Synths That Time Forgot: The Kawai SX240 and SX210 | Alamo Music Center
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- Опубликовано: 8 окт 2020
- Kawai Synthesizers aren't necessarily remembered in the same way as Moog, Korg, Roland, etc., but that doesn't make them any less awesome-- Zach Marr is back to check out two very cool vintage analog synthesizers from Kawai (manufactured by Teisco), the SX240 and the SX210. Two very feature-heavy synths with their own voicings and aesthetics... they sound awesome, so why don't they show up as often in the history books? Perhaps they showed up too late in the market, at a time when digital synthesizers were starting to take over. Not to mention, they're hard to find! They're very cool synths, regardless of their underwhelming reputation in the synthesizer world; take a listen and tell us what you think!
Sounds start at 13:50
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#kawai #kawaisynthesizers #vintageanalogsynthesizers
I love the SX-240 and the AKAI AX-80. They make a good team in the studio.
I like these videos where you cover the background and then get into playing them. These are by far some of the most obscure analog polys, I don't know anyone who has them. Interesting sound although I don't think the character was enough to sell based on the competition
Have been owning my SX210 since 1985, was my first synth. Since then I've fully restored its programmer board, replaced broken keys, fully recapped and fixed many issues inc. dead ICs and bad wirings. It's unique and sounds like nothing else in my collection.
After hearing them if there was a category for these I would call it Dark Dance or Dark Jazz.
Btw that 210 is in absolutely pristine condition amazing.
I own a SX-240, which I have had now for about 37 years. I still love the versatility of this synth, really has a rich tonal color palette and the 1600 note sequencer is terrific. I just took it apart to service the power supply board, needed to replace all the filter capacitors, which was causing dirty DC out, and consequently a hum being modulated on the output signal. The button PCBs need to be replaced, which a few of them are intermittent. I have had some great years with it, and still use it in my productions. Many thanks for the history, I didn't realize they were made by Teisco through Kawai. Enjoyed the post! Cheers!
Tom Holkenborg aka. Junkie XL used his Teisco SX-240 (along with other synths) in Mad Max: Fury Road, Deadpool, Batman vs. Superman, and more...
Wow!! Did not know this
Why?
That Demo at the end was straight fire!!!
The SX-240 for sure will gain notoriety. It's absolutely fantastic. The other Kawai/Teisco gems are the SX-400 and 110f.
Don't know where you are from but in the UK the SX240 and 210 are rare to come up for sale and when they do have been expensive for the last 8-10 years costing more than Roland Junos or things like the Korg PolySix In that little price bracket between
The Juno60 and the Jupiter6
@@Lamster66 definitely cheaper here
@@SacSynths_Jack_Z
Literally there are 2 on ebay
one is £2,500 and the other £2,600
I find your insight in these videos very interesting. Much appreciated. I like synths that sound different than what's usually available. For me the fact that something has historically not been used much or at all isn't necessarily a red flag. There can be real gems there sometimes.
SX-240 with updated OS (Tauntek) opens up the synth greatly including full CC MIDI abilities. Add in the Stereoping SX-240 Synth controller and you've got quite the synth!
Yes, but those controllers are too pricey.
@@SPAZZOID100 You can use any generic midi controller, because it's just standard CCs
Very cool. I remember playing these at the music store
This is great.
Great info
It was the D50 that ended the DX7s reign of terror!
The SX 240 is being visibly being played by Oneohtrix Point Never in this music video, at 1:20: ruclips.net/video/6iKPkxfljBY/видео.html
Not sure which sounds in the song itself are from that synth.
I wish Zach was in my band.
The Kawai 100f/Teisco 60f monosynths from the 70s/early 80s were the true gems of that company imo, if you want ideas for more quirky synths to demo.
Thanks for the tip!
I loved the SX 210 I had for the sounds, but it had some internal circuit problems. It would hang up or freeze and after every repair it did it again. I turned it in and got a Rolsand S50 Sampler.
I'd love to see you do one comparing the Akai polys, AX-60, AX-73, and the AX-80. Great video btw!
I’ll see if we can make that happen! Thanks for the suggestion!
@@asoundlab It would be worth it, trust me. They are just as under rated as these two. Just do the 60 and 80. The AX73 is basically a 60 without knob per function and a larger key bed.
Hi Zach, cool that you look at older synths :-) I like your effort, so keep up the good work.
You should check out the Vintagesynthexplorer site. Great for getting the facts right, about electronic musical instruments. For instance, Roland JX-3P and JX-8Psounds can be edited on the panel, without the optional programmer module. JX-8P and DX-7 both have key velocity and aftertouch. These are important novelty's missing on Kawai SX210/240 models.
Thanks for the suggestion!!
