Members CoolColJ Posted June 5, 2011 Members Share Posted June 5, 2011 How many people out there have one? Pretty rare synth! Sound on Sound review Technics SX-WSA1 rack Technics SX-WSA1R Ever since I heard it on a demo CD from Future Music in the mid 90s, doing a modulated pad, I always dreamed of having one. I finally lucked out after got one locally from Ebay last week! I paid a bit more than I wanted $455AUD, but there were others here bidding on it as well I also sold my Wavetation a bit more than I expected $505AUD which will cover the cost and then some! Anyway the owner just dropped it off a couple of hours ago. It's a bit dirty, so I gave it a quick clean. And one button that didn't work, but a bit of Deoxit on the side of the button seemed to have fixed that - miracle liquid this stuff is! The listing didn't say much about it, but it turns out this one has the Digital I/O and extra output expander. And the Dance expansion board. Both are rare items The dance board isn't that useful, it's mostly dated samples - loops, hits, FX and some drums. But the 909 and 808 kit sounds are OK I guess. And they will make nice fodder for the resonators One of my main motives of getting it was the 2 X-Y trackballs which can be assigned to any CC you want, and it will replace my Wavestation Keyboard as a controller for my WS SR rack. One is sprung and the other not, which is a bit small and not quite as easy to use as the WS Vector Joystick, but it will do. Keyboard is a bit spongey, but fast and can be nicely setup to your liking. Aftertouch is quite easy to apply, a bit like my VL-1. Sounddiver does support it for basic librarian and patch naming functions But it's under the name of Matsushita WSA-1 ------------- Anyway the Sound on Sound PM article talks a bit about it Synth School, Part 10: Modelling Electric Instruments Sound wise, it does remind me of the original Wavestation. Kinda dark and smooth in tone for a digital synth. Same era I guess. Once you remove the default global bass cut - not sure why they did that.... Once I Deoxited my jacks and the sockets, removed the FX, and tried my first patch tweak.... me likes, it's exactly what I hoped it could This is a single tone sound with a seashore sample as a driver for a resonator No effects - There are no good demos of the synth, more to come as I get familiar with it http://soundcloud.com/coolcolj/technics-wsa-1-test Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zzzxtreme Posted June 5, 2011 Members Share Posted June 5, 2011 great find u sold the wavestation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members CoolColJ Posted June 5, 2011 Author Members Share Posted June 5, 2011 great find u sold the wavestation I sold my original WS Keyboard. Which I bought brand new back in 1990. Still working great BTW. But I have an WS SR rack which actually sounds better, seems much brighter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members CoolColJ Posted June 5, 2011 Author Members Share Posted June 5, 2011 Ok I'm starting to understand this synth I used the guitar driver sound and matched it to the Random resonator, and then set a nice pluck envelope shape - oh man I love it! Reverb is also from the Technics WSA-1 Funny how none of the presets sound like this, and this was a relatively simple sound I created..... All very easy, which would have taken a lot more thought and effort on a VL1, and not that easy to do on a rompler. This synth is definitely a keeper! http://soundcloud.com/coolcolj/wsa-1-pluck-random-resonator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AnalogGuy Posted June 5, 2011 Members Share Posted June 5, 2011 I also own WSA-1. Wikipedia says only about 600 keyboards and 300 rack versions exist, and I wonder if that is correct information at all. WSA-1 is truely one of those very exceptionally unique keyboards... unique features and totally unique sounds. It's funny how much you can do with it... you can mix acoustic modelings so arbitrarily together as you want and come up with totally wild results. The WSA-1 is very sad story... maybe even worse than my Generalmusic S3... both were lacking the trusted professional brand and were not popular for the very wrong reasons. Both contains very unique features and sounds not to find anywhere else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gaul Posted June 5, 2011 Members Share Posted June 5, 2011 Forum member Yvo from France, made this demo with WSA1: http://dubois.y.free.fr//WSA1demo/WSA1Demo.mp3 Well worth listening! It was posted in the following thread:http://acapella.harmony-central.com/showthread.php?2197918-Technics-WSA1-little-demo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members CoolColJ Posted June 5, 2011 Author Members Share Posted June 5, 2011 The WSA-1 outputs are unbelievably hot! ---- Created a nice choir sound on the WSA-1 I start with a vocal driver run into a Cone resonator - ie trumpet I then turn on the sine wave driver running into a Bright resonator And then bring in another vocal driver through a Cone resonator, with a different tuning http://soundcloud.com/coolcolj/technics-wsa-1-choir Sometimes when you bring in the sine wave you can't tell it's a sinewave, it just adds to the body of the sound. A lot of the samples/drivers don't have a resonant body ---------- Anyone get the digital output to work? It's 20 bit which is just oddball Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Etienne Rambert Posted June 6, 2011 Members Share Posted June 6, 2011 I read that SOS review the OP posted. That is the first explanation of a synthesis process I could understand in one reading. Congratulations on the synth. I listened to the guitar recording and it sounded good. It sounded like a harp, but it sounded like a good harp. I love those lower-sample rate synths. 