched what Yamaha would call FM synthesis. Didn't know this one though! Thanks for sharing

[@christoroppolo8742]

@@JoeM1314 I’m one of the original beta testers of synths . Not very well known in the commercial electronic music world but I’ve programmed for some very well known composers and synthesis’s over the course of some forty odd years . The Medusa by dread box actually features a lot of the same type of algorithm to create sounds . I didn’t care for that instrument though . Peace ✌️👽

[@omnifvck2596]

Nerd.

[@MartinGalway]

What a cool video 😀 This synth was sitting around the office when I took my job at Ocean Software in January 1985. Naturally I took charge of it and played most of my Ocean tunes on it before they were programmed into the C64. I had the additive synth module but not the sequencer. It was fun to play around with... I tended to think it was a bit pointless because it was so thin-sounding that I couldn't imagine anyone wanting to use it. (and it is not exactly a legendary name in the synth pantheon)

[@MEGAMIGA]

Wow! Martin Galway!!! Nice to see you here, Sir! Also, great to know you used that piece of gear. What are you up to these days? Still in the game music industry I suppose?

[@acreil]

There's an Easter egg in the DS-310. Waveforms are synthesized inside the DS-310 and stored locally, then they're transferred to the keyboard when the sounds are selected. So if you leave the batteries out of the DS-310 for a while, the local waveform memory will be corrupted and you'll get much brighter sounds than you can program manually. These corrupted waveforms can't be edited; they'll just be overwritten immediately. But you can overwrite the sustain and release waveforms to get a very bright, attack, etc. The drums are interesting as well. I only have the DS-250 (no drums), but there's a patent that suggests the tone generator hardware is repurposed to make very crude digital drum sounds. I expect if you open it up, you'll find only the two Toshiba T6612A tone generator ICs and no dedicated hardware for drums.

[@theimmaturehobbyist9930]

Wow, thanks Hainbach, like all your videos I absolutely loved this. I've come across Seiko's watches before but never knew they made an obscure and sadly forgotten synthesizer with a great sound

[@MetaHoudini]

Love that Jexus style at 4:38 and 14:05 You nailed it

[@Hainbach]

Huge compliment, thank you!

[@octopede]

Hey! I designed that T-shirt logo. Thanks, Hainbach.

[@davidlewis1787]

If you don’t already have one, I think you would LOVE THE Kawai K5000 .. I had one stolen, it was baffling, beautiful and unique

[@lundsweden]

K5000 rocks IMO, very underrated synth.

[@thejollyjoker187]

The K5000 S was the one worthwhile, not the W or R (although the W had a sequencer the S didn't..)

[@DaddyChronic]

SEIKO , never seen, but still fresh. amazing

[@jackispax1633]

This is my thrift store unicorn! I saw one at auction once that was complete including a MIDI breakout box I'd never seen anywhere else.

[@kennethjanczak4900]

another great video. Thanks for taking the time to make these videos and show these wonderfull instruments...

[@tylerk.rauman988]

The additive synthesis reminds me of a Yamaha Portasound digital keyboard an old roommate of mine had. It was wonderful and I'm always on the hunt for those at yard sales and stuff. They used to be so common in the late 90s and early 2000s but I never see them any more.

[@xa1a]

My first proper keyboard was the Yamaha PSR-36 and it had a very unusual additive synth on it.

[@rot_studios]

The PortaSounds (PSS) are great. From the early PS ones that were hidden analog synth gems (CS01 filter and VCA ;) ) to the 2 or 4 operator FM synths hidden away in some of the PSS ones. Some even allowed you to fully program the synthesizer too!

[@ludovicferrando8394]

Look in France, lots of people are selling them =)

[@TheKitaroHouse]

Seiko also offered a MIDI connection module for the DS-101 and DS-202 (the DS-250 had MIDI built in). And they also offered a standalone digital sequencer called DS-1000.

