Rare Analog Synth Beast from 1983 ...





The Syrinx is one of the few analog synths to come out of the Netherlands. It's a monophonic lead synth in the same category as the Minimoog, Arp Odyssey, and Roland SH-7. But the Syrinx is pretty rare, only a few hundred were produced from 1983 through 1984.

The Syrinx uses seven Curtis chips for its VCO's, VCF's and envelopes. It has two analog VCO's, a sub-oscillator and three flexible VCF filters. You can switch between the three filters for either a 24 dB lowpass, or two bandpass filters, and they can be patched in four different ways (series/parallel). Additionally the Syrinx has two LFO's, FM, PWM, osc-sync, 2 ADSR envelopes, ring modulation, portamento and a cool touch-pad that can control various parameters from pitch-bending to the LFO rate. The Syrinx's Mixer section lets you adjust levels for each VCO and the sub-osc as well as the Noise Generator and Ring Modulator. Unfortunately, being released around 1983, the Syrinx just missed out on MIDI and patch memory options.

They came in a variety of flavors over the years. Most were black, but a handful were blue, red, or white. Some later models had no keyboard and were mounted in a flight-case, and a mid-nineties re-issue was a very rare rack-mount version with MIDI and external audio in. The Syrinx has been used by Aphex Twin, Xpando, Air, Vince Clarke, Depeche Mode, and Electronic Dream Plant.

i never heard about it. for 1983, the design makes modern, quite dj-tracker-1998. well, lack of midi is not a lack to me.

I also know this synth.
My friend Richard Neumoller from EP had a red one bought in 1984 but no recordings made with it. He made some sample sounds of it on cassette and that was it.

He sold it in 2002 for 1000,- EUR because of money problems renting his collective studio in the Hague.
A familiar story I guess.

Ton

I phoned him just now about it:
Although very special in sound he thinks it's unplayable and very badly constructed

Yeah Ton , i agree ... I said it's rare ... but I doesn't mean i find it good .

I also owned a EDP WASP Deluxe ( rare from rare ... ) and I sold it .... Those limited synth keys are limited in use and sounds also ...

And I guess that if they were numerous and not limited in editions , then not so many people will love them or not find them as Cult as they do now . To own rare things is a trendy thing in the MINIMAL COLD area crew . Fashion . Vintage analog has also become a Fashion since 6 years or around .

Personally , I don't care if a Synth is rare or Old Vintage or not , I pay attention to the Sound , if it's Warm or not