THIS SYNTH IS NOT MINE!



Unfortunately, but I wish it was. It is on sale in the US at eBay, so here is a change to distract from the election, dearests yankees. However, it gave me this idea for another What's-in-your-X-collection?-thread.

I am thinking inclusive here: An official red Special Edition of e.g. microkorg is included, a rare vintage/drum machine synth is included, a homemade synth/drummachine is included, a circuit bend unit is included, a repainted unit is included and so forth.

I have few but nothing like above, so I may come back to these, but will dive into your examples or collections if you got any.

Cheers
IX

An Oberheim OBX with 4-pole filtering via internal daughterboards. I would almost call it a rare "version" of the OBX, since it was originated by JL Cooper and he was at
one time Oberheim's chief engineer.

Yellow AcidCode ML-303 prototype, check the pic, top left.

Needs a bit of re-tuning but hey, don’t we like the character.

Actually left, top left is rare-ish Roland EF-303.

Does original D-Beam controller count (on top of Oberheim Cyclone and Strummer)?

I've had quite some gear modded :

MS10 has extra lfo with cv input, extra lfo speeds knob, hpf switch, extra osc output jack and waveform switch

Korg 700s and Polivoks: cv gate inputs added

TR808: Decay on crystal meth

MC202: cpu bypass switch to use cv/gate inputs

Juno60: dtronics midi

Last but not least, my circuit bent 505.
It has one row with volume for all sounds, one row pitch knobs for all sounds, 3way sequencer mod switches, mini jack sequencer + osc mods and a few trigger inputs.

How it sounds? Like crazy here's a recording through a monotron delay.

my collection is very humble:
1) Electribe MX with mute button mod and alternate tubes
2) DSI Tetra with pulse wave „mod“ (which is just a couple of additional capacitors).

Now that's cool! Never saw one of those ever.

I have a Cyclone too, plus EPROMs for Drummer and Strummer (bought the Strummer to replace dead Cyclone board). I've only ever used the presets on it though :/ Do you program yours?

Yes, when time allows. You can go pretty wild after deciphering a cryptic user's manual.

I have a setup where I can change presets on Akai ME30P MIDI patch bay for the Cyclone to arpeggiate the Strummer or the other way around.

The Alpha Juno II it all sits on has a new lit up screen mod if that counts.

Not sure if snare and hi hat modded Volca Beats count too.

I also have not so common Evolution EVS-1 midi-ed up as well in my monstrous setup revolving around Squarp Pyramid.

A Behringer Poly D with all the yucky potentiometers replaced!

And a 4X timing accelerator to pick out those lovely snappy envelopes inside :-)

The off-white version of the Casio HT6000 Hybrid Synth. It’s model name is the Hohner KS-610-TR I believe?

Diabolical Devices TR-707 and Marion Systems MSR-2 with 2x asm boards (16 voice)

hmmm not much that’s custom besides necessary repairs for old gear

i do have a modded Yamaha VSS-30 with a midi dongle. really opens up a lot of possibilities for sequencing

Cool! IF you have any tips, or examples, I'd love to hear them! I'd love to move beyond Emersonics
https://open.spotify.com/track/7eeLW...QDWpO6fPI5scCA

Just remembered this little helper, Quasimidi Turbo-Volcon/D 128.

Prototype M-Audio Venom. Crazy edgy Aggressive VA synth from Taiho Yamada.

Quite a few pieces in my studio have been modified, mostly small things like new displays that make them easier to read.
Displays: K5,K5000r,Prophet VS, MWXT,MKS-20,30,70,80,D-110,D-550, VL1,TG77,JD-990,WS/AD,CZ1,CZ5000,OB12
Others modded for performance: Odyssey w/ Lumina and envelope mods
Chroma: Halloween panel, new PSU, Poly AT pressure strip,CC+ mod and LED sliders.
KIWI MKS-30, Vecoven MKS-70 mods w/ PW, Hideaway studios S-612 mods, Ensoniq SQ80m ( modded ESQ-m by Ensoniq employees at factory years ago).
Finally Aurora A6 modded by Kris Rhen.

Chroma:

Allow me a moment to gush.

I have a CS-80 with six discrete, deep mods that makes it even more glorious-sounding and just an absolute joy to play. I've never had a synth that was such a direct extension of myself, it's just stunning. Sometimes it stops me in my tracks and I have to walk away for a few minutes to mentally regroup and let it sink in that it really is that good. In fifty years of playing, I've never had any other instrument do that to me. There's just nothing else like it on earth. YMMV.