[@Goettel]

Remember reading about them in the old Keyfax books, but never heard one outside of Jarre's Rendez-vous. Good show : - )

[@realestatecult3105]

I remember seeing this advertised when it was first released but never heard it until now. Thanks, Hainbach!

[@rainbowkrampus]

Me: "Is there a real estate cult?" (looks into it) "Oh. Oh! So the entire industry...? Oh..." (proceeds to drink)

[@id.unknown1283]

I think this could have some really interesting uses for songs.

[@humanwaveform]

can’t wait to hear it put to tape and slowed down

[@bricelory9534]

What a cool opportunity to hear directly from someone who made this little piece of obscure history. I admit, the synth itself was not my favorite sound, but I can see how it could be used - likely by others 😅 Very cool find!

[@daseinoseven4514]

This is actually a very entertaining and informative video. Well done, sir.

[@electricdawn2258]

Sounds like my Kawai K5 that I bought in the late 80's. It also used additive synthesis, sort of like a super organ. Still works!

[@Goettel]

The sound I remember most from my long ago sold K5 is the preset choir.

[@JamesMiller-vz7qx]

Such an amazing video and kudos @hainbach for both the quality of the production but fantastic mix of content. From Japan, it's always interesting such deep dives on how influential Japanese technology has been in key industries. It's also important to pause on how important the exchange that happens between people engaged with technology in their field are a driving force for innovation. @Hainbach super cool that you pulled together the cupertino, Japan, German engineers and musicians who were a driving force working together on the evolution from the DS200 to DS300 series change. A testament to the importance of exchange of ideas--like this video!--and how valuable how we use technology to progress. Fantastiche.. :)

[@expandingknowledge8269]

I prefer the additive draw sliders on my Korg DSS-1 Sampler. I have made hundreds of floppy disks with additive waveforms. Love the old equipment. 🎛 🔈 🔉 🔊

[@adamkumpmusic]

that track was super dope tbh. thanks hainbach!

[@SmoothBob]

I LOVE that first pad!

[@chinossynthesizer705]

This is a very cool synth for old digital sounds. I dont do synthwave music but i like the 90s electronic music scene more

[@Info-Ark]

Your a genius how you worked out that 'thing'. You made it sound really interesting. Maybe good for a Doctor-Who theme song....

[@aftertheendtimes]

You are loveley Hainbach, i get i really good mood when visiting your channel =) Love cheers💚

[@felixecho]

This synth very much makes me think of winning Molly Ringwalds' heart at the Regatta. That night, we dance to the local band playing an original slow song with a keyboard part with lots of digital noise. The scene fades to the end credits.

[@Spudcore]

"Have you plugged in the machine, sir?" :D I love the blocky modules and the way they slot in, it's very beautiful!

[@wellurban]

That’s a really interesting approach to making additive synthesis approachable! Often you end up at one extreme of the complexity spectrum: either an overwhelming number of partials to try to modulate in interesting ways, or some sort of macro control that doesn’t sound much different from subtractive. Giving the user a set number of envelopes to choose from is a nice compromise, and leads naturally to the atmospheric evolving pads that you came up with. Some of the sounds would work perfectly in dub techno, whereas others reminded me of mid-80s Eno. Lovely stuff!

[@SynthsandSounds]

Welcome to the rabbit hole of home keyboards! This is surely an amazing one, and there's so many more to discover once You start embracing the lo-fi-ness of these rare beauties!

[@doctorc-ton1099]

Truly harnessing the power of Vaporwave here. Much more interesting what you have done with this.

[@TheScreamingFrog916]

This is fun to watch. Love those old school LCD displays. The 80s were a wonderful time for new things, but now is even better. We are living in a magical age, of new and old synthesizers/drum machines, and software. Thanks for sharing this with us.

[@treetopjones737]

When tech moved into the black on grey LCD: "We are living in the future." And a calculator you can make music with ( input a random string of numbers, hit sq root button, you got a random melody ) - WOW!

