MINIMOOG
What can be said about the daddy of 'portable' synthesisers? Sounds out of this world. Fantastic. The standard by which all synths since have been measured. We sanded the standard disgusting brown varnish off a few years ago to reveal beautiful blond real solid wood underneath. No chipboard or MDF here. Weighs a ton though.

MARILYN
Made by Tim Phillips near Newtown in Wales. The strings are tuned C-G-D-A-E, which means the bottom 4 are viola tuning, and the top 4 are violin. Made of maple and pine with a very light varnish, she has distinctive curves, an open scroll, and a smooth but strident tone. Marilyn belongs to Anna Bushell.

PHONOFIDDLE
Invented in 1910 by A.T.Howson in London, this one was built shortly after. Similar to the range of 'Stroh' instruments made around the same time. The design uses a pin bridge bearing on a diaphragm, the resulting sound being amplified by the horn. This is very similar to the system used by wind-up gramophone players. As an attempt to amplify without electricity, it was very successful, but the distinctive sound never caught on in a big way.
           This particular example can be heard in the soundtrack to Ken Russell's 1971 film of 'The Boyfriend' starring Twiggy. Listen carefully to "It's never too late to Fall in Love".
           To quote the original tutor book; "The Phonofiddle is a remarkable instance of the intimate sympathy and relationship which can exist between a performer and his instrument, and in this respect it is only rivalled by the human voice."

OSCAR
Made by the Oxford Synthesiser Company , this interesting hybrid uses digital oscillators, but analogue filtering. The Z80 processor used for the oscillators is also used for an arpeggiator, adding flexibility. Later versions (not this one though) even had MIDI. Has the very distinctive 'separation' control in the overdrive-able filter section, which allows it to generate amazing vowel sounds. Oscar's singing voice is similar to Tuvan 'Humi'-style singing (better known as 'Tibetan throat' singing)

SH1000
This was the first analogue keyboard synth built by Roland, and also the first model built in Japan (according to Roland, at least). It is unusual in having presets, accessed by organ-stop style flip-levers on the front. None of the presets are really any good, and they override the filter section, which renders them doubly useless! Unusually, you can combine waveforms in an organ-like way (32', 16', 8'square, 8'saw etc) A great sounding machine though; quite thick and solid tone. Interesting 'glide' control, and a great random note generator for serious sci-fi lab effects.

FUNKY DRUMKIT
This beautiful drumkit is a Vistalite Jellybean, and belongs to James Yates. Lucky guy.

CASIO VL-1
Otherwise known as a VL-Tone. This technically is a programmable synthesiser, with presets, ADSR envelope generator, drum machine and everything. Wonderful. As heard on Trio's smash hit single from 1983, "Da Da Da". And it functioned as a pocket calculator, making many school classrooms the birthplace of synth pop and 80's dance music.

DULCITONE
A tuning-forked piano made known by Thomas Machell in 1860's in Glasgow. Like our pianos now, it uses felt hammers that strike tuning forks instead of strings. The Dulcitone was used as a practice instrument, it was light and transportable with legs that folded. It soon died away because of how delicate and quiet the instrument was which then led to the invention of the Celesta. more...