8 bit is all I've ever wanted. Too bad synth manufacturers moved on. And I wish the modeling synthesis method the Technics had was still available. It makes sense & sounds good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members CoolColJ Posted June 7, 2011 Author Members Share Posted June 7, 2011 There's a lot of orchestral sounds in it. They have a raw quality to them that I like. Much like what you would get in a hardware sampler back in the day, unlike the smeared glossy workstation type sounds.A lot of sounds have this medieval acoustic quality to themLike this I really dig the overall sound on this board. It just sounds right compared to the glossy sound of the XV5080 I purchased recentlyThere is a certain earthy realness to it. It sounds unlike your typical Korg, Roland and Yamaha tone.Don't know if it's just the convertors it uses or the sound engine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members CoolColJ Posted June 7, 2011 Author Members Share Posted June 7, 2011 There a template driver-resonator combos on the WSA-1 I built this brass patch using one such template Then I tweaked it, by copying into another slot, and pitch down a 5th and detuned. But it doesn't sound like a interval and detune on a normal synth when you solo this slot, since it's going through a resonator, but when mixed togther with the first slot sound, it does sound like 2 brass playing intervals. http://soundcloud.com/coolcolj/wsa1-polyphonic-brass Like this - Funky ass! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members CoolColJ Posted June 8, 2011 Author Members Share Posted June 8, 2011 I crossed a Brass and Picolo driver into a cone resonator with interaction between the two elements on and got this sound - something medieval sounding http://soundcloud.com/coolcolj/technics-wsa-1-picolo-brass Anyway I'm going to create a multi-timbral demo and chuck it on Youtube Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Etienne Rambert Posted June 9, 2011 Members Share Posted June 9, 2011 Polyphonic brass sounds fantastic in the lower range. It sounds big. What's the bit rate on that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members CoolColJ Posted June 9, 2011 Author Members Share Posted June 9, 2011 Polyphonic brass sounds fantastic in the lower range. It sounds big. What's the bit rate on that? I have no idea, but the digital SPDIF's specs are 20 bit 44 khzAnd off course it doesn't work - I don't have anything that talks to 20bit... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Don Solaris Posted June 10, 2011 Members Share Posted June 10, 2011 WSA-1 is truely one of those very exceptionally unique keyboards... unique features and totally unique sounds. It's funny how much you can do with it... you can mix acoustic modelings so arbitrarily together as you want and come up with totally wild results. I'm glad that it's doing bu$iness for you, particularly the patches i've programmed. I've moved my work elsewhere and decided to sell it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AnalogGuy Posted June 13, 2011 Members Share Posted June 13, 2011 Here's the current project I am composing: [video=youtube;NVKb4lO4wiw] the demo version is out there. It's full of Generalmusic S3 and Technics WSA1. Basically Generalmusic did those "melodical" stuff like bells and bell-like drones and WSA1 did all those sort of rumbling drones, specially in the intro, after 0:22 it's all WSA1. Only exceptions were that there's CS-50 played only once in the beginning (you'll notice, it's analog sound) and the ambience music contains pad sound from Yamaha EX-5r... oh, yes, and the wind sound is from JD-990, but otherwise it's pure Generalmusic S3 and WSA1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members CoolColJ Posted June 26, 2011 Author Members Share Posted June 26, 2011 Alrighty! I was going to swap the WSA and A6 on the Keyboard stand positions so I could check the A6 out directly into the Audio interface instead of going through the mixer... and I flipped the WSA over and noticed the trap door on the bottom. Me being curious and armed with a cordless electric screwdriver decided to unscrew to look I see 2 batteries - interesting and a large connector not attached from the optional output expander to the main board... I connect this back up and fire up the WSA - and sweet the digital output works now! Analog out vs Digital Guitar driver through a random resonator, and a sawtooth through a cone resonator (trumpet etc) Analog out, sounds a touch warmer, and has a bit more lower mid thickness. But not quite as precise, the stereo image not as rock solid. http://soundcloud.com/coolcolj/technics-wsa1-analog-out Digital sounds a little more precise, and less warm http://soundcloud.com/coolcolj/technics-wsa1-digital-out Off course it's open to debate which has more influence on the analog outs, my audio interface, cables or the WSA-1 DACs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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