[@KeltyVince]

Reminds me very much of the kind of sounds you could get from the CZ-101 and CZ-230S, that I owned back in the mid to late 80's.

[@chinossynthesizer705]

Yeah, but additive synths have more control in their sound. Casio was simple and cheap, but people in the 80s thought Casio synths were toys.

[@Staygoldfarms]

Early Depeche Mode

[@noisetheorem]

I remember when these were in the stores! I remember playing with one. My parents bought me a Casio instead.

[@Flint126]

the guy you bought this thing from is a legend!

[@PorchBass]

Hot damn that has a mystical sound. Love the drums

[@relic985]

So much aesthetic in those Seiko commercials

[@danielleohallisey4218]

The college where I taught classical guitar in the eighties got a Synclavier given to them, so weirdly enough the first time I ever played a synth was on that instrument with a six-figure price tag (in 1987!). The additive patches in that instrument became my baseline for "this sounds good," a standard that I've never really been able to live up to, since. This sounds like a fair substitute; way cool!

[@A5PEN-W0LF]

as a Synclavier owner, I love this!

[@GhostOfLorelei]

I know there’s a lot of laughs but…that is just about perfect as a 16bit machine. That’s crazy how cool that sounds (to me). You could do chronotrigger some justice on this one.

[@vasya_trubkin]

hello. I rarely leave comments. But today, watching the video, I felt like I plunged into the past. You got interesting melodies for video inserts. It's a pity I don't know how to play the keys like a real musician, sometimes I also want to record interesting melodies, I do it by ear. Thanks for your interesting videos, always glad to see you! regards Marlen!

[@DivKid]

There's some super cheese in this one! But some really lovely sounds too. Some of it reminds me of the tones in the Casio CZ series. Maybe it's a watchmaker thing :)

[@AlexBallMusic]

That's a real oddball. Love the stuff you find. So it's kind of transwave in that it moves from one to the next over time?

[@Hainbach]

Exactly! Very Fizmo

[@AlexBallMusic]

@@Hainbach How surprising. Cool engine, perhaps too cool for the market it was aimed at! That and the cheap and gritty sound. Perfect fodder for you. 😀 On a related note, a friend watched my Museo video and it reminded him that he has a Keytek CTS-2000 in storage! If it works, then I can revisit that one in my own studio. It's also something unexpected like vector synthesis or something.

[@RiccardoPietroni]

@alex you did’nt seen the Seiko laying down around.

[@AlexBallMusic]

@@RiccardoPietroni Must have missed it!

[@DynamicRockers]

Those delayed stacking layers of sounds are cool! I guess the AudioThing plugin is coming soon :) Thanks for the discovery

[@mutedsounds2k]

For anyone who does not know Robert Schroeder's music, I strongly recommend "Computer Voice" (1984).

[@BrianWhitakerZBC]

My parents bought one one of these when i was 12 or so, around 1985. Played it in a new wave garage band for a bit, until my sister broke some of the keys off of it by knocking it off its stand. The sequencer came with a demo ROM cartridge that had four physical buttons, each with a different song. Nice to see it being played again.

[@brianspenst1374]

Excellent use of vintage Seiko commercials.

[@Hainbach]

I was sooooo happy to find them on Archive.org

[@brianspenst1374]

@@Hainbach I have used Archive for soooo many projects.

[@niallmacdonald2710]

+1 for featuring Robert Schröder. I still really like Harmonic Ascendant. The other two pictured here I don't have, but would like to.

[@mutedsounds2k]

The multitrack demo rhythm (13:50) reminds me the one of Jean-Michel Jarre's "Magnetic Fields, Pt. 2". By the way, how beautiful Grace Jones was at that time (14:06)!

