Thought I’d share a pic of some new arrivals in for service.
Suffice to say, I’ll have my hands full for a while.
http://www.synthfool.com/emsnemu.jpg
A big thanks to Wings Cartage for moving these in with no damage.
Kevin - do you still service old Taurus 1s? I may pick up a set, but only if I know there is someone out there who can work on them.
Thanks,
Rich
EMS (top) and E-mu (bottom)?
Very nice!! 
Wow, that’s a truly awesome beast!
Kevin -
Thanks for posting the amazing synth pics on your site. I actually use it now as my home page.
The new pics are stunning too. The only thing that gets me is why - of all people - is Billy Corgan buying up these classics (and the Moog 55 you previously posted)? I mean, I know he’s a musician and he’s obviously got the money, but he’s not exactly one of the people who spring to mind when I think of avant-garde electronic music making.
Irony doesn’t quite describe this situation.
Rick
Kevin - do you still service old Taurus 1s? I may pick up a set, but only if I know there is someone out there who can work on them.
I still service them, but I’m not taking in any additional work for a while.
You might consider Mike Bucki at Modusonics.
The only thing that gets me is why - of all people - is Billy Corgan buying up these classics (and the Moog 55 you previously posted)? I mean, I know he’s a musician and he’s obviously got the money, but he’s not exactly one of the people who spring to mind when I think of avant-garde electronic music making.
It’s not for me to say in regards to Billy specifically, but I think an artist has the right to change or evolve.
I personally commend him.
It takes confidence and risk to break away from what everybody expects.
I see no problem in embracing another medium when money or situations allow.
He still has his voice and fans will always recognize and appreciate that.
To me, it’s not as big of a move as say Van-Halen with Hagar or Peter Gabriel after Genesis.
Both did great by breaking their own mold.
Not all fans agree, but a caged artist isn’t much fun for the artist.
Kevin -
That an artist can - I would say “must” - evolve is beyond dispute. It doesn’t matter to me at all whether Corgan sticks with rock, goes electronic or pulls a John Cage and embraces silence. I don’t care.
My comment was really more about the type of synths he’s buying rather than the fact he seems to be into synths and electronic music. Obviously you can use any instrument any way you want, but a big E-mu system and a Synthi 100 are so rare and so well suited for truly cutting-edge exploration that I hope that’s how they get used. As a musician myself, I just enjoy seeing musicians get the full potential out of the instruments they pick up. When they don’t, it seems like a waste.
But, hey, if I had the money, I’d be dreaming of picking up those synths too.
Rick
As far as the big synths go, I imagine it’s because they’re both unique (some more than others) and are a good investment.
Consider the business aspect-
An artist can buy an instrument, use it once and write off the cost as a business expense.
Then they can sit on their purchase as a long-term investment and later sell it for much more.
That isn’t possible when you buy the latest synth offerings today.
Then you might get depreciation value, but it’s nowhere close to investment value.
Me? I’m just glad I’m eating this week.
Cool. Remember " The Lucy Show" in the early 70’s ? I recall an episode with a new computer. about this size, and Lucy said " what is that a leftover from Star Trek" or something like that…
Man you know I asked myself the same question about Billy Corgan and his Moog 55.
But hey, more power to him with his 55. Jeez Id love to just see some Moogs where I live, I don’t know, but I would suspect that there arent too many Moogs here in Arkansas.
But don’t expect someone to critisize their customers lololol. 
We can all just wonder.
Respectfully,
Eric
Nice sentiment…I couldn’t have put it any better! 
So, where do you put the keyboard on this thing? I don’t know much about these. It’s got a frequency counter? Or is that red bar-looking thing something else? Preset storage, perhaps? Or is that the smaller red bar? What are the red bars for? I’m confused… 
I have no problems criticizing customers who deserve such.
Billy has been a good client though.
Fwiw, I sold a Roland System 700 some years back.
It came from Arkansas.
The keyboard section is comprised of two keyboard stacked in one housing.
A dual manual action. It has its own stand.
The main unit has a frequency counter, oscilloscope and volt meter.
Also a freq to voltage converter and env followers.
It uses Nixie tube displays, not LEDs.
The beast requires a key to be turned to power it up too.
Here’s a pic of it powered up in a darkened room:
http://www.synthfool.com/emslitup.jpg
Cool! Thanks Kevin! Nixie tubes, huh? I’ve got a few of those from old multimeters and calculators I found in my community college’s garbage. None of the units were worth salvaging, except the displays. Nifty devices!
A key to start it? Why? were they afraid of someone killing themselves? Is the power supply that high of a current? Seems odd for a synth…
Pop trivia,
Name another electronic music instrument that also used a key to turn it on.
Certian Organs use keys to access the power switch.
Not that I don’t like women, but THAT is all kinds of beautiful !
Thanks Kevin !
Other than " church organs"
Amen to that…
Anyway Kevin you’ll have you hands “dirty” for some time:D
Apart of this, there is a dead Synthi 100 in a conservatory here in Greece:
one friend that went there to help arrange the storage place around 2001, saw that and he was (rightly) frustrated: he told me that it was dead, dirty many pieces were missing and it stood in it’s side panel in a corner. Also in the same storage was the UPIC system that Greek avantgarde composer Iannis Xenakis helpled invented. One poor woman that went there to clean the place, applied klinex in the sketch pad and destroyed the system. She didn’t know what it was anyway, the blame goes to the people of the conservatory that didn’t respect the system and in fact the heritage of the serious Greek music… 
Luckily, the French have one UPIC in action…
http://membres.lycos.fr/musicand/INSTRUMENT/DIGITAL/UPIC/UPIC.htm
http://emfinstitute.emf.org/exhibits/upic.html
And of course, about the Synthi 100, what a great waste my godness… 
the keyboard player in my band (just B3 & Rhodes, no Moog sadly) said he wanted to mod the start/run switches on his Hammond to a pull-start thing like on a lawn mower. How about a Moog 55 w/ a pull-start? lol
When I saw the title of the thread, the first thing that came to mind was “oh my god kevin is working on T.O.N.T.O.” But that is quite the beautiful beast too