Oh yeah! Gonna check this out. Best synth ever. I’ve been focusing on it for the last 10 years or so bit still haven’t fully gotten to the bottom of it.
Why was Technics making synths? They developed this synth engine for the KN6000 preset keyboard. The WSA1 opens up that engine for us to play with. Why did they stop? They chose to sell it through their piano and home keyboard dealers. And it came out just as the analogue revival was in full swing. It was a marketing disaster, even when they slashed the price from £2399 to £899 and threw in the expansion card for free. I've heard that less than a thousand were made. Matsushita never came close to recouping the development costs, and shut down the Technics keyboard division as a result. The WSA1, along with Yamaha's EX5 and Kawai's K5000, were the pinnacle of digital hardware synthesis. In many respects, I think, they still are. Thanks for this deep dive into a criminally underrated synth!
I own the Technics WSA1...I remember the hard decision back then...Korg Z1 or Technics WSA1...Both were demonstration models from a synth store and I got it for under $400 in immaculate condition...most people were destroying the Virtual Analogs like the Nord Lead, An1x,JP series etc... I must own the weirdest setup with my EX5, Fs1r, Rm1x, Wavestation EX, Ensoniq Fizmo and my beloved Jomox SunSyn...( That constantly needs repair🤣 )
@@Raydensheraj I have a wsa1r and an fs1r too! And so nearly bought a wavestation in 1998 but was a little too expensive at the time.. regretted it for years but actually don't think I'd still have it now!
@@gydur Yamaha Fs1r....the absolute GREATEST FM Synthesizer Yamaha developed....it was a flop when released. Now people pay ridiculous amounts for them....
Gosh the Radias video took me by surprise but I had never even heard of this one and I gotta say, really loving the attention to these overlooked digital synths, this is exactly what I am looking for.
I’ve had my WSA1R for a while now, purchased at a steal, but not really explored as I got it around when I was getting into eurorack. This definitely inspires me to explore it more. Cheers!!!
Purchased one in 1996 brand new for 800 Pound's, had it for a few year's then sold it for 400 hundred pounds, 5 months later wished I still owned it. Spent a long time looking on eBay that soon paid off. I purchased another one for 400 Pound's. Not in such good condition. Had a broken key and 2 of printed circuit board's we're broken one for the pitch bend wheel and one on the modulation. My dear brother god bless him. Was into making PCBs. And a second hand white key came from Germany. All up and running now. One problem if the LCD screen goes its very hard to find a replacement.
This synth is so weird....in the best way possible. Mind blown! Love it. If only Matsushita, Casio, Kawai and even Yamaha and the other manufacturers with esoteric sound design/synthesis tech had more vision and patience. Imagine what we'd have if the WSA, VZ, FSR1, VL, and all these other experiments were still being iterated, evolved and expanded. Imagine if Korg had made a bad-ass drum kit based on their WaveDrum tech to give Roland V-Drums a run for their money in the physically-modeled percussion space; a polyphonic VL performance or workstation synth with FM-X and Formulated DSP included. It's endlessly frustrating to see these companies abandon promising and ground-breaking research and products.
I bought mine in Turnkey in London and I'm sure I paid around the £500 mark for it in the mid 90s, I went for the rack version as I couldn't quite afford the keyboard, to be honest I've not used it much as its been in storage but I look forward to exploring it again and checking to see if it's fitted with the extra board. Great vid, thanks
@@djpiping I bought Keyboard version around the same in Turnkey as well!! I used to love that shop. They were doing a discount I think the original price was over 2K. Mine has the dance expansion board. It's a bit worse for wear two keys not working and the display is failing around the edges. One day I'll get round to fixing it.
@@blush_response i typed that after 15 minutes. i kept watching later in the night and these are REALLY good sounds you made. I probably wouldn't use them, but they are GREAT. I am going to have to figure out how to trade a modular for this!
Thanks for the great overview of a seriously underrated synth. There's plenty of physical modelling tech out there for anyone who wants to explore further. Roland's (also underrated IMO) V-Synth series featured a guitar resonator, which goes some way to giving you a WSA1 with sampling capability. Unfortunately, Roland only gave the V-Synth the one resonator though - Shame! Alternatively, Ableton has Tension and Collision synths built in. These are based on pure modelling using plucked string and impact models (no samples) but Collision has plenty of resonators and a few tricks of its own up its sleaves. I'm sure there are plenty of other modelling synth options out there?
Oh yeah! Gonna check this out. Best synth ever. I’ve been focusing on it for the last 10 years or so bit still haven’t fully gotten to the bottom of it.
I’m glad that there’s now someone on RUclips who is covering these left field and esoteric digital synths that are on my wishlist! Thanks Joey.
Why was Technics making synths?
They developed this synth engine for the KN6000 preset keyboard. The WSA1 opens up that engine for us to play with.
Why did they stop?
They chose to sell it through their piano and home keyboard dealers. And it came out just as the analogue revival was in full swing. It was a marketing disaster, even when they slashed the price from £2399 to £899 and threw in the expansion card for free. I've heard that less than a thousand were made. Matsushita never came close to recouping the development costs, and shut down the Technics keyboard division as a result.
The WSA1, along with Yamaha's EX5 and Kawai's K5000, were the pinnacle of digital hardware synthesis. In many respects, I think, they still are.
Thanks for this deep dive into a criminally underrated synth!