[@keyhoarder]

A few years ago i had the oportunity to buy one, but in not-working state and without a synthesizer module so i resigned. Still was very curious about this vintage synth, so im grateful that now we can enjoy this review. I love the looks with the modules and these LCD's like from the old handheld games. Sadly without the synth module its just a home keyboard with very mediocre sounds even for its era, compared to the 1983 JVC KB 700, Yamaha PS 55 or this all big old Casiotones. I think the main flaw of this synth was the sound aesthetic. Definitely not everyone cup of tea. Little harsh, thin and cold (even with the chorus). Looks like it was designed more by an engineers than a musicians.

[@gaetan4164]

Oh my God big SNES Zelda vibes here. I love it, so charming.

[@raymondjett]

VERY nice rarity! Please scan in the manuals and post them online!

[@monoscene]

Sounds per envelope stage is an interesting concept. Great video! And nice shirt.

[@mvoproject]

Me very like your dreamy retro-songs (like vaporwave, mall-music, etc.) and this pad sounds from 5:45 and 6:30 Very interesting instrument if you know how it can be used. For the lo-fi style music is almost ideal! =) Thanks for another cool interesting video and performances.

[@MrJpbmusic2005]

Jean-Michel-Jarre's "Rendezvous " has a Seiko DS 250 on one of his tracks...always curious to see a seiko in action

[@harmanburns]

Ready for the Hainbach Dungeon Synth album drop ⚔️

[@Goettel]

Back in the day, us keyboardist plebs just wanted a reasonably affordable instrument to play. Apart from playing the accordion I was brought up on a diet of home organ (with a nice spring reverb, which I didn't know anything about back then), Casio SK-1, Juno-6 and onward from there. What's now beautiful about this and other 'cheap' options is how cold they sound; perfect for those times, and maybe these.

[@piperfox74]

Hey! I have a couple of Robert Schröder's albums on vinyl. Cool to see him here!

[@Hainbach]

Yeah was lucky that he was the one that sold it to me and that he agreed to be interviewed.

[@realqwave]

I used to have the keyboard and the additive add-on when it was introduced at the Frankfurt Musikmesse mid eighties. It was a nice easy to use additive synth. I sold it 1987 to buy a PPG wave 2.2

[@Hainbach]

Then you might have talked to Robert, AFAIK he was demoing it at Musikmesse.

[@realqwave]

Yes, I did. At this Musikmesse, the Seiko was presented by him playing Eleanor Rigby by The Beatles. A strange way of presenting a new synth by today’s expectations.

[@musicandfilms9956]

A slight upgrade in quality...

[@fortheloveofnoise]

Smartest trade I have ever seen in my life.

[@chinossynthesizer705]

The ppg wave are sampled waveforms?

[@jamesbell5219]

So nice to hear from Robert! His 1st album is such a touchstone for me. And I knew nothing of his involvement with Seiko. Top Action.

[@Novaheart1998]

I've heard of this keyboard but it's so rare over here in the West that nobody has one or knows what it is. It reminds me of how you can create sounds on the Korg DSS-1 and the Kawai K3. Regardless of what you do though you can never really make that good of a sound using their built in sound creation modes. Depending on the cheese factor or whatever kind of strange music you are doing this Seiko could be fun. I see em on Ebay now and then not too pricey.

[@Decoy303]

@13:49 Fuck yeah! I haven't heard a synth tone and tambour since Autechre's Icunabula album. Well Twisted Electron's Blast Beats can do that as well. All in all this synth is def a keeper.

[@krystiankrewniak]

Interesting. Nostalgia inducing sounds. Reminds me of my early PC and the old games I had on it. Like you said 16-bit adventure sound!

[@HappyOrganMan]

Interessantes Instrument, tolle Demo 👍🤩 Jaaaa, das waren die Sounds von damals 😁

[@Hainbach]

Vielen Dank 😁

[@lundsweden]

Jean Michel Jarre was supposed to have used this on Rendez Vous 5, according to the liner notes. It does sound something like this, so it's believable.

[@temporoboto]

another cool one🙃💙thank you for sharing

[@JonMichaelDeShazer]

Mad props to Hainbach with the Colorado Modular Synth Society shirt!

