The RAREST Thing To Come From The 1960's EMS Putney Labs. EMS VCS4

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

NAME A MACHINE BY EMS

[@GretschGod]

synthi 100!

[@TheVirtualWatcher]

Synthi Hi Fli

[@Pytchblend]

Synthi Hi-Fli :/

[@yingfancobweb]

spectre video synthesizer which used by chris marker

[@the_glove]

Synthi aks

[@pablowentscobar]

Sweet baby Jesus, that thing is beautiful. That is a perfect example of why I love old gear, It's a glorious mix of lab equipment and music instrument. I love it.

[@GalileoAV]

One of the coolest synths you've featured on the channel, what a beast

[@theAwakenedOne007]

this is brilliant! sounds so deep! crazy this came out in the 60s. sounds better than most nowadays.

[@chriswareham]

Such a massive shame that so much of Peter Zinovieff's home studio equipment was lost in a flood, especially if it included the PDP-8 mini-computer that was being used for so many groundbreaking projects. At least we have the VCS4 as a glimpse into the lesser known acheivements of what must be the most unusual and inventive electronic music company that ever existed.

[@Wagoo]

Agreed. I'm sure much could have been salvaged or reverse engineered - I guess they just didn't realize what an important part of electronic music history a lot of that stuff was.. JMJ's synths that got rained on during the recent closing ceremony were all fine afterwards with a bit of TLC

[@Nervejam]

I used Dec pdp-11s in my second job. 5 of them simultaneously. 3 of them were the advertising system and the other 2 were the editorial system for a newspaper..

[@chriswareham]

I had a PDP-11 in my flat back in the early 2000s. It was a late model one in the "deskside" case like an enormous PC tower. Sadly it was missing the RAM board, so I ended up giving it to a PDP enthusiast who had a whole garage full of DEC computers.

[@petervandebeek5980]

You got this thing at your command, and about the first thing you do is become a Dalek. You are the best.

[@HANGINGOUTWITHAUDIOPHILES]

That EMS sound is haunting. Thanks for showing us this rare beauty. Takes me back to using the AKS but with more and more and more.

[@GretschGod]

You should come visit The University of West London to check out Pete Townshend's synth collection which is now kept there. :)

[@peterbustin2683]

Cool. Must visit!

[@BrianNatonski-wt3mv]

Did he donate it before or after getting busted for CP? OH I'm sorry, did I say that out loud? Hope they donate the proceeds to victims of CP.😢

[@HappyQuailsLC]

Would you and do a video for us?

[@PutItAway101]

​@@BrianNatonski-wt3mvThere was no CP, stop believing the mainstream media and look into facts for yourself.

[@annother3350]

@@BrianNatonski-wt3mv it was just research, remember? 😅😅😅

[@dickydoes]

Over the last few days, I've really been down the EMS rabbit hole- then you post this banger. What a brilliant story- a collaboration of genius minds working together to create electronic music history. So sad that not only have we lost the inventors, but the studio too. I'm really hoping Behringer can realise their VCS3 clone at some point- I'd like to flightcase 6 together and pretend I'm Jarre in China- although a Synthi would be better. Oh well, stuff that dreams are made of. Great video about a great and important historic instrument.

[@TheLambLive]

Ive been waiting an eternity it seems for behringer to release their VCS 3,, because this is the holy grail synth for me... wow

[@plasticpaddy5278]

"their" mmm like everything else they bring out - the r&d dept is a set of screwdrivers and a photocopier (allegedly)

[@sevensexton2356]

Yay! Thank you for igniting my synthesizer building passion, sir! One day I'm going to cross the pond to visit the museum. Your museum that is. What the hell, I'll pester those other ones too.

[@danniielle]

What an opportunity Sam! That VCS4 is legendary! From 12:15 onwards, there's major Pink Floyd, Welcome to the Machine vibes going on. 😎 Jean-Michel Jarre really sparked my fascination with EMS synths. He's still one of my biggest inspirations. That's a very cool System 100 rig in the background too. 😎

[@renegadeflyer2]

Our future sound track for. TV, movies, and news reporting discovering new innovation. So cool.

[@qrdnk]

What a lovely machine 😍

[@phildxyz]

Saw Peter Z's equipment at the Cybernetic Serendipity exhibition at the ICA in 1968- was 12 at the time! Formative experience!

