This Forgotten Synth Was Ahead of Its Time

In 1963, when synthesizers were wall-sized, Paolo Ketoff designed a portable yet sonically rich electronic instrument, the Syn-Ket. Created for film scoring and experimental musicians, the Syn-Ket became a classic of Italian film scoring, with Ennio Morricone being one of the early adopters. Only 8 or 9 where made, and I got to play the only one that is known to work @Museo del Synth Marchigiano .
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www.gear4music.com/blog/what-...
Resources:
Interview with Dr. Linda Pointer Walter
• SOUNDMIT 2021 - SPECIA...
Article on the Syn-Ket:
www.istitutocorelli.com/il-pr...
Book on the Syn-Ket:
www.aracneeditrice.it/aracnewe...
Movie scored by Ennio Morricone on the Syn-Ket:
• H2S - 1968 di Roberto ...
John Eaton and the Syn-ket:
astronautapinguim.blogspot.co...
Thanks to Zé Burnay for the making of the album cover footage - / zeburnay

[@Hainbach]

Get the album "Syn-Ket Studien": hainbach.bandcamp.com/album/syn-ket-studien

[@brianrosenthalbudack]

Put it out in tape please.

[@Hainbach]

@@brianrosenthalbudack Working on it, need to adapt the cover, then it goes into print.

[@DJminiLibra]

i can work with this sample in my projekt?

[@Hainbach]

@@DJminiLibra There is sample pack on patreon.com/hainbach that you can freely use in your music. All other samples must be properly licensed.

[@jungstrauma4]

wow this album is pure. inspiring. jetzt schon modern classic. i will study it^^...am on the way to a ..ms-20 only album.. .love it. true mnml. gruß aus dresden

[@lindapointer4580]

I'm very happy that my SynKet is making music again, and very happy that it moved from Florida to its home in Italy. Museo del Synth Marchigiano is doing a great job bringing the SynKet to the public. Viva la Musica, Linda Pointer

[@Hainbach]

Hey Linda, wonderful to hear from you! I loved hearing your music and reading your story. It is inspiring to me.

[@RiccardoPietroni]

Thank you Linda! This is a real honor.

[@kaitlyn__L]

Heck yeah!

[@DavidFilskov]

Wow! - you were the owner of a Syntek, Linda? - that Syntek there in the video?

[@RiccardoPietroni]

@@DavidFilskov yes. Check her interview recorded for soundmit 2021

[@AlexBallMusic]

Couldn't wait to see this video and was not disappointed. When I played on that Synket last week I said "it's the most Hainbach synth I've ever heard" and then the guys let me in on the secret that you'd done an entire album on it and I laughed. Of course you have! So awesome that the guys know where it's been since it was built, that's one of the benefits of something being so rare I guess. Superb job everyone, thoroughly enjoyable, particularly the interplay with the modulation and also that drum machine running through it. Awesome!

[@RegebroRepairs]

I came here just to say exactly that it's the most Heinbach synth ever.

[@RiccardoPietroni]

Waiting for your video Alex!

[@caballorojo]

It can also be heard on the soundtrack to Dario Argento’s “4 Flies On Grey Velvet” - again courtesy of Ennio Morricone.

[@robertsmithshair4199]

Excellent movie 👍🏻

[@luklagrande]

La sua soddisfazione é il nostro miglior premio 😂😂 Fascinating hardware btw.. Thanks for this video! 👍😊

[@francescoparadisi7789]

Great presentation! I really appreciate your mention. I studied, analyzed and played the Synket at Accademia Di Santa Cecilia in Rome and resumed those studies in my degree project. Unfortunately for copyright reason I can't share most of the information that I've been allowed to use just as academic work, but you can find some of the technical information in the article you already linked. Thank you so much for sharing the knowledge about this incredible machine and make people aware of its role in the history of electroacustic music.

[@Hainbach]

Thank you for your dedication and research!

[@RiccardoPietroni]

We use a lot of information of tour study. Thanks again!

[@jtvj8423]

This feels like a holy grail of a synthesizer for certain ears like mine. Every single tone coming out of this thing is perfection.

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

Now that is a syndesitzer!

[@RiccardoPietroni]

Not like your smoking organ!!😂

[@Chris-sv8ty]

I thought it was a VCV Rack module

[@gygusian]

This is perfect for your next virtual instrument project with AudioThing 😍

[@bengarland]

I just love all the effort that Hainbach puts into this channel and showing us so many interesting things from synth history. Thank you Hainbach for your dedication.

[@SOBINTAXIDRIVER]

You could feel that sort of old cinematic ambience with that thing, it's really nice.

[@bricelory9534]

I absolutely love this - getting to follow the history of a specific instrument, and how uniquely it was used by the different musicians. I love the multi-band filter bank to pull out unique harmonics. It's a fascinating thing to reflect if this had won out over Moog in the early days how differently most of us would be approaching electronic music. What a priceless piece of music history and an amazing opportunity to record an album with it. So cool - and would be fascinating to have a digital version of this instrument, as it seems to excel at a unique sort of ambience .

[@kevinsawyer6968]

This shall be very interesting !

[@Brumata]

This is the type of thing I'd love Vlad Kreimer to reimagine. Also, that album cover is incredible!

[@ngle]

This gold mine is inexhaustible, thank you Hainbach! It would be interesting to have a list of the soundtracks where this thing was used.

[@Hainbach]

There is slowly one coming together from the comments here alone. And have a look at the book I referenced in the description.

[@RiccardoPietroni]

Search youtube for H2S Roberto Faenza

[@masonst.thomas5436]

i remember reading about this somewhere where it was referred to as “the syn-ket” and was always fascinated but could never find any info about it, great video!

[@carlomezz]

While i am happy to see the Synket remembered, I find rather incredible that a video about it made just a passing mention of the Fonosynth, and said *nothing* about Gino Marinuzzi. To the best of my knowledge, Ketoff designed the Synket as a kind of spinoff of the Fonosynth. Gino Marinuzzi conceived the Fonosynth, and called Ketoff (aroung 1958) to realize it under his specifications. He didn't simply finance it, as some report says; I was a composition student of Marinuzzi during the late eighties, we talked about electronic music quite a lot, and I can testify that he was techically skilled. Among other things, at the time he was trying to introduce computers in the conservatory, an idea that in Italy was way ahead of the times, sadly. (as a passing remark, a Synket was proudly displayed in his living room, while the only Fonosynth ever built is located in a German museum) I don't mean this as a criticism to those wonderful researchers who brought the Synket back to life... I just wish that the man who started it all would receive credit for it. Marinuzzi was an important fugure in the development of Italian music, with a number of classical compositions plus soundtracks for Jean Renoir, Alberto Lattuada, Pasquale Festa Campanile, and many others - plus he was an incredible teacher and human being. Thank you.

[@RiccardoPietroni]

Absolutely right, just a little time to tell all the story.

[@bygjohnuk]

Fascinating instrument, even in its current condition. I’ve read about it previously (superficial information), but hearing it is a real treat. Thank you for this video, and the album, and thank you to the museum for preserving this.

[@pongtrometer]

Very musical harmonics on those filters, loving the smoothness of those slider bandwidth filter section.

[@RustediMac]

My professor back in college had this synth in his office. It was the model owned by John Eaton, a former professor and a musician who worked with Paolo to demonstrate the synth around the country. It was in a pretty beat-up shape with a few tubes missing. We tried making it work, but could not actually got to make it produce sounds. I still got some pictures of it, though. I'm so surprised to see it here as it was near impossible to find any information on these online when I was doing research on it years back. The only meaningful resource we could find was a book in Italian, which thankfully my university had a copy of as it had close ties to my school.

[@RiccardoPietroni]

Nice story, thank you. Is the one at Buffalo University? Is complete with the keyboard?

[@KodakKid]

OH MY GOD I NEED THIS VIDEO!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@knobtechnology]

Amazing! What a pity that I did not know about this miracle of engineering when I developed my Muscarin synthesizer. A design that, even after 60 years, is still relevant and in high demand.I pay tribute to the Paolo Ketoff

[@mcshafty1]

Great vid H. Thanks for having me back!

[@this_connor_guy]

Now I am wondering if the Prague Museum of Music would let you do a video on the Vurt synthesizer there. Always been curious what that one sounds like.

[@AFULimited]

Awesome to see this legendary instrument alive :-) Thanks for the great doku about it !

[@DesertCow1000]

This might be my favorite instrument I've seen you feature. As a composer of ambient and soundscape music myself, the idea of a synth built completely for this intrigues me greatly. 💯

[@starkid9736]

big time, its this no grit random happening all over the place but in the right way for sure it cant get more analog

[@supercompooper]

I agree this is giving my goosebumps goosebumps

[@JulsGeekPI]

Thanks for sharing this

[@DurararaX2]

Excellent video, thank you for posting this.

[@13opacus]

Wish I knew how to make electronic devices like that. What a beauty!

[@mrhs5220]

THIS is the video I've been waiting for you to make

[@briankehew579]

Bob Moog was actually keeping John Eaton's instrument running in the mid-late 60s. It's a fascinating story and so good to hear you using this one. The one in Paris at the Musee' de la Musique is in very nice condition but they don't try it on...

[@RiccardoPietroni]

As the others in Museum. The one in Santa Cecilia was used to write a book and for study and then put in their museum.

[@metronohm808_6]

Such brilliantly niche content, thanks Hainbach

[@soyginna]

Amazing find, thank you for bringing these sonic treasures. Cheers from New York!

[@simoantere7283]

Very cool sounding piece of synth history. I really love the character of the old tubes in this one! Lovely growls!

[@HANGINGOUTWITHAUDIOPHILES]

What a sound! This has the power and charm of the Raymond Scott machines. Amazing work. You really are a synth whisperer :) Superb

[@Hainbach]

Thank you Jamie!

[@irrationallynegative]

What an incredible synth. I had only seen it at RAI and heard it in records. Thank you so much for this wonderful presentation Hainbach!

[@blindianajones]

What a treat! Beautiful.

[@PlugInGuruVideo]

I LOVE the adventure you are on, Hainbach. Totally supporting your album 100% bro. Keep creating and exploring and sharing with us along the way. ..

[@jayfunk5988]

What a beast and I'm not talking about Hainbach 🤣

[@edda673]

Hi Hainbach, now you've provide a real contribution to synthesizer/electronic musc synthesis history! Many thanks for this! h.

[@ViktorKralovic]

Just sounds lovely.

[@dawudmc]

Wow, you´re so talented

[@2252ytrewq]

Such a nice machine and awesome music you made out of it 🙃

[@supercompooper]

this is very finebach

[@jimmy_jamesjams_a_lot4171]

INCREDIBLE!!

[@DavidHilowitzMusic]

Wow, this is really cool. I had never even heard of the syn-ket. Great work!

[@Hainbach]

Thanks David!

[@francescoforesi6206]

I always follow your videos, they are very interesting, greetings from Rome🤙

[@els1f]

The bass at the beginning! 😍🥲

[@DavidMorley]

Since I knew about the synket 30 years ago, I wanted one! Not likely but a dream.

[@dimensionalineage]

Very much enjoyed this presentation. I regard myself as reasonably well versed in older synthesizers, though I had never heard of the Syn-Ket! Delighted to meets in acquaintance thanks to your video encountering me in cyberspace. Appealing machinery, delicious sounds! You demonstrated the fixed filterbank creatively. Allows for unusual properties of timbres versus a more typical full-frequency single filter. Proceeding to check out the film H2S shortly... !

[@kevinputry5655]

This is such a cool synth! I've never heard of it before. I think I'll buy this album. I need to hear more Syn-Ket!

[@bopphrases]

excellent data

[@bazedjunkiii_tv]

that filtered bassdrum madness around 3:30ff is pure gold.

[@thefoxfamily341]

Sehr hypnotisierender synth..wow..Honda du hast so glück das du das gute stück spielen durftest..Respekt

[@daviHuggMonster]

when I got the email from bandcamp about Hainbach's new album I was intrigued :) now I know why^^

[@FLH3official]

What a discovery. Like many of us I had no idea about this instrument. Thank you. Regarding the one which is supposed to be at La Philarmonie de Paris, I've visited the museum 2 years ago and it wasn't on display. Maybe taking the dust in the wharehouse? If yes I would have noticed it of course (but this museum doesn't seem to put a lot of emphasis on electronic instruments, which is realy a pity)

[@LondraCalibro9]

superb video, love your work in italy! I'd love loopop style tutorials on these oddities......such unusual and creative design choices.

[@SidRockett]

The cover art is beautiful.

[@kenniferlopez1]

It is amazing stuff like this why I love you man!!!

[@TheNimasan]

sounds so TREMENDOUS!!!!!!

[@darkelwin02]

Very nice video.

[@paulbeattie1717]

Cover art is awesome!

[@royareyzabal823]

yo, that artwork is fire. I was convinced it was a mixture between traditional and digital but it surprised me that it was all just traditional painting. props to the artist.

[@soloharmonicsrobj8246]

Wow, the Syn-Ket synthesizer. I recall reading about this instrument in a book titled "The Art Of Electronic Music" which I consider the Bible of electronic music. Cool to actually see and hear one in action.

[@Null_Protogen]

This is one step closer to Hainbach reviewing the Birotron

[@jean-pierrejoubert6140]

I keep reading Syn-Ket as Skynet.

[@m.g.kroger]

This synth is amazing, it sounds really original, like anything else!

[@digitaldesigner5284]

Fantastic machine...

[@neonwind]

Beautiful Synth!

[@alexjanuary7214]

For years, I had been dreaming of hearing the Syn-Ket ! Thank you Hainbach ! And I didn't know about this film, H2S, am checking it right now and it seems to me that, visually, it may have been a major influence to Clockwork orange, which was made 3 years later ! Wow !

[@JohnLRice]

Very cool! 😎👍

[@HANGINGOUTWITHAUDIOPHILES]

One thing is clear, every synth needs a filterbank at the end of the chain AND not one with tiny little wobbly sliders that are covered in patch cables. Watching this, I couldn't help trying to Imagine having to express these subtle Syn-Ket musical filters in the world of eurorack. Don't get me wrong, I love the euro format but imagine trying to get the amount of expression that's offered by these LARGE paddles that control the overall shape of the sound you're working with.The Syn-Ket panel layout respects the design and potentials of human hands, imagine that! I suddenly thought "a replica of the Syn-Ket made purely as a controller" would be a great way to play a eurorack system and would allow all the fiddly and often crowded controls to be enlarged and spaced out. It MIGHT be useful but surely a modular system is in a state of constant change and it seems to be the constants in the Syn-Ket that make the overall design work so well and lend the instrument its defining character and charm. The audio signal path and the controls that sculpt that flow are so clearly laid out. Its all just so relaxing! Ah but back to the filter banks. Just listen to how smoothly and efforlessly they allow control of the tonal outline of the instrument as it heads out to find an ear :) It's genius to me. You can build the BODY of your guitar essentially by sculpting the eq balance of the overall mix that yields the final shape of the sound you're making. Djs know the power of filtering the whole mix but paddles for a DJ might be a stretch. They need filters that offer speed and repeatability. The Syn-Ket has it's own slightly slower (pre KZbin) tempo and that's reflected in the lights that have a charm and depth to them that's not brash like so many LEDS we get exposed to now. Yep. I'm really blown away with this. To think he really only made this one beauty of a synth. It boggles the mind. Thanks for sharing this rare gem! The LP you made is like a conversation with the intentions of the inventor filtered through 60 years of getting familiar with electronic music as a viable way for music-ing. Bravo!

[@ff-qf1th]

A modular system need not be in a state of constant change- in fact, if your modular system is in a state of constant change you probably don't give yourself enough time to adapt to it and learn it for what it is, and to make music that satisfies you with it.

[@HANGINGOUTWITHAUDIOPHILES]

@@ff-qf1th great point. I know I can't face taking my poly patch down coz it took so much time and money yo think up and build !

[@edgeeffect]

What a lovely machine... that filter bank is AMAZING! and the whole control panel layout is "just DIFFERENT"... Makes me want to get to hear/see the Fonosynth though.

[@mouldypretzel]

Loved the video. Such an interesting instrument. One of your tracks "Andante Moderato" reminds me of an old Australian TV show called Leyland Brothers World

[@idj20]

At around the 2:10 mark when Hainbach was putting out a tune on that synthesizer, the auto subtitles was continually showing "really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really . . . ". 🤣 But on a serious note, it does sound very ahead of its time, imagine if Tangerine Dream got hold of it at their formative years.