[@edgeeffect]

Wow... Robert Schroeder... I've got a few of his albums in my archive. :) I've got to agree with the review's criticisms... true of a lot of early cheap digital synths.... a bit of reverb will often improve them massively though.

[@tomahzo]

Very cool video :). 3:48 : Come on, man, the Amiga 3000 was quite a powerful workstation back in the day ;D. (and its sound capabilities were well ahead of the curve) The sound your going for is better accompanied by an early 90:ies PC with a cheap Adlib clone sound card ;D. 4:40 : Hah, that VHS filter and 90:ies wipes and editing techniques are quite on point, I gotta say ;D

[@Hainbach]

I don't get why everyone thinks I don't like the Amiga, I love it! I still have my Protracker Copy.

[@tomahzo]

@@Hainbach Same here :). (I'm actually not surprised - the Amiga was pretty big in Germany and you're in the age bracket of people who might have used an Amiga back in the day) Just thought it was funny when you threw up a picture of an Amiga to go with the tinny, cheesy keyboard sound ;D. Then again, there's certainly a time and a place for tinny, cheesy keyboard sounds.

[@aurora3655]

that's cool. very much sounds like a digital synthesizer.

[@bitegoatie]

I don’t like much ‘80s digital musical gear, having slogged through a lot of it when it was new, but the additive functions of this one sound really good. Good job digging up another worthwhile bit of antique electronics.

[@paullawson6749]

Those drums got me took me back to my 80s teenage years

[@Dakoya]

Actual greatness 🎉

[@environnyc]

Had 3 Seikos. 2 DS-250s, one I traded for a DS-202 with DS-310 and DS-320. 250 and synth programmer are really quite nice. Stereo/detune is a must.

[@georgem6651]

Pronouncing Seiko as Psycho 😅 Yep, I'm doing that from now on too 😂

[@organfairy]

That's what the auto generated subtitles believed to - "if you need some psycho in your life....."

[@midwinter78]

Some of the sounds remind me of the soundtrack for Archipelagos on the Amiga. Very definite 16 bit vibe.

[@erlannderrantem6972]

Have to rewatch right after premiere, got distracted by live chat 😅

[@PendelSteven]

About the SPC700 / PlayStation soundprocessor... The other day I listened to the demo of VPS aVenger String Machines and I got a feeling most of them are sampled on the Super Nintendo & PlayStation (2). Again, if you want to make it sound Super Nintendo-y, bitcrush it to 8-bit and cut-off everything above 16 kHz. Have fun! Also, does anyone remember the Seiko Message Watch? I mean... And Casio also makes watches. So yeah.

[@curtis_chip]

I like the Gefell UM70 ! your voice sounds so clean and nice … cool cool greetings from Berlin

[@Hainbach]

Its incredible - I was just shooting it out against a vintage U87 and that lost out in most cases, except for close mic soft talking, podcast/audiobook style. But for anything with more distance, UM70 just pulls the voice in.

[@mrotaveria]

[@ddr4ig]

If anyone can pull a sound from the DS-202 - Hainbach can!

[@TIK01]

Damn you Hainbach! I should be doing things...

[@otobotrecords]

That's a *grand Seiko* ! 😅 Let's wait for early next year to see how *spring drives* it. I bet it delivers a *hi beat* . Not for the faint of heart or *snowflakes* .

[@_Synthesize_Me_]

Please make an album with this synth!

[@Info-Ark]

That would be great to hear...⭐⭐

[@wArGa5m1]

Would love to see you do a video on the Hohner PK-250/ MR-250(Rack version) Its an analog accompaniment unit with CEM and SSM chips

[@Hainbach]

I looked at those a few years ago - totally forgot about them!

[@idj20]

I've listened to a couple of Robert Schroder's albums on this site some time ago. "The Day After X", the last track in "Harmonic Ascendant" is sheer brilliance - a real hidden gem.

