Gakken analog synth kit

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By Collin Cunningham
Posted 2008/07/30 @ 2:45 pm
Category Music, Tools

(photos by CookieM)

Japanese kit-maker Gakken has just released a special special edition of the Otona No Kagaku publication focussing on music synthesizers. The issue includes an SX-150 stylus-input analog synth kit which appears to require relatively little effort in the way of assembly (a feature which may be a demerit in the eyes of some avid solderers). Have a look/listen of the device in action –

The external control source seems to hold a lot of potential – and from what can be discerned from the compressed audio, the unit seems to sound rather nice. (want want)

- SX-150 on Matrixsynth

- SX-150 on Flickr

More:
Gakken kits in the Maker Shed

BY Collin Cunningham

Born, drew a lot, made video, made music on 4-track, then computer, more songwriting, met future wife, went to art school for video major, made websites, toured in a band, worked as web media tech, discovered electronics, taught myself electronics, blogged about DIY electronics, made web videos about electronics and made music for them … and I still do!

In the Maker Shed

8 Responses to Gakken analog synth kit

BigD145 on July 30th, 2008 at 2:56 pm said:

That last half reminds me of old SciFi like Lost Planet.

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Shadyman on July 30th, 2008 at 3:23 pm said:

That’s not fair! The soldering is almost done!

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Collin Cunningham on July 30th, 2008 at 9:52 pm said:

@Shady – agreed
it would seem not everyone enjoys circuit assembly as much as we do.

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docpop.myopenid.com on July 30th, 2008 at 11:49 pm said:

Man, this thing looks awesome! Awesome I tell ya!

I’m still trying to get my hands on their theremin kit, and now I find this little beauty…

The basic design reminds me of a Stylophone, the vintage synth that uses a stylus to connect a circuit. Although stylophones didn’t have knobs to fiddle with, their keyboard interface was actually in scale (like piano keys).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubreq_Stylophone

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CookieM on July 31st, 2008 at 7:09 am said:

Thank you for using my photos. This kit is easy, simple and cheap! The detailed explanatory is also attached. Then, this is the core of a first step for “MAKE”. Many people already enjoy modification.

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smcg on August 5th, 2008 at 11:02 am said:

I have just received my Gakken Synth today, coincidentally at the same time as the man across the hall got one. Both of us built them in 5 minutes, they both sound great, however neither of the external source functions work. Any ideas??

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Collin Cunningham on August 5th, 2008 at 1:02 pm said:

@smcg – I’ll have one on hand for testing soon. I’ll let you know if i can lend any insight.

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Collin Cunningham on August 20th, 2008 at 11:35 pm said:

ok – I could see how the external source jack would seem unresponsive – it’s designed to respond to frequency, but requires a pretty hot signal to do so. It worked well with me benchtop function generator.

the frequency/pitch input seems an odd choice, i was expecting a control voltage input – but that can be had by wiring to the stylus

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