All we need is a name. Just this name.
Hugh Le Caine.
Monthly Archives: August 2007
wsg delux
Last Sideman photo–a major weak point
An old organ technician told me something amusing. He says that the relay shown here is a MAJOR weak spot in the Sideman’s design. It was custom made for Wurlitzer, it’s a high-impedance coil that burns out easily, and replacements are impossible to find.
It has 12 poles–ever tried to buy a 12-pole relay?
The fix is even more stupid. All this relay does is to enable the drum pattern (via the START knob on the panel). Simply hold the relay closed with a rubber band, and control the output with the volume control. But people who find old Sidemen rarely think to try this….
Wurlitzer Sideman – another view of the “sequencer”
If only one could buy such a mechanical monster today — preferably with MIDI output. I was told that lots of Sidemen got scrapped simply because that rubber belt broke, and the owners were too old/senile to get it fixed…..sounds like ageism to me.
My question is: 50 years from now, will you be able to plug a modern digital drum machine, and find it still works? Hah.
closeups of Wurlitzer Sideman
The electronics chassis. Tube complement is one 6AV6, two 6C4, one 6BA6, and five 12AX7s. The trimpots control the resonance of the bandpass filters that make the drum tones. “SHIMMER GENERATOR” controls the decay time of the noise-based cymbal sounds. The inside of this chassis is quite impressive. Maybe later. (Does anyone out there have the schematic for the Sideman? Just curious. Repairing it is straightforward, but how this thing works is becoming interesting to me.)
closeups of Wurlitzer Sideman
closeups of the Wurlitzer Sideman
This is the control panel. It’s quite difficult/costly to get that kind of chemically-etched brass panel made today. The BLOCKS and CYMBALS knobs are rotary selectors that provide five different variations for block and cymbal patterns, plus totally disabling them. I must assume some of those home organists found a use for this–because the amount of switching required to implement the function is frightening. Above the start and volume knobs are two neon lamps that flash in time with the rhythm.
Not Breathing gizmos
http://www.notbreathing.com/synth.html
I have been lurking around your site for a while and never said anything,
so here it is……..
Im also surprised to see that you haven’t mentioned it here yourself;)
http://www.notbreathing.com/carrion/mp3/theeyeand606.mp3
Cool stuff, cool sounds, thanks for entertaining me and wish I was there in the picture.
More of the Sideman internals
Here is the left side. 9 tubes in the sound section, and a power amp made with a 12AX7 and two 6BQ5s. 2-way speaker with two tweeters, one coaxial with the woofer and the other on the front of the cabinet, under the control panel. The big aluminum disk turns the contact arm–it is driven by the motor thru a rubber belt and a rubber idler wheel. The speed slider on the control panel drags the idler on the disk, closer to the center and the rhythm runs faster. Power is shut off by pushing the slider all the way rearward. All the tubes in this thing were original, dated 1958, and still good.
The world’s first electronic drum machine–the Wurlitzer Sideman
I’m fixing this one for a friend. Introduced 1958. In this view we see the “pattern sequencer” — a large printed circuit board (the only one in the unit) with a set of contacts on a rotating arm. The contacts close circuits and generate trigger pulses, which hit vacuum-tube ringing filters to generate most of the drum sounds. This unit was in remarkably good condition, if you don’t count the ugly black padded naugahyde someone put all over the outer cabinet.
let’s make the whole world sound like shit
ThANk FUCK!
…no mORe talk oF thE out of DAte- is thiS thE year 0!
Buzz R Electronics
Deviation
metasonix advert
oh yeah
old circuit-bent keyboard
This was a horrible Chinese combo keyboard (no brand name) I found long ago, at a Longs Drug store for $5. It contained exactly one chip on a tiny PC board – plus a lot of buttons and a 3-octave keyboard. I cut it down and installed it in a small box. Switches allow you to misconfigure the scanned function-selector buttons, the knob drags the pitch waaaay down. Instant Skinny Puppy happy pop music. Runs on 4 AA cells.
Manifesto
Welcome to Deviantsynth.com – a music/musical equipment/ephemera related community centered blog with a difference.
We want ANARCHY. We want MADNESS. (no, not the fucking band.)
We want the readers to post twisted, schizophrenic bullshit–anything posted will be taken down if it is at all synth-collector-oriented, chiptune-related, dull, or sheeplike.
Otherwise, if it relates to electronic music somehow, fire away.
Photos of vintage keyboards are not welcome–unless they’re STRANGE keyboards. Links to ebay auctions of vintage gear are not welcome–unless it’s a homebrew piece of freaky warped weirdness.
The moderators of the Analogue Heaven mailing list are not welcome here.
Neither are the major traffic-generators from the AH list, OR from Synth-DIY. Links to schematics of exact copies of CS-80 filters are not welcome. Neither are links to fansites for Kraftwerk, Klaus Schulze, Can, Tangerine Dream, Ultravox, Gay Fairy Twinkle, or any other hideous 70s or 80s funny-haircut nostalgia keyboard act. Nor is any Bob Moog fanboyism. Ass-kissers are kindly asked to use the Harmony Central forums instead–ass-kissing is Harmony Central’s main business.
All tech must be ODD. Germanium transistors, arcane synth modules, vacuum tubes, steam-powered piston oscillators, whatever–it has to be WRONG.
Unusual controllers are always welcome. If something looks like a Minimoog or has a piano-ish keyboard, it’s usually boring and we aren’t interested.
Press releases have to concern oddities, and must not come from any manufacturer who makes more than $100k per year.
Nothing against Matrixsynth or Music Thing, but they are just repeating, ad nauseaum, the same old neuroses of their readers–a gang of middle-aged owners of 30 broken Prophet-5s and/or 120 badly-scratched Fender Jaguars who want to get rich and become “music gods”, without actually doing anything.
Such people are counterproductive and do NOT aid the production of better, more interesting music. One must break eggs to make a delicious omelet.