[@ebrombaugh]

Whoa - I've got an album by Robert Schröder. "Computer Voice" from 1984. Good stuff.

[@UnderSeaShadow]

Selling the Caribbean dream there Hainbach 🏝

[@VLena_art]

I have been listening to synthwave and vaporwave again the last few days and this inspired me to make some myself.

[@lo-firobotboy7112]

Haha..It's funny. Back in 1988 when I started making music it was just called synth music. Jump forward a couple decades and low and behold, I'm making "synthwave". Jump forward again to the present and now synthwave is out of date. Apparently my musical tastes keep phasing in and out.

[@VLena_art]

@@lo-firobotboy7112 hey! It is strange how things can change. I myself am a teen. The 'back in my day' is the today for me. I am curious how music will evolve when I grow up. Synthwave (that's how I call it) I have always understood as a genre inspired by the electronic instrumens of the 80s. Not actual music from the 80s. I never lived in the 80s. I have no emotional connection to that time but I do love how things from the era make me feel today.

[@lo-firobotboy7112]

@@VLena_art If you watch movies like Escape from New York, Bladerunner, Legend, The Thing etc. and listen to the soundtracks, it's all atmospheric music made with vintage poly synths. At the time it was just called music, synth music, or electronic music, but people love ridiculous labels so it started being called synthwave or outrun or darkwave etc. etc. every new musician or kid that discovers a "scene" wants to have their own tag. It's all still just electronic music.

[@bcbudrecords]

Haha the cut away footage at 4:45 was perfect ! lol

[@in.der.welt.sein.]

I have a Seiko ds-250. Really cool keyboard. It works surprisingly well with other synths through midi. I've been looking for the ds-310 to add to it for years, to no avail unfortunately.

[@Hainbach]

Yeah the 310 is super-rare. I guess the Keyboards are easier to find, but the 310 ended up in landfills.

[@CoLD.SToRAGE]

I was always intrigued by additive synthesis, so when I saw a Kawai K5000 for sale, new old stock, for a crazy cheap price, I bought it instantly. I’ve not had much time on it as of yet, but it does kinda cheat a little because it has PCM sample play-back too… so you can prefix sounds with plucks or piano attacks and percussion samples. A fun synth though! 😊

[@Goettel]

Didn't like the sound, love the keybed.

[@davidlewis1787]

Your brass ditty sounded like dr who incidental music from 83

[@Info-Ark]

This machine would be good for a doctor who cover..

[@danielpirone8028]

The alpha synturi was also an odd additive synth ( used Apple II as controller and UI) some unique sounds but also kinda limited in the end. Audio Damage makes a soft synth version that is great value. Korg Dss-1 sampler also had an additive synth mode too - closer to the synclavier/ fairlight CMI in terms of features ( samples, additive synth, filters, sequencing) …

[@danielpirone8028]

Not sure why it wasn’t more popular!

[@Chris_yes]

This would sound perfect on Clannad's Robin of Sherwood soundtrack :) :)

[@Goettel]

Nothing's forgotten

[@djfred1993]

Great stuff !

[@chriswareham]

I'd love to see what you could create with Casio's SK-1 and 1000P, which were both "home keyboards" that had surprising additive synthesis capabilities. The 1000P also had a very cool arpeggiator which you could program sophisticated patterns into, although rather frustratingly it couldn't be synchronised to anything external.

[@newtronix]

Running the gauntlet of additive synthesis!

[@G-zero07]

wonder what that long black box with the green display in the back is 😂 looks cool

[@bloodyhell6378]

Interestingly, while the DS320 sequencer module does not work with the DS250 keyboard, the connector and mount slots are still present. Of course the sequencer becomes useless when connected as it clashes with the 250's midi circuit. I still like to have it attached to the DS250 keyboard, but not connected, for aesthetic reasons.

[@h2o1969]

I have to say, I was not impressed by the sound of it, but, like the true master you are. The jams sounded great.