Synthi AKS

BACK TO THE HOME PAGE

These are a few photo's of the 3rd EMS AKS I have owned.

The first, was bought for £420 in July 1972, and within 3 months had developed a minor fault, I took it back to Putney, and they attempted to effect a repair, the synth was collected, and I was assured it was repaired, but on my return home, I tried the unit, and the fault was still present, I returned the unit again to Putney, but I was directed to Hilton Electronics in Wareham, and they exchanged it for my second AKS, no questions asked, and I even got a cup of tea.

The second, I sold in August 1977 for £700, as I wanted to buy a PC, actually I bought a Commodore PET (Personal Electronic Transactor) £699 (1978)

The third (pictured), was won in an Auction run by Peter Forrest (VEMIA) in 2004 and was originally owned by Tim Blake, who then sold it to Nik Turner of Hawkwind.

I have done several modifications to it, adding Sync to all the Oscillators, upgraded the Bulgin Mains connector to a Europlug, added Portamento, buffered the Matrix, and added an inverted trapezoid output.

After looking at David Cockerell's original electronic circuit design, I realised that the 16 x 16 patchboard, was really a limitation on the synth, as the shape of the waveform on all the oscillators are voltage controllable, this also applies to the filter waveform and response, another compromise are the single waveform outputs to the matrix from Oscillator's 1 and 2.

These limitations I hope to eliminate on my VCS3 clone project. which will have a 20 x 20 patchboard from Ghielmetti, which was cheaper to purchase, than a custom 16 x 16 patchboard.

I have added a few more detailed internal shots, this really is a good example of excellent design, showing just how many devices you can put in such a small space.

I don't know who actually modified the synth, but I didn't like the position of the 1mm Red socket placed right next to the patchbay labelling, so I moved it to the bottom right hand corner of Oscillator 2, and changed it to a Red Square Socket.

Neither did I like the position of the Sync Switch on Oscillator 2, I added Sync to Oscillators 1 and 3, and placed the switches in between the Shape and Level pots.

I have decided to replace the front panel, I rang Robin the other day and left a message, but Robin doesn't ever ring you back, or answer your email, the only way Robin works is by direct contact, so pick up the phone and ring him, you will be most surprised when he talks directly to you, and he can supply also most anything you want, he is a most helpful person, but only by direct contact.

The panel has many faults, and I'm sure its replacement will improve the asthetic appearance. I'm not sure if the panel will be compatable, as this is a very early AKS Mk2, and I know the currently produced Synthi A's don't have the Prestopatch socket.