Tiesco,thank for the momorys
saw a band in the 80s with one of these synths They used it to "dupe" all the sounds on the top 40- moog ,dx, fairlight,sequential.etc
Does anyone know where I can find the original patch file audio file to load into the sx-210?
Nice to see these together again. I do remember playing the 240 when it came out here in the U.K. They unfortunately were flawed with awful presets and sounded ‘thin’ compared to a Juno, so we bought the Roland.. Pretty expensive too, I seem to recall, but nevertheless, they looked great and sounded different.... Quite rare now here in the U.K.!
Yes, the presets are pretty horrible!
And yes v different than a Juno - if I had to choose between the two, I’d prob take a Juno too!
Nothing thin about the SX-240. It eats the Juno for lunch.
There actually is a VSTi (32 bit) of the SX-240. Not the same sound of course, but better than nothing. music-society dot de/showthread.php?tid=6600
got a working sx240 from a thrift store in japan for 70£ (2019) ... midi CC mod later.. not a lot better.
Will Alamo music sell me the sx240?
Too bad you guys didn't have the SX-400 in this video too.
Yes! We need you to come on the channel and do a segment!
@@asoundlab , Love to! Get with me after New years, things will have slowed a bit for me and ill have a lot more time :)
@@MysticFrequencies will do!!!
Too much talking and no mention of the SSM filters???
Yamaha dx7 isnt an analogue synth
You are correct!
@@asoundlab Dude, you’re such a joke, you don't know the basic truths)
where the Hell do you find these things.
the SX240 and SX210 are about as rare as hens teeth and when they come up for sale they are either expensive and broken or very expensive. There was a time in the early 2000s where these things could be had for a few £100 but at the time So could Junos and people would pay you to take away their JX3s and Poly 61s that window has not only closed its been bricked up and buried in concrete.
Again JX3p 7 or 8 years ago could be picked up for £50 with faults or a good working one for £150- £200, £300 with the programmer Now you can pay £400-600 for a broken one and upto 2k for one in good condition with the programmer.
To add a bit more context in the late 90s or early 2000s Most analogue gear was worthless.
Only things like the Minimoogs Jupiter 6 and 8s and Prophet5s and Oberheims had any residual value. At the time I was offered an OB8 and a jupiter6 ( with provinence) for less than £600 each
I was focused on getting a Jupiter 8 as they could be had for around 1K at the time so turned these two "Gifts" down Ironically there is a Video on YT of the OB8 bought from this famous musician and costing 3x what Iwas offered it for being restored.
I realize Zach is effectively is a 'kid' and wasn't even born in the 1980s, but if you're going to spout things in a public forum like RUclips, you've got to be prepared to be critiqued and fact checked. The DX7 was never an anologue synth - unlike stated here. The appeal of the DX7 at the time was you'd press a button and be able to play. There weren't any 'complicated' (snicker - unless you tried to program the damned thing) knobs to turn on a DX7. The trend was to load things up with lots of preset sounds that covered the bread and butter for keyboard players in things like the Korg M1, Roland D50, Korg Wavestation, etc.
Anyway, I appreciate that you're enthusiastic about synthesizers and I encourage you to keep learning and digging in, but make you fix up your facts. Perhaps work off of some notes off screen and use editing to benefit you as well. You could also cut down on talking and get more on with the making sounds too. ;)
Thanks for the feedback! Definitely misspoke there about the dx7 - got my facts mixed up, otherwise I think the general story was correct about the jx8p being a unsuccessful response to the dx7. Will try and streamline the talking and have more playing in the future.
lol yamaha was not the top dog bud. The DX7 was a nightmare to program. Sure FM sounds were great but it only lasted maybe 2-3 years then samplers came into play and TOOLED the DX7 with ease. Then companies like Roland(D50), Korg(M1) and Ensoniq(ESQ-1) to name a few used snippets of samples in the beginning of their sounds to make them sound more real and bye bye FM.
Not to mention Kawai was around and stayed. K1,K1II,K3,K4,K5000 and racks for almost every version. They are all highly valued synths.
I guess I should have been a little more specific! You are right that the DX7 was dethroned in the mid-80s by the D50, M1 and ESQ1. That said, it was the best selling synth of the decade and had a disproportionate impact on music of the decade in my opinion. The M1 really overtook it and became the best selling synth of the 90s.
Very cool pieces, agreed!
I think what he meant was that the DX7 changed the face of synthesizers forever. Everything wanted to look like the DX7 after it came out.
@@kiko1935 I'm just being a dick and hounding him because I bought all this gear when it came out and Gigged with it back in the late 80's LOL. It goes more like this. The popular stuff was really expensive like the Fairlight CMi or a Synclavier. The next best thing was an Emulator II or an Ensoniq Mirage (Poor mans Sampler $1800). I don't own a DX7 no more but I do own a TX81z and a boat load of other samplers and such. I would never get rid of this gear it is unreplaceable.