[@niklaswejedal463]

Very interesting and very awesome-sounding machine! Will check out the bandcamp-link for sure! Also: Made me want to binge-listen to the 1974 and 75 albums of Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk - again... 😅

[@dcallan812]

Cost a small fortune new, then you couldn't give them away. Now its worth more than when it was new. 🤣 Great video 2x👍

[@ZetaFuzzMachine]

What an amazing jam! I left my body for a moment there

[@colinhorne2437]

I used to go to an electronic music workshop at a local college in the early 80s, and they had a VCS4 you could play - great fun!

[@pawnotdaw4559]

Imagine have a synth like that and keeping it in the loft. Crazy

[@RobertFantinatto]

Superb video, thank you!

[@strawmanhat]

You are a wonderful musician. You are also a wonderful tech. It's nice to see you perform with both. You are also a really classy person. Makes for a good content producer. Thanks man.

[@jimbob7218]

The Last One Goes First!!! WHaaaat?!! Holy Smokes man, Awesome!

[@NOLNV1]

It's so fun with EMS how they just made a bunch of things without considering most of them as broader marketable products, bar perhaps vocoder and synthi. I suppose though that this was very in keeping with how Moog and Buchla operated at first as well.

[@daviderskine966]

I am glad this has resurfaced. It used to belong to an old friend Simon Desorgher. I remember when he had it in around 1992. It sort of vanished after that. Simon obtained it from his friend Tristam Cary. It originally was at the old studio at Putney.

[@Maddogonguitar]

a proper synthesizer !

[@SimonFairbourn]

Oh my. A long time ago (1985) I was in the team that built the then new studio at Goldsmiths. I don’t recognise it at all from your footage. I must see what’s happened in the past 40years.

[@zeitgeist909]

Holy sh** - what has he discovered? I am pretty sure Hanz Zimmer should be on the phone soon. This just sounds like nothing else. For music yes. But for film scores - I am seeing a bright future.

[@ForrestCokely]

Seriously, not even a minute in and I gave this video a thumbs up! I can't wait for the rest of the video!

[@gigteevee6118]

The flooding of the Putney Labs was like the burning of the Library of Alexandria sonically 😢

[@nullfusion]

I really want to know more about that "Violin Fuzz" (?) or even see it working.. extracting violin frequencies sounds pretty rad!

[@TKs3DPrints]

man i could spend a month with you tinkering and playing with all them awesome machines you have.. love your channel followed for a while.. and always enjoyed the old school toys. :)

[@OrbvsTomarvm]

vcs3 is one of the best instruments ever made. i've deep dived programming the dark side of the moon, and it's all over that album. in fact the whole of on the run was created on it. kudos to waters and gilmour who mastered this incredible piece of kit.

[@unohoncho7727]

It wasn't Rogers or Waters - The VCS3 was prominently used by Rick Wright, Floyd's keyboardist, to create many of the album's atmospheric and experimental sound effects. On The Run as you said, the iconic sequence in it was created using the synth's sequencer function, producing a repetitive, pulsing arpeggio that drives the track. "Time" - The VCS3 was used to add layered textures and effects to the song, complementing the more traditional instruments. Lastly "Any Colour You Like", the VCS3 contributed to the tracks spacey, psychedelic, soundscapes. I was lucky enough to see Floyd play live in 1994... the very last time they ever toured

[@OrbvsTomarvm]

@@unohoncho7727 right. other than the samples, on the run is built entirely on the VCS3 by roger waters and gilmour. any colour you like keyboard is the VCS3 played by rick (double tracked). there is a VCS3 bass drone on the intro to time; on the verse over the F# and E chords - but not the A. It's also in unison with the bass throughout the chorus. this is just an extremely simple bassline any one of them could have recorded. only the *intro* VCS3 was played by someone live. rick had the rhodes to play on that intro, so whether he played those VCS3 bass notes at the same time is uncertain. rick almost NEVER played more than one part/instrument at a time. in fact the WHOLE band ignored just about every studio overdub when playing live - just left empty space. again there are VCS3 unison bass notes over us and them (chorus) and brain damage (chorus) before it chimes in one last time for the end solo theme at the end of brain damage. likely composed and recorded by wright, of which there are basic attempts at playing it live by wright. if he was using the VCS3 or some other early synth live, i'm not entirely certain. i know all of this as i have studied it probably as closely as anyone ever has, and have played the whole album as the keyboard player in a floyd band HUNDREDS of times. if you think i'm bullshitting you, you can check my channel for proof that i know what i'm talking about. for darkside of the moon i emulate (as in reproduce on a top workstation - the korg kronos) as faithfully as possible the sounds of the Hammond and farfisa organs; the rhodes and wurli, the piano AND the VCS3 (as well as filling in bass and guitar overdubs - as we chose not to employ two guitarists). Anyway, the VCS3 belonged to gilmour; he bought it; and it was him and waters who 'figured' it out. regards.