I see you have the Halloween version, cool. If you haven't heard, there are new (standard) membrane panels about to be released for the Chroma. A no-brainer for me as mine has a few ghosting issues. I don't think I'd change it out though if I had that one, problems or not.

Thanks for the heads up. I’m also on the Chroma list , just under a different nom de plume. Dani does great work and I sold him a Chroma a few years back. I have a few backup panels, both Halloween and first 50 but they’re not in perfect shape. I’m going to purchase one of The new one’s as a backup. I’m going to wait until people who need one now get theirs then I’ll get mine.

Over the years I have done quite a bit of custom work to my synthesizers. For me one of the advantages of the old school through hole analog devices, is the ease to make modifications.
One of my earliest was a custom Moog 1150 ribbon controller. Rare today, but easy to find in the 70's.
Here is s pic of the stock 1150, bottom center.


The 1150 looked like a sort of instrument neck, so I made a custom body and custom electronics for it.

What can I say, it was the 70's.?

Another custom was a modified Minimoog I started late 1999. The whole modular scene was just getting traction again. So with the help of a few modular vendors, I added a bottom row of 5U and custom Mini modules in the middle, with the Mini on top. All in a custom made walnut cabinet.


Did a nice walnut cabinet for an old Aries modular and added a bottom row of Frack modules.


Another modified synrlth was a late model Prodigy. This had most in/outs stock, but added an external audio input and an extra modulation input. I modified the mod wheel with a center detent like the pitch wheel. Using an old EML 10k center tapped pot. It has two way modulation between the onboard LFO and the external source. Even painted the switch covers to match the Minimoog look.


My latest project is an Oberheim 3 voice. Kind of like a super two-voice with the third SEM as an extra set of oscillators and envelopes to mix and modulate the other SEM's. Using a Cherry 20 X 20 matrix for patching. And toggle switches for others for patch cord free connections.
Still a work in progress.

Fun stuff, moddin and hot-roddin synthesizers.
Did a few others. Where's my soldering iron and drill?

Circuit Bent/Altered Yamaha VSS-30

Nightmare sounds are made with it

I'm working on a project to modify a few Behringer synthesizers, mainly the keybeds so I also have to build a custom chassis. This can be done but I need to measure up every thing first before I can send it to a metal working plant. I might end up with a FATAR keybed on their synths but the first synth I'll be modding is going to be the Behringer VC340, that puppy definitely needs a 4 octave keybed. I haven't done a lot of research yet but the keyboard scanner should be able to read the input from the FATAR keybed.

Synths I'll be modding:

- Deepmind 12; 5 octave keybed + Juno 106 color scheme on the chassis. Maybe I'll install an inverted color display.
- VC340: 4 octave keybed + maybe a Juno 106 chorus which is accessible straight from the panel if space allows it.
- Poly D: 4 octave keybed
- MonoPoly: 4 octave keybed, with a fixed panel, so no adjustable panel like in Behringers design.
- Poly 800: this one is interesting I might get a Waldorf KB37 re-design the entire chassis so it fits a 5 octave keybed and a fixed panel which has all the knobs.
- Solina Ensemble: same mod as the Poly 800. Maybe I'll add a Juno chorus on this one.
- BBG Wave: 5 octave mod.
- Blofeld: 5 octave keybed + display mod (inverted color).

I have modded 5 of my 6 Monotribes to
a) VCO mute/ square wave out
b) VCF CV control input.

Those are impossible to find in the US. I wanted one just for the color!!

My list could run a little crazy, so I really tried to shorten it down to my favorites.

Customized Eleven Rack. Basically I broke out the Knobs for CV use.



Crazy custom Proteus 1. Basically I killed the VCA's so it is a monster drone synth.


My take on MIDI and CV/Gate control over a Gameboy.


Rack mounted a couple of MIDI controlled Gameboys.



Lenovo Sponsored this custom Traktor monster. All in One PC built into a custom scratch deck.






I love this monster.




Custom Eurorack - Lots of mods here!!!






Original PCB from an actual Speak N Read.














Moogerfoogers and Minitaur and Werkstatt converted over to euro format.


This one has 6581's in it.


This one has 8580's in it.

WOW! Great hobby you got there. It all looks like a mixture of a studio and a game hall

Many, many hours spent, hopefully many more to come!