Ludwig Rehberg (EMS) interview (german language)

Google translation

In 1974 Belgian composer Peter Beyls was not only a technician at the STEIM-studio in Amsterdam but also a teacher at the Vrije Akademie Psychopolis at Den Haag. Hero Wouters was a movie-making "paticipant" (a sixties-word for student) at the Academy, picking up some easy money as a technical assistant in the electronic-and-film-music-studio. They decided to join forces and gave in 1974 and 1975 two series of concerts, "Transformation" and "In Concert", mixed-media performances consisting of live electronic music, tapes, films and slides.

One of these events (Studio Skoop, Gent, rehearsal at the IPEM, november 29 and 30 1974) was filmed by Psychopolis-student Jacques Tooten, and the material was edited by Hero Wouters in the same year. Projected during this concert were his movies "A Boy's Ballad (Hero Wouters Movie nr 32), "On the Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection" (HWM 64), "De Zogenaamde Zeetrein" (HWM 65) and "Prints" (HWM 25), fragments of which can be seen in this reportage.

Interesting are the use of two EMS VCS3's, communicating through a very long tape-delay-loop, and a platform built by Beyls to control (with hands and feet) his "kraakdoos" (a famous STEIM-synth design).

Music: "Dialoog voor twee Synthesizers & Tape-transport" opus 103 (Beyls / Wouters) and two Peter Beyls-pieces for VCS3, tapes and kraakdoos. HWM nr 66.

London's Science Museum has a small exhibition called
"Oramics to Electronica" and EMS in the form of Robin Wood, Peter Zinovieff and Alan Sutcliffe have supplied a few exhibits for one of the display cases. (click on pic to enlarge!)

• Prototype Synthi E from c. 1974,


• The early keyboard for the Synthi A c. 1971
(fewer than 30 units were built according to Robin Wood)


• A dual ring modulator unit that belonged to Tristram Cary
c. 1969


via Yevaud.

EMS Vocoder - Promotional Tape Recording from the 1970's (german language)
EMS Vocoder 5000/2000

Click on picture to view the video!

The front panel comes in matt aluminium.
No prestopatch socket anymore.
Different smaller joystick.
No PSU 110-240V switch anymore.

via Yevaud.

http://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/david-cockerell

David Cockerell designed one of the earliest synthesizers produced in the United Kingdom. The Synthi was introduced in the late 1960s by EMS Ltd. The unit, which came in a case with a KS keyboard, used patch cords to root reverb and ring modes. David also included two oscillators both with shape and level controllers as well as a frequency control. The design marked the beginning of many contributions to the industry over the years including his work on guitar effects pedals for Mike Matthews in the 1980s.

click on picture to view the video!