[@tihinter]

@@unohoncho7727where can we find your page?

[@unohoncho7727]

@@OrbvsTomarvm - Excellent in depth overview, learned things I never knew so I stand corrected. I don't think Rick Wright gets nearly as much credit as he should, my understanding was that he was deeply involved in shaping the arrangements and production of Floyd’s albums (prior to The Wall)? Gilmour and Waters are the practical equivalent of Lennon/McCartney for 'being' the band when they are actually the sum of their parts. 'Great Gig in the Sky' is my top Floyd track, in my opinion Rick Wright's Magnum Opus, the track's chord progression is just genius, moving through those haunting, gospel-inspired harmonies provided by Claire Torry evoking a sense of both melancholy and transcendence at the same time :) 'Marooned' from 'The Division Bell' is a close 2nd - Wright created the ethereal and ambient soundscapes that underpin the track (almost understated) giving it a floating, expansive quality along with those gentle piano phrases adding depth and contrast to Gilmour's soaring guitar melodies. Just listened to it again now whilst typing this to remind me what an amazing track it is

[@timberthewolf733]

The vocal in the intro was beautifully haunting. (more plz)

[@roberttrompeter8775]

jarre uses 2 of these so you are in great synth god company , Seasons Greetings Sam and Mel

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

nice! good to hear from you robert!

[@paulbangash4317]

Some instruments are living creatures 💫

[@dgregss]

Favorite synth(I) ever made

[@DeadCaliber420]

Words cannot compute my happiness to see this video.

[@EntropicEcho]

What a wonderful piece of gear!

[@craigsurette3438]

Everything coming out of this thing sounds like a BBC Radiophonics Workshop Scifi sound track

[@claudioricci431]

For me, the Ultimate Dream Machine. Amazing.

[@HappyQuailsLC]

It makes a lovely spontaneous AC hum

[@sparkyprojects]

I recognise the boxes inside the unit, i believe they are Vero boxes, you get 6" square end cheeks that you can screw either solid or perforated panels to

[@flaviowilner1288]

Awesome stereo plant of noise! The joystics are very helpful, indeed.

[@laurentpastorelli1354]

Magic performance!

[@NOLNV1]

the drone around 11:30 is great!

[@polbecca]

And half a minute earlier we have basically stepped into the Jon Pertwee-era TARDIS!

[@simonbartlett5]

That sounds amazing.

[@jjjohny_a5965]

super cool super rare thank you for showing us the synth

[@InFamousProductions]

That thing sounds out of this world amazing. I have a syntrx mk 2 and it doesn’t sound anything like that

[@dimensionalineage]

Bloody hell. Loved this fantastic synth p0rn. 2:33 Sat in his loft "not being used very much"?!? I nearly fainted. Goodness.

[@NicolasGasnier]

What a lovely drone making machine

[@clazy8]

Beautiful sounds

[@joshuaduval9509]

has a the sound chracteristics as the bruel and kuer's back at the museum very cool bit of kit

[@MacXpert74]

Very cool synth. Great for a 1970s style sci-fi/horror movie soundtrack. 😍

[@100CupsColombia]

Very ''Forbidden planet''

[@johanwejedaldesign]

I love that sound!

[@Projacked1]

That sounds amazing.....like a huge organic machine.

[@adeptusmechanicus7572]

Such a cool device

[@curtishoffmann6956]

Spacey! The dolphins are all looking up at the stars now!

[@dav1dbone]

Reminds me of the soundtrack to The Shining, wonder if there's a connection?

[@mikewatkinson1996]

9:12 .....hit.......you sunk my Oscillator.

[@madsboyd-madsen3463]

It sounds soooo goood

[@matthewtop]

I hope when I die and go to heaven i've done enough in this life to get to play one of these things then. VC3 is already unobtanium and my favorite sounding synth this is like some weird synth wet dream brought to life

[@gnarlysoundscapes7210]

More synths need to use that pin matrix for patching. Nice and compact and you don't have wires all over the place.

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

i gotta say, having used both numerous times. in theory pin matrix's are great, but in practice they are a bit frustrating. the focus required to get it in the right hole is enough to see why patch cables are just much more preferable in a performative space. patching cables is a much more natural and fluid motion, requiring no mental capacity to focus on the grid, meaning more space for the actual music stuff.

[@AMOKIAN]

Incredible

[@AnalogDude_]

This matrix panels are cool, cool voice and sounds.

[@DavidMorley]

The VCS3 really is amazing!

[@JahBeatSoundSystem]

Amazing ❤

[@bolognatony8739]

You have all the tools you need to recreate yhe Terminator theme song but on a two decade older machine! I could spend years with this one.

[@temporoboto]

top💙content

[@garthvooder1402]

Imagine what the DOORS would have sounded like if Manzaic had one of these

[@puppetsnob]

Aargh, what makes that Putney EMS sound so distinct? The architecture? The oscillators? Filters?

[@endorphinsmusic]

It's a wild machine, that's for sure

[@zht]

Should have done a guest lecture man 💔

[@Mr.1.i]

ringmodding the delayed reverb,ringmodding the delayed reverb

[@gooneybird808]

heck ya

[@misruler9370]

Son of a bitch that is one, or two or how much more, synthesizer! What power!

[@MarkRoss-v4y]

That's the EMS synth Brian Eno plays with Roxy Music on T.O.T.P, I think.....

[@el_es]

I wonder, why is this matrix connection board not more widely used... looks so much less like a spaghetti monster...

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

Because it is an utter pain, if I'm honest. The concentration it takes to get the right hole is sometimes frustrating. Having all the jacks next to what you are going to control is quicker and more performative. My vote and preference is patching

[@AnalogDude_]

​@@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTERsomeone made one matrix panel using push buttons with leds to control d-type flip flops (cd4013) and analog switches and also being sold, it's a 4HP module with 8 switches.

[@inversion66]

Saw the preview image and thought "Is that the thing Brian Eno used? Nope, he just used a pair of regular VCS3s stuck in a case with Roxy Music. But it's a pretty obvious question whether this might have been the inspiration for his setup.

[@decursd]

The moog before the moog

[@The_Nordic_Doctor]

Daleks/ring modulator mentioned

[@sheldonsmith3256]

Amazing video. I first learned synthesis on a synth 100. Wondering if you could share how to make the Jarre sweeping phase shifting thing? Always been one of my favorites sounds but never been sure how that was done.

[@frankrohrschach4064]

As far as I know Jarre used a simple Electro Harmonix SmallStone Phaser to achieve his sound. You can see this pedal in use in his „Live in your Living Room“ video.

[@steenkoudahlfrederiksen6417]

I remember Coldcut mentioning having a VCS4 in a Future Music or Keyboards interview. Don't know which version

[@H2Oredfirefox]

I bet you could create some pretty funky background sounds for a horror movie🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔😄😄😄😄😄

[@jordan3636]

@lookmumnocomputer you should see if you can go camping or spend a few days with reed ghazala, I know it would be far to travel for you, but I think this would be a good subject for like a full documentary.

[@Charlottesville798]

VCS3...... The one machine I'd sell my entire collection for.... I dream of owning one... One day.

[@1pcfred]

Sam can't have it because he didn't want it in a museum.

[@8bitevolushroom312]

Interesting it sound very close to max the headroom

[@calsynth]

Oh my!

[@christiantorma2440]

Er ist schon wieder voll auf der Reise mit seinem Ufo 😅

[@jirioto6089]

This is my favorite fabricator. .)

[@KeesAlderliesten]

Jean Michel Jarre demonstrating the VCS3: kzbin.info/www/bejne/maWymaqIfMmJrNE

[@smartti1970]

nerd question: what flanger did you use on the track "Kryten's Last Stand" ? thanks :-)

[@deadmanwalking6342]

Nice drony ASMR!

[@Rondoggy67]

It’s a shame that this ended up at Goldsmiths, which has made substantial cuts to its music department. They will either fail to maintain it, bung it in a cupboard or try to flog it.

[@steveleisner6029]

that's a really cool patchbay. Was that exclusive to EMS? Certainly looks less cluttered than having wires running all over the place.

[@OneSwitch]

The business.

[@sebb440]

an Aphex Twin machine !

[@tuff_lover]

12:28 Been listening to SAW Vol. 2 recently, eh?

[@zeitgeist909]

This sounds like Dune 3...