[@mrotaveria]

it sounds so phat... incredible!

[@temporoboto]

thank you🙃💙for this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@scottglasgowmusic]

Very cool synth. Morricone H2S score.

[@chriswareham]

Fantastic! Reminds me of the EMS Synthi AKS and VCS machines with a hint Clavioline. I'm wondering how hard it would be to clone...

[@pastaway3620]

Great work Hainbach. I see one recently in Rome but couldn't play! 🎹🎹🎹🎹

[@pastaway3620]

Ich habe mir gerade das ganze Album auf Bandcamp angehört, sehr schön!

[@BrunoWiebelt]

vielen dank für diese Besonderheit

[@Hainbach]

Sehr gerne 🙂

[@DonPling]

Great video, very interesting bit of forgotten synth history. Thanks for sharing. But Where is the plugin version? 😉

[@SwampSurfer69]

Ooooh, VINYL! Gotta have that!

[@kaitlyn__L]

I love it! Each section is entirely separate from the other one if you want it to be, for better and for worse! Very different than a modern synthesiser where everything is dependent on everything else.

[@scottasin]

Morricone is quite possibly my favorite composer, so this video presented a new layer of interest on top of my synth nerdiness! I absolutely love the sound of the octave filter banks and although I think the Synkets definitely have a level of playability built in, I also think its not that different to how you use stacked EQs in your Iron Curtain EQ video. I recorded one track and wrote the melodic theme for another a few months back intending to do a Morricone/Pink Floyd/Synthwave influenced EP but never developed the idea farther (despite being quite happy with the initial track)... I think this video was the kick in the pants I needed.

[@chrisd5964]

With you all the way, love Morricone especially for his use of sound. If you have an ipad, I'd recommend the Id700 app, a recreation of the Buchla700, it's a riot.

[@Chris-vr8cd]

this man knows how to play a filterbank

[@jackal59]

I spent much of the afternoon listening to Cluster's second and third recordings. This sounds like something they would have used if they could have gotten their hands on it.

[@Charlottesville798]

I love this video...... ❤️

[@fakshen1973]

The term studio musician has probably been around for 50 years out of several thousands in the history of musicians. I think it's something to consider in the couple of decades of affordable home studios.

[@hermanshire]

This must be one of the instruments I would like to see someone start making again. Like Arturia

[@mudhoney110283]

There is a phrase from an interview that is often reported by Morricone where he states that he more or less "hates sitetizers". It is actually an out-of-context phrase, since he too has used them often. In fact he was afraid to say that some soundtracks are trivial when they are based only on the classic "atmosphere pads" and things like that, very popular in the late 80's and 90's.

[@edwardfletcher7790]

Amazing bit of kit with a unique tone ! It's old, obscure and industrial, it's peak Hainbach 👍😂 It sounds like the ANS synth Eduard Artemiev used for the Solaris soundtrack. The tone of the sounds are very similar.

[@Hainbach]

Bucket list synth to play with!

[@KarlMiller-DjKarl]

Would love to see a VST or AU plugin with presets of this... ☮🔥🎹

[@bauhnguefyische667]

Holy Moley! Never heard of this synth. I guess I just got introduced to ‘Italian’ Coast synthesis. Now I want one and can’t have one, ding it! Would be cool if someone made a revision with midi or at least modular clock and cv input/output, or like Syntryx VCS3 This thing isn’t obsolete, quit the contrary it’s still ahead of its time.

[@RickBaconsAdventures]

imagine what synthesizer patel could do with this thing. It was probably made before every synthesizer included an alarm though

[@waveguider]

The Hain-Ket!

[@RiccardoPietroni]

Yes!!!

[@jmgmarcus808]

A plug in of this? Name your price I'm there. Kind regards.

[@kirkduval1279]

Jesus that's a cool synth!

[@hellf.o]

Wow just wow.. Probably Ketoff build this especially for you!

[@RiccardoPietroni]

I agree.

[@h0verman]

the longer a synth sticks around, the more it becomes a living creature