My deepest dream came true: I obtained Zyklus MPS - Midi Performance System!!!

I can't describe by words how excited I am now... I never believed I could be able to do this but I really got Zyklus now!

I got it from a guy who owned 2 of these(!) and sold one off because he was too busy to fix it because he owns huge studio with great amount of other rare stuff.

And now only need to buy new screen for my Zyklus. All units suffer from common lcd problem; the backlight will get very dim and eventually fade away, so the previous owner removed the non-backlighted screen off and left it for waiting for new one.

The hardware quality of Zyklus is just stunning. The buttons are very very firm and by pressing them they go a bit downwards and makes a loud click... far from those common light touch buttons of other gear! The Dial wheel is also very unique. It's completely made of metal! It spins without any effort and there's no "steps" when dialing.

Remember, Zyklus was made in 1988 when PCs were totally incapable of doing any serious music production. But because people wanted only sort of electronic replacement for tape recorder or simple sequencