American synthesizers
Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 8:45 am
Just a rant, but what is it with American synths? Back in the 70's and early 80's you would have thought that "Made in America" quality would have left Japan for dead, but it is totally the opposite. Roland and Yamaha for the most part made beautiful reliable synths, all plywood and steel, that are to this day incredibly reliable unless they have been abused. When they come in for repair it is usually because they have developed a fault.
On the other hand, when an American machine from that era comes in, it almost always has a litany of faults and is almost a basket case. I have been noticing that when a US made synth such as a Prophet, ARP, Linn Drum, Oberheim OBXa or a 4 voice, Octave Cat or such comes in, that it is basically a dead item that needs a restoration job to get it to make any noise at all. TR-808's and 909's come in with a bad voice, Linn Drum's and Drumulators and Oberheim DMX's come in in pieces.
Compare a Yamaha or Roland string machine with and ARP Omni. The Omni will almost certainly be an utter basket case and will need over 100 caps replaced.
Not having a go at the sound, America built brilliant synths, I love my ARP's and my Prophet, and I know that the pioneers who built the P5 and Linn did it on tiny budgets in their garage in the beginning, but even at their peak, the quality of their boards and casings did not compare to what Roland and Yamaha were producing in that era.
Roland built some dogs, notably the JP-4, and Yamaha for some reason decided to put no decoupling caps on any of the CMOS chips in the CS-80, but in general those Japanese designers and engineers did a wondreful job.
On the other hand, when an American machine from that era comes in, it almost always has a litany of faults and is almost a basket case. I have been noticing that when a US made synth such as a Prophet, ARP, Linn Drum, Oberheim OBXa or a 4 voice, Octave Cat or such comes in, that it is basically a dead item that needs a restoration job to get it to make any noise at all. TR-808's and 909's come in with a bad voice, Linn Drum's and Drumulators and Oberheim DMX's come in in pieces.
Compare a Yamaha or Roland string machine with and ARP Omni. The Omni will almost certainly be an utter basket case and will need over 100 caps replaced.
Not having a go at the sound, America built brilliant synths, I love my ARP's and my Prophet, and I know that the pioneers who built the P5 and Linn did it on tiny budgets in their garage in the beginning, but even at their peak, the quality of their boards and casings did not compare to what Roland and Yamaha were producing in that era.
Roland built some dogs, notably the JP-4, and Yamaha for some reason decided to put no decoupling caps on any of the CMOS chips in the CS-80, but in general those Japanese designers and engineers did a wondreful job.