27 May 2009

Roland VP-330

I recently found a very rare and special synthesizer on E-bay. It is a Roland VP-330. It is an extended version of the RS-505 Paraphonic String Synthesizer from Roland with a build in Vocoder. It was intensly used by Vangelis on his early records and is often called Vangelis his 'secret weapon'. Besides very nice string sounds it creates ver nice synthesized choir sounds. They sounds almost human though no sample is used. It is all done by filters combined with synthesized waveforms. It is a truly unique machine. Of course it also has an external input so you can use the vocoder in combination with your own voice or an other external sound source to create some very awesome sounds. It had one of the nicest vocoders I have heard.

There is also an internal effect called 'Ensemble' dat fattens up the sounds. It is a bit Dimension D like I guess, but it really does some magic on the sounds. What is also nice is that the keyboard is split in two sections and you can select independently a male of female like voice combined with the strings or not on each section. And there there is come ways to adjust the sound of the strings with more or less attack or release and a tone regulator that is sort of a filter though witout resonance. On the voice you can only regulate the attack. It is a truly awesom and classic synthesizer that will never leave my studio for sure. If you find one BUY IT. You won't regret it. There is a possibility to retrofit midi in it, so that is also what I'm planning to do in the near future. But for now, playing on it is a joy :)

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