The Rare 360 Systems Digital Keyboard (Overview & Demo)

[@ralphgoldheim]

This is Bob Easton’s invention founder of 360 Systems. No service manual and chips sanded to protect intellectual property and to protect the company from patent troll lawyers who were suing everyone at that time. I worked with Bob in two era’s and the stories behind his products are visionary.

[@Musik_Arbeiter]

I love the brass patches, it sounds so retro and nostalgic! I'd like to see these samples eventually released as a VST maybe someday!

[@babbygremlin]

SampleTron 2 has these, I actually found out about this instrument from wondering what those samples were from

[@Ancaja123]

A lot of ppl claim the Seinfeld bass is the M1, others say it’s this/the Midi Bass…after hearing this I’m 100 percent convinced haha

[@zmix]

I remember playing one of these at the local synth shop ..360 systems were a really interesting and innovative company, they manufactured the original LinnLM-1 drum machines for Roger Linn..!

[@mcgintymusic]

It's nice to find another fan of the 360 Systems Digital Keyboard! I remember playing one in a music store back when it was new. I finally found one a few years back. It "mostly" works pretty well. There's really nothing like it.

[@adastra123]

Very impressive for its time . I love the simplicity in its engineering. Eproms were pricy enough back then. But the build quality was bomb proof . Thanks for uploading.

[@ErikHawk]

Wow, so cool! Such a warm sound, reminds me a lot of the Emulator II. Thanks for making this video and not drenching all the sounds in reverb so that we can really hear them! I know it sounds "better" with reverb, but it's great to hear the pure, raw sound.

[@mrdali67]

Decent sounding for a rompler anno 1982. I used a 360 systems bass 19” module for years for foot bass. Think it still sits at Home somewhere. It had some nice bases that could be edited which you couldn’t do on on all those Roland e-series keyboards without a computer

[@MyNameIs-vo1wh]

that's a beautiful instrument thanks for playing it and sharing!

[@Neuri]

I like NZM's flow, thanks for the vid

[@jamesmorris9816]

I got to play with a guy, Canadian Timo Lane (?) who had a band called Symphonic Slam at A&M Studios in LA a few times in the late 70’s who had a 360 Systems set up for guitar. Really amazing sound. He told me he had spent his whole recording contract advance (around $50,000) on the synth, guitar, speakers, amps). These things cost some money back then. I think Pat Metheny and John McLaughlin had similar setups.

[@Gluttonite]

Sounds are wonderful. I love it.

[@truthseeker3907]

Thank You Nick👍✌

[@danielpirone8028]

They had a fun little one dedicated to that bass sound too.

[@ScottsSynthStuff]

The first true ROMpler!

[@lucapritchett65]

Yall are awesome

[@gaoeykreg]

Great demo! Some may recognise the acoustic guitar sound right at the beginning as the one used on The Fear by Lily Allen. Producer Greg Kurstin sampled it into Logic.

[@doordedeur]

Very modern sounding for 1982.

[@marcbrasse747]

It had a bit of a reputation in spite of being so rare and I now understand why. Some of it's sounds have stood the test of time very well. Like for instance the nylon guitar and the strings.

[@audiodood]

You should look into the RMI Keyboard Computer (1974) it’s basically a much cooler earlier version of this

[@keymbord]

Timmy shilling RMI again

[@audiodood]

@@keymbord m

[@soupforare]

all PROMs carefully dumped and catalogued, of course

[@lo-firobotboy7112]

Cool keyboard. I've never heard of this one before. Question: How is this different than a "ROMpler"? Would it simply be a ePROMpler?

[@jeffross761]

I was wondering if there are ways to burn new eproms in order to have all of the library and if there are unreleased sounds I never heard a choir sound on one of these or pipe organ

[@deastman2]

Samples from Mars has a sample pack based on these sounds.

[@histakes12]

Shhhh…. It’s a secret

[@AllenPendleton]

I had one of those

[@AlexBallMusic]

Never heard of that one, thanks for sharing. It sounds like a cross between an Emulator and a Mellotron. Sorry if I missed it, but were you saying that it's multiple samples at different pitches? Is it something like three samples per octave stretched across adjacent keys? Or more or less? I know 360 Systems also did the first ever guitar synthesizer which nobody has ever heard of either. Interesting company.