I’m a big fan of all the three synths you named! Thanks for the info, very interesting, cheers!!!
I own the Technics WSA1...I remember the hard decision back then...Korg Z1 or Technics WSA1...Both were demonstration models from a synth store and I got it for under $400 in immaculate condition...most people were destroying the Virtual Analogs like the Nord Lead, An1x,JP series etc...
I must own the weirdest setup with my EX5, Fs1r, Rm1x, Wavestation EX, Ensoniq Fizmo and my beloved Jomox SunSyn...( That constantly needs repair🤣 )
@@Raydensheraj I have a wsa1r and an fs1r too! And so nearly bought a wavestation in 1998 but was a little too expensive at the time.. regretted it for years but actually don't think I'd still have it now!
@@RaceEngineering FS1R?
@@gydur Yamaha Fs1r....the absolute GREATEST FM Synthesizer Yamaha developed....it was a flop when released. Now people pay ridiculous amounts for them....
Bought mine new and was stolen a few years later. Sad day.
damn, that reverb. spread it on my toast
I still have one! I recently discovered my father put all my studio gear in storage in the late 1990's when I moved to another country.
Gosh the Radias video took me by surprise but I had never even heard of this one and I gotta say, really loving the attention to these overlooked digital synths, this is exactly what I am looking for.
I just bought a wsa1 rack watching your video convinced me tks cool video awesome sounds
Picked one up after watching this video, been wondering about it for years. Should go well with my v synth and Fizmo! Digital strangeness for the win!
This was really weird and fun, thank u!
This is so inspiring! Your video has made me free to have a new, deeper, more joyful look and hear into the sound possibilities of my WSA! Thanks!
I’ve had my WSA1R for a while now, purchased at a steal, but not really explored as I got it around when I was getting into eurorack. This definitely inspires me to explore it more. Cheers!!!
i recall this synth being rather capable of beautiful 'airy' walls of textural pads.
Purchased one in 1996 brand new for 800 Pound's, had it for a few year's then sold it for 400 hundred pounds, 5 months later wished I still owned it.
Spent a long time looking on eBay that soon paid off. I purchased another one for 400 Pound's.
Not in such good condition.
Had a broken key and 2 of printed circuit board's we're broken one for the pitch bend wheel and one on the modulation.
My dear brother god bless him.
Was into making PCBs.
And a second hand white key came from Germany.
All up and running now.
One problem if the LCD screen goes its very hard to find a replacement.
And I replaced the floppy drive with a Gotec emulator.
This synth is so weird....in the best way possible. Mind blown! Love it. If only Matsushita, Casio, Kawai and even Yamaha and the other manufacturers with esoteric sound design/synthesis tech had more vision and patience. Imagine what we'd have if the WSA, VZ, FSR1, VL, and all these other experiments were still being iterated, evolved and expanded.
Imagine if Korg had made a bad-ass drum kit based on their WaveDrum tech to give Roland V-Drums a run for their money in the physically-modeled percussion space; a polyphonic VL performance or workstation synth with FM-X and Formulated DSP included. It's endlessly frustrating to see these companies abandon promising and ground-breaking research and products.
this is terrifying, no idea how your neighbors even sleep bro...
Thank"s for this video...great work, great synth... :)
I bought mine in Turnkey in London and I'm sure I paid around the £500 mark for it in the mid 90s, I went for the rack version as I couldn't quite afford the keyboard, to be honest I've not used it much as its been in storage but I look forward to exploring it again and checking to see if it's fitted with the extra board. Great vid, thanks
I meant mid 90s (updated comment)
@@djpiping I bought Keyboard version around the same in Turnkey as well!! I used to love that shop. They were doing a discount I think the original price was over 2K. Mine has the dance expansion board. It's a bit worse for wear two keys not working and the display is failing around the edges. One day I'll get round to fixing it.
@@adralicus yes me too, used to love playing the synths, first place I came across JD800. I wish I had bought the expansion card, rare to find.
what a dope synth. can get my hands on a rack version. was considering the z1.. might change my thoughts
hey man this is a great exploration of this keyboard. i hope you're well.
Nice to hear from you!!! Glad you dig the video. All is well here, hope the same for you
@@blush_response i typed that after 15 minutes. i kept watching later in the night and these are REALLY good sounds you made. I probably wouldn't use them, but they are GREAT.
I am going to have to figure out how to trade a modular for this!
in addition to the Alesis Ion you did it and sold me this synth. great unconventional marvelous demo . keep doing such demos please
Thanks for the great overview of a seriously underrated synth. There's plenty of physical modelling tech out there for anyone who wants to explore further. Roland's (also underrated IMO) V-Synth series featured a guitar resonator, which goes some way to giving you a WSA1 with sampling capability. Unfortunately, Roland only gave the V-Synth the one resonator though - Shame! Alternatively, Ableton has Tension and Collision synths built in. These are based on pure modelling using plucked string and impact models (no samples) but Collision has plenty of resonators and a few tricks of its own up its sleaves. I'm sure there are plenty of other modelling synth options out there?
Please do a review on the eowave quadrantid swarm
who is the guy at 18.06?
Merzbow
I think it was sawoove , ha ha
Yesssss!
wow
t-shirt game intact
I am sorry you should make a video with only display in sightseeing
Yeah... because when you’re try to physically model traditional instruments, what you really need is an audio rate lfo.
I’m glad we agree