The Retro-Futuristic Sound of a Rare Italian Synthesizer

[@Hainbach]

Support my work on YT and get cool stuff: patreon.com/hainbach Buy Synth Gems 1: bjooks.com/affiliate/hainbach (affiliate link, I get a small kickback)

[@citizenscientist1284]

I will forever refer to arpeggios as “crazy hands” going forward.🙂

[@donniecatalano]

Ok, so will I 😂

[@HotStrange]

Sounds like a nick name for Keith Moon 😂

[@danjwalker]

I recently scored a short film for my brother's film school project. It really took me out of my comfort zone. When watching all the other short films, the music was all credited to royalty free services. My score was the only one done from scratch. I felt a bit of pride for that.

[@Hainbach]

Bravo! That is a wonderful experience

[@k2a2l2]

nice job, sounds like a great experience 👍❤️

[@fridgemagnet]

good work, keep writing music.

[@symbiat0]

My dream job 😂

[@HotStrange]

My dream job is to compose for film and video games. That’s so cool you were able to do that. How was the experience?

[@AndrewAHayes]

I love the build quality of pre '80s synths, the materials they are built the are much more pleasing to the eye than black injection molded plastic!

[@vinylarchaeologist]

I think it’s the aesthetics that are lovely, I believe the material were pretty cheap for the most part.

[@Beardqt]

@@vinylarchaeologist yeah even back then brushed aluminum was basically perfected and very common, hence why it's kinda the aesthetic for almost everything 70s like RCA and stuff (I just checked le gewgle and the price has been exactly the same for over 40 years wtf?)

[@RCAvhstape]

Moog still builds with wood and metal, for example the Mother 32 is a metal body with wood sides.

[@EleniEliades_]

Someone or a Synthesizer Company really needs to remake/clone this wonderful, amazing 1970's Italian Groove Box Synth NOW 😂!!! I love the sounds it can create. Plus it's got the "crazy hands" button ❤~

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

When I saw this on tiktok earlier I thought I was going mad cus I didn't remember you doing the vid! And then boom! It's here!

[@Hainbach]

Yeah TT is full screen now so I am throwing up a lot of stuff there.

[@kenho4ba]

@@Hainbach Can you bring this carousel to Sam and film a teardown and see if it is feasible with the individual outputs? Would be fun to see. "Sam, be gentle, it is super rare" :-D

[@fratercontenduntocculta8161]

I love how 8-bit that first piece sounds. I'm also impressed that those buttons are also used on older blenders lol.

[@DMTCYMATICSDreamMusicTemple]

That is a lovely looking and sounding synth gem!

[@Skydancer0665]

Beautiful instrument! Is sad but one of our Italians people problem is that we don’t believe enough in ourselves, while we are ingenious and creative and this keyboard is a sample, I love it!

[@darwiniandude]

I am a big fan of some of the keyboards from the old Italian company General Music / GEM that came out in the 90's - workstations with baclit buttons, amazing features and excellent filters. I've only found a few here in Australia but some of the sounds are really special and are unique against the more common grands of the era. (Roland/Korg/Yamaha/Ensoniq etc)

[@cjbani159]

@@darwiniandude a lot of the older Crumar and Siel keyboards were very nice as well ~

[@darwiniandude]

@@cjbani159 Oh yes! I forgot those were Italian too. I have a Crumar Multiman (original, not the S) which is lovely.

[@cjbani159]

@@darwiniandude I had the Univox version of that many years ago ~ nothing else sounded quite like it. Hainbach really brings the vintage goodies!

[@BrennanYoung]

@@darwiniandude GeneralMusic ("Gem") made some extraordinary gear in the 90s, and many of them support non-tempered tuning (non-western scales etc.), which is a rare feature even today. I am a proud owner of an S3 turbo.

[@YuanMekong]

That's an amazing sounding machine, It works so well in that clip from the film.

[@madacetv]

the accidental ahead of its time uniqueness of this is reminding me of the “10 Ragas to a disco beat”. Something tells me charanjit singh would have loved this thing.

[@andywatts8654]

Only if it synced to his 303!

[@HotStrange]

Thank you for reminding me of this album. Really wish it was on streaming. It’s a classic!

[@inthefade]

Wow... So this thing just makes perfect songs in one go. Absolutely incredible and stunning sound.

[@PocketOperatorGuy]

I love the warm sounds in that beautiful piece of hardware. It has "Jean Michelle Jarre" written all over it. I would definitely imagine this machine sitting next to his synths... backing a beautiful masterpiece.. It's so "plucky" and nostalgic. I find it so melodic and beautiful. I love those arpeggios. Those analog tones are so pleasing. You play it so well. You have given this machine a beautiful demonstration.

[@Hainbach]

Thank you so much

[@pawnotdaw4559]

Sounds like a perfect Cluster/Harmonia machine.

[@repeat_defender]

From this day forward, all arp is crazy hands. That is fantastic.

[@pariaheep]

This instrument reminds me of records that are dear to me : "Zuckerzeit" by Cluster and "Grönland" & "De Luxe" by Harmonia, thank you HAINBACH!

[@Hainbach]

These are my favs too!

[@808v1]

dang, the 'on' button is pure1970's space program....love it.

[@chriswareham]

My Logan T249 had that same "groovebox" section as well as combo organ, mono synth and string synth sections. The string synth section was the same as the Logan/Hohner String Melody.

[@nadiaaugustine9798]

I would take a modern clone of this piece if someone made it. The design and function is so charming!

[@Tyrell_Corp2019]

And for the next episode: Master Hainbach will delight us with hidden mango drones attached to a very special 1915 dental drill.

[@Hainbach]

You would not believe how much vintage dental and medicine gear people send me pictures of asking if it will music

[@Tyrell_Corp2019]

@@Hainbach Perfect. I’ll send pictures of a mango. Let’s get this going! 😂

[@star.trails]

@@Hainbach lol I believe you

[@pjforde1978]

@Hainbach is there any chance that you would ever consider opening this up and posting some high res shots of the PCBs inside? Not only could it and should it be possible to retrofit this with per voice outputs, but a technical deep dive would be remarkably educational in an era where hobbyist electronics is more accessible than ever before. I am genuinely floored to see so much logic fit into a remarkably small package, from the time before microprocessors.

[@darwiniandude]

Agreed - it's one thing to fit all this into a large organ housing (I have a 1974 Baldwin 'Fun Machine' 121W which has an analog filter under a button labeled 'auto-mute', but has various accompaniment features too) but to see it in such a compact form from this era is very unusual. it has to be chock full of hevaily populated PCBs I'd say.

[@mikolasstrajt3874]

But those Italians were not afraid of innovation. I have old Czechoslovak mini organ which has as a central component clone of italian-made chip (SGS M108). I bet they had similar chips even back then.

[@cjbani159]

I imagine even a block diagram of this beauty would be somewhat mind-boggling ~

[@BrennanYoung]

@@darwiniandude I grew up with a Baldwin Fun Machine in the house. Never understood what the point of "auto-mute" was - it just seemed like a one-press volume toggle. The "minor touch" on ours stopped working, but even after opening the beast and poking around (as you point out, there's a *lot* of gubbins inside), I wasn't able to bring it back to life.

[@darwiniandude]

@@BrennanYoung Maybe your auto-mute wasn't working correctly, or possibly it only works on some sounds... unsure. Marc Doty of the Automatic Gainsay YT channel has a series on the original Fun Machine, which is why I ended up picking one up when it was free near me. :) He goes into auto-mute a bit.

[@TheDeadlyKind]

The demos sound like a cutesy soundtrack to a cutesy indie 16bit game.

[@kevinwhite6176]

absolutely spot on, I felt like I was playing something with very visible pixels.

[@ma1nsun]

OMD had an organ from the same manufacturer (Elgam Symphony 200) it had almost the same auto accompaniment and rhythm machine, this can be heard in the song Statues

[@drop7vogue]

Very very nice sounding, love it!

[@TemporallyYours]

what a great sound ☺️

[@doublebass5y]

Great Show. Thanks. Cant get enough synth stuff.

[@minimal.camera]

This is one of my favorite synths you've showcased, and inspires me to go play the modern version I have: the Digitone Keys

[@AllanGildea]

Beautiful demo, cheers! Congrats on the film score - fabulous.

[@k2a2l2]

love that wood and aluminum combo! also those synth tones are very satisfying

[@talktalktalktalktalk]

You found another old and obscure musical instrument?? Congrats!! So exciting!!! 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 that sure deserves a youtube video 🍻

[@jkRatbird]

The drum sounds and rhythms are SO CUTE!

[@seanperrydj]

Thank you I’ve been a big fan of this synthe and your show for a while now ! Both elated by this spotlight and disparaged by the price point on this but she’s by far one my most desired

[@jasonnicholas4336]

Smiled all the way through this!

[@pispalantimbaland]

Loving the sweet drum tones!

[@Hartlor_Tayley]

She’s a real beauty

[@_c_y_p_3]

Its beautiful! Go figure Hainbach found it. I had NO clue it existed!

[@simoantere7283]

What a pleasent sounding little Italian synth.

[@radioazma]

SOUNDS SO UNIQUE

[@VandalstromBeatsOfficial]

Instantly loved.

[@ChromosomeSyndicate]

8:51 oooo Krautrock Motorik included on the Elgam

[@Brasidas69]

I liked the music in the film scene. Slick, pulsating and a bit eerie, but still pressure under control. Juxtaposed to the calm visuals.

[@MaggieKeizai]

Holy moly. I NEED this.

[@Digiphex]

What a pretty design!

[@drop7vogue]

The first demo is very pleasant 👌

[@drop7vogue]

Is there a way to listen the full song anywhere? I have listened to it like a dozen times since yesterday 😅 I'd like to try to rework it if you're agree @hainbach?6

[@richsackett3423]

That could be your new nom d'artiste: DJ Crazy Hands. I love that synth so much. It's like Kraftwerk in box.

[@BertGrink]

Yeah, Kraftwerk or perhaps early Tangerine Dream.

[@timothyjohns3561]

Th craftsmanship of these devices is amazing. Thanks for sharing such another great video. Rare Italian synth… calling Dr Mix to the ER… Dr Mix to the ER

[@nicolabelle1415]

Nice keybold ! Fine tunes with arpeggios,definitely interesting for all sound diggers🎉

[@mcstabba]

Arpeggios? What is that? Are you possibly refering to Crazy Hands?

[@nicolabelle1415]

@@mcstabba when you play for example 3 notes in automatic way that sounds repetitive

[@beaubergeron6369]

Sounds amazing!

[@acolite2341]

The RPG soundtrack generator.

[@Syntox]

Lovely and retro as the sounds are...The aesthetic and design of the instrument itself is what REALLY makes it. Can we bring this back? Korg? Akai?

[@ruudvincent6078]

Very interesting video. Thanks!

[@herrrastakrautpasta1599]

So ein fröhlicher Sound😊

[@rodolphep0nthus555]

Better than some of more recent "Grooveboxes" 😅

[@josephkissel6062]

Beautiful! Akai MPC Key 37 is its brand-new successor ...

[@BertGrink]

At around 9:15 and onwards, I noticed a synth in the background that seems to be a Moog Sonic 6; you don't see those very often. :)

[@Hainbach]

Correct! kzbin.info/www/bejne/l6bLgoqwiKh0o8Usi=_EchxBpm021x_HK7

[@MythicSuns]

The sounds it makes kinda remind me of the music from the Final Fantasy games.

[@jochenreich683]

Sagenhaft dat teil!👍🎹🎵🎶

[@ylanstockholm]

I wasn't prepared and thought you said it was the first goof box! 😀 Humbly, Ylan

[@id.unknown1283]

How did I miss this?

[@fjfrancois]

What a Jewel ❤ Dude, thanks for your videos 👌

[@vreschen939]

Thank god for this, I've been waiting for another video featuring the Elgam Carousel since AnalogAudio1's upload many years ago.

[@ogjalena]

Wow this really reminds me of the electric organ I used to play (for fun) that is in my grandma’s house. I don’t think it’s by the same company but I remember very similar sounds from it. Nostalgic! Too bad this one is extremely rare, thanks for showing it.

[@tlatsegms]

Nice sound⚡⚡

[@ed2027]

Astonishing ❤️

[@lordflatworm]

Movie looks good. I’ll keep an eye out for it.

[@scottvogel8477]

Crazy hands is a great phrase in general.

[@jetlag_beats]

Great sound... like entering an early 80's video game!

[@roryjineffect]

Cherry Audio, you know what to do

[@DetroitMicroSound]

The capability to play several things at once, has been the dream of many musicians, for a millenia.

[@HANGINGOUTWITHAUDIOPHILES]

This one is right up my street. A box of inspiration. The look, the sound. NAMM 2024 should be ashamed. ! This is how to do it

[@baddriddimworkshop]

you being germa... the dr bohm and wersi units of that kind (accompgnment) are so cool too (a wersi on rvb btw). the lgam is nice too for shure.

[@mode_in_analytics]

molto bello, forse da bambino ricordo di averne visto uno

[@VanWinger]

Some of the arps and percussion timbres remind me of Casiotones from around '83 - MT-65/8 in particular

[@Hainbach]

I agree - there was a growing connection between Italy and Japan at that point

[@veloopity]

lovely !

[@arjanvanraaij8440]

Nice odd machine, would be interresting what sound chips it has.

[@lednebnoj]

I've never heard the term goof box before but that reminds me of early kraftwerk..love it!

[@bazedjunkiii_tv]

04:30 ff sound like felix kubin would love this.

[@ohmtronseedling]

that is way cool.

[@hisham_hm]

I misheard it as: "crazy hands? ragtime? add maracas? this might very well be the very first goof box" -- then I honestly looked up "goofbox" to see if there was a niche category of wacky grooveboxes that I wasn't aware of

[@o.r.grinter7763]

Those drums are straight Suicide 1977 !!

[@Mike.Barclay]

Très bonne vidéo 👍 Merci

[@tomp1585]

I am quite relieved I bought mine two months ago before this video came out. Just got it from my tech after a complete servicing, though I didn't think of doing a multiple output mod until I got the idea here. I asked my tech and he said he could do it so off it goes back to him. We barely got to know ye. He did say it had a pretty a pretty loud noise floor, have you noticed this on yours? He did what he could to tame it. Luckily mine came with the large pedal so quite excited to try it when I get it back, again.

[@Hainbach]

Noisefloor is not that wild, but noticeable.

[@neuzethmusic131]

Wow! "Computerband 2000"! That must be where Jackson Fourgeaud got his moniker "Jackson and his Computerband" from... Amazing. Elgam sounds quite like some OG OP-1 presets by the way...

[@wul01]

I borrowed one for a while, probably about 1982 , don’t know what became of it though. So don’t know if it’s one of the ten or one of the rest😜. How about it being the subject of your next plugin colab?

[@organfairy]

I would argue that Wersi and Böhm came first with their Wersimatic (1972) and Böhmat (1970) machines that did the same as the Elgam. One thing I wonder is why only one company - Crumar - made an accompaniment section with independent selection of arpeggios and rhythms. It is easy to do since the patterns are "programmed" in separate sections of the design - first using diode matrixes and later ASICs, so they could be chosen separately if there were two rows of selector buttons. On the crumar any rhythm can be combined with any arpeggio - like a cha-cha rhytm with rhumba arpeggio, etc. It would make a more versatile instrument and the only extra cost is an extra row of switches.

[@MrStefanDittrich]

gestern den Movie SCHOCK gesehen; Grossartiger soundträck, mein freund !

[@Hainbach]

Ach danke dir, das freut mich!

[@GizzyDillespee]

I heard, "Crazy Hands? Ragtime? Maraccas? This might be the very first Goof box!" I think modern grooveboxes need those rhythms and sounds too... and also the ability to rough-combine 2 styles, like one of the old drum machines you've showed, in a past video. I would love it to have long-throw tactile preset buttons, programmed to engage momentarily, and partially as only press a little, vut moreso as yoy press more (almost like bringing a tape-head towards the tape). And then, when you click the button all tte way, that preset is fully on. Anyway, I'm not making this right now, so I'll put the idea out there in case anyone else is interested to try something like that in a modern device. These are some nostalgic sounds in this video.

[@guerrillastrange]

hell yea brother

[@iRelevant.47.system.boycott]

Ultra cool :)

[@muppetpaster]

Funny....I still have one....I found the drumsection to have a high noisefloor....Mine still has the metal sheetmusic-stand which you can clamp in on top.

[@Hainbach]

Drum section probably needs a recap then, it is pretty workable on mine.

[@SynthsStories]

Nice review, need to make a plugin of that one 😉

[@bontempo1271]

So much fun and sweet sound. Reminds me of being a kid and trying to get as much variation and 'cool' sound as possible out of a toy keyboard. Side question please Hainbach, how did you go about making it sound so distant and dreamlike for your film scoring ? Is it just 100% reverb ? Cheers !

[@Hainbach]

That was a bit of tape echo (Echofix) and spring reverb (Great British Spring)

[@bontempo1271]

@@Hainbach Ah wonderful, thank you so much for taking the time to answer that ! All the best to you

[@shannoneldridge5690]

I have a question not related to this particular synth. Is there any that have the mod wheels and controls that are used on the fly on the right hand side of the synth? I have a wierd thing going on that im righthanded, but there are a ton of things that i do left handed. Playing synth is one of those. My left hand is better at playing the keys than my right. For some reason, my going theory is that God's got jokes, having the mod wheels, pitch, and joysticks confuse my left hand.

[@Hainbach]

Mmh I have not seen that. Maybe you can ask for a custom version of something like the Doepfer Master Keyboard? You are probably not the only one who had this problem before.

[@erlannderrantem6972]

Hmm funny, for me it‘s the opposite, i‘m a lefty but i play the keyboard better with the right hand.

[@shannoneldridge5690]

@@Hainbach Thanks for the reply! I keep searching! I sometimes feel like MY creator has jokes and built me as some sort of wierd evolutionary experiment.

[@michaelcherry8952]

I have to admit, at first I thought you were saying "goof box" which is oddly appropriate!😂

[@SPINNINGMYWHEELS777]

you stopped me in my tracks for this one !!!!!!!!!

[@andycarrillo48]

This is a nice sound or atleast from the arpeggio in the beginning I heard. It’s difficult finding certain sounds when all you got is bandlab lmao. I’m tryna get better at making Melodie’s though too.

[@glenesis]

Isn't the Optigan older?

[@leewightman8619]

Preset groove box reminds me of a Yamaha DJx

[@henninghoefer]

I'd say "first arranger keyboard" more than "groove box" - but very interesting video. Thanks!

[@DaJesuts]

Stereolab album writing machine