[@Syntaur]

Absolutely! Well, it depends on which sound cards you have installed. For example, the piano sound is an entire card of EPROMs because it needs to hold all the samples of every note. Other sounds are transposed, or repeated on the keybed like the Timpani sound. Which is sampled only in one octave.

[@gsprings43]

I know Lee ritenour used one on his 1977 (captain fingers album)

[@AlexBallMusic]

@@Syntaur Very interesting! Thanks for the info.

[@Syntaur]

Of course! Thanks for your great content!

[@nickzehrmoon1131]

Most commonly it uses one sample per octave

[@RobertDorschel]

I had a 360 Systems midi bass module for a while. Now I wish I hadn't sold it, just for it's goofy history.

[@bart.grantham]

Some of these sounds are incredibly familiar. Is it possible the waveforms were licensed in other products? Maybe the WaveFront synth chipset used in Turtle Beach cards? Or the Kurzweil units?

[@lundsweden]

Sounds similar to the Emulator II.

[@kierenmoore3236]

2:32 … I could not have resisted playing the Seinfeld theme here; you are a stronger man than I …

[@nickzehrmoon1131]

I did!!! But I’d just learned it and kept flubbing so we moved on 😭

[@kierenmoore3236]

@@nickzehrmoon1131 ☺️

[@gsprings43]

company is still around,,,making tv production equipment,,lee ritenour used what he called the first guitar synthesizer in 1977 made by 360 systems

[@gsprings43]

I remember reading that 360 systems made the first PA system that used a digitally recorded voice back in the mid 70's for some resort

[@SacSynths_Jack_Z]

Very cool!

[@temporoboto]

Great content, thanks for sharing.

[@ramonrojasalmuzara290]

The marimba sound reminds me of the cartoons from the Czech Republic in the 70's 😂

[@degamebros6358]

No they didnt make only one... Because i also own one. They actually made 200 of those

[@synthland4526]

👽 Casio vs fairlight 3?

[@degamebros6358]

Casio

[@RikMaxSpeed]

Are these 8-bit samples? I sounds amazingly good for the time - how much did it cost?

[@JayTheLane]

Unusual beast. Its nice but I wouldn't drop cash on it.

[@Lantertronics]

Someone needs to make a Time Machine and go back in time and tell whoever had the bright idea to sand off the chips to NOT DO THAT.

[@annother3350]

How long are the samples?

[@Syntaur]

Up to 8 seconds. Depending on which sound cards you have installed.

[@hutti]

Why wasn't that a success back in the day? Too expensive maybe? Some of the sounds are pretty good even today, i don't know many keyboards made before 1982 sounding that realistic.

[@BlackMan614]

Released '82/'83 time-frame for $3900. Had the DX7 in '83 and Ensoniq Mirage in '84 for nearly $2k less.

[@SPAZZOID100]

Most of us wanted synth tones from synths, not realism.

[@SwishMajor]

When is the next episode of Synth wizard though 🥺🥺😭😭😭

[@Syntaur]

We do these as time and resources allow, so we can't really have a regular schedule. But I promise, there are several great episodes in the works as we speak! Or type.

[@Klaw_]

Modyalater, that was funny.

[@vakiivak8819]

That theme on the begining of the video is harmonically exactly the same as this one: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nWfLoJd9l9mSoqM

[@bighurt7548]

Alright Freddie mercury I see you 😄

[@PorchBass]

Lovely, but needs a tune

[@myronbradish9081]

??o?o?? ?

[@Jonas-bn8gp]

Ah, just play the Seinfeld tune. Ok Good M1

[@avsystem3142]

This may have been hot stuff in the 1980's but it is rather unimpressive today. The mere fact that something is rare doesn't, per se, make it valuable or desirable.

[@tristramllewellyn8162]

Relatively poor woman/man’s Kurzweil K250 perhaps?