Unfortunately the CDs are out of print (or if you find them they are like $75 to over $100 . . .volume 2 is on Ebay right now but the following to cuts are from volume 1)
Vintage Synths Vol 1 - Moog System 55 Modular, German synth historian Matthias Becker produced a CD series back in 1990 with tracks made with one synth only. The CDs were named “Synthesizers Von Gestern Vol 1/2/3”.
Moog System 55 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIUs9MloKuw&fmt=18
Wow, the EMS Synthi is killer too!
Great vids! The EMS piece was very interesting. Almost ARP-like. 
These videos are illegal, because the music is protected by phono-rights of the author Matthias Becker from Germany. And it is also covered by the GEMA (german equivalent to ASCAP).
It is not fair to the musicians. And after all, we are muscians too. Would you like your music being used without asking and for free when you depend on sales?
To me some of these music pieces are not showing the well known and typical sound of some instruments. The PPG wave 2.2 examples are not showing what a PPG wave was all about.
And musically they are not my favorites. And the books have nice pictures, but some of the informations are not good researched and some informations are wrong. I prefer Peter Forrest’s “A to Z of Analogue Synthesisers” for good infos.
Well, I appreciate you pointing out the copyright issue but I don’t appreciate that accusing tone. I didn’t create the videos or post them, I just happened across them, thought they sounded impressive and thought folks here would enjoy them. I can’t research copyrights for everything I see on YouTube. And if you knew me, you’d know that I’m somewhat way above average when it comes to respecting copyrights (just ask my annoyed friends! 
Some nice person on another forum pointed out where the CDs can be purchased. I love the way these samples sound and plan on getting at least the first volume:
http://www.originaltonwest.de/westlabel3%20d.html
John, you wrote:
I can’t research copyrights for everything I see on YouTube.
right.
But you also wrote or quoted here on the first posting:
… German synth historian Matthias Becker produced a CD series back in 1990 …
I think this is clearly giving an indication, that this material was not published to show up at YouTube. At least it does not sound like this to me.
If you spread a link to some illegal content, you are not helpful to the owner of the rights. And Mr. Becker was not getting rich from the sales he gathered from these three available CDs of “Synthesizer von Gestern” (= “yesterday’s synthesizers”).
By posting the links I have not only found out where to purchase the CDs but I have also made many more people aware of them, potentially increasing sales and alerting copyright holders of the violation.
Seems like it was a positive move for all concerned and I’d do it again.
How did you do this?
Mr. Becker is not reading this forum. And YouTube, you and me did not contact him. so how are the copyright holders alerted?
And why should Moog fans buy his CDs, now that they heard the most important Moog content for free? (All in all I found 14 tracks of his vintage synth CDs)
So if I find some music of yours, and I post the link to a illegal version I found, you would not blame me to telling everybody (5800+ forum members, plus many, many guests as read-only) about this? And I would not feel a bit guilty? Strange.
Let me chime in on this. Im a musician and artist and I know that Id be pretty pissed if my music was illegally being distributed.
On the same token I probably never would have heard of that guy unless I hadn’t watched those videos.
I can definately see both sides.
Wow, you really don’t like to think things through very far! 
And you convieniently left out the word “potentially” in my qoute. By my posting here I’ve made you aware of the violation and I would think someone as commited to policing copyright violations as you would have contacted Mr. Becker and YouTube by now. Have you? If you haven’t isn’t it like you are making a decision to assist copyright violators?
And how do you know Mr. Becker doesn’t read this forum???
I’ve also sent a an email requesting to purchase a CD and once I’ve established communications with them (I don’t speak German and I don’t know if they speak English yet) I will mention that I became aware of the CDs via YouTube.
Actually the first thing I did after seeing the Moog videos was to Google search for them but I didn’t find anything obvious. By then posting in the forums I got my answer.
Because it’s the right thing to do. It is difficult for all of us to NOT do something that we want to do and can easily “get away with” but shouldn’t do. Being civilized is a constant struggle.
I would appreciate finding out about a copyright violation of my work regardless of the method (for the most part . . . a note tied to a brick thrown through my window would not be cool! )
I can’t speak to how you would feel, since we obviously veiw the world differently. And in that respect, I’m not going to continue going back and forth on this with you because it will probably just degrade into name calling etc.
You might notice that some videos on Youtube are being embargoed for copyright reasons.
I don’t download music (mp3s) etc., but sometimes the easiest way to listen to a song for free (i.e. if you wanted to cover or learn it) is to watch the video on Youtube.
Without a lot of decompiling effort, Youtube videos will stay as videos, so they won’t be put on 50 000 iPods or something, as an mp3 might.
Youtube is by no means a practical medium for piracy, and besides, no money is being made by the uploader for uploading the copyrighted music. He even gives credit to the musician, I don’t see what the problem is.
I use YouTube to discover videos of musicians I would have never discovered on my own. When I have time, I will purchase these CD’s from wherever I can find them new, because the music facinates me. JohnLRice did me a favor in finding these videos, and has also made Mr. Becker a few bucks by pointing me towards his stuff. I do not download songs, or participate in file sharing, but I do own an iPod. I buy songs on iTunes, and make my CD’s into MP3 files, and will do the same with my vinyl and cassettes someday.
I have stolen songs from the radio, so I guess I could be turned into a criminal and charged up to $6000 for the 6000 songs I have on 50 tapes. 
Till,
I do commend you for your integrity in this issue.
some people are touchy about copyrights i have discovered so much music “illegally” and have purchased a lot of vinyl because of it. get over it. i think this mass distribution of the internet is a good thing. ASCAP and the RIAA thinks otherwise. i havent spent so much money than i have in the past few months. i have bought hundreds in records that i wouldnt have otherwise.
oh, and the RIAA just shut down our church youth concerts. they came in with a $10K bill because we were playing copyright cd’s between sets of live music. i thought we were advertising music for free. but the RIAA says no more Youth Concerts without paying 10K. well, we dont have the money. so there goes the only positive venue in this town.
oh, and the youth concerts were non-profit.
the RIAA is about money only. not community. not artistry. not the advancement of the artists that pay them.
i dont get involved in these discussions too much because different people have different opinions, but it is clear to me. money is NOT being lost on these types of “broadcasts” and in fact, money is to be made because of them.
I’m sorry if I seemed protective of copyrighting earlier. Personally, I am actually generally against copyrighting and patenting, especially when it comes to intangible things like music.
Asides from all this legal crap that ended up in the thread, those tracks were pretty cool. I really admire stuff made by individual monophonic synthesizers.
All my stuff is open source. Including my YouTube videos and custom Little Phatty color scheme, though I would hope that wouldn’t be copied. 
If I ever make a song that someone may want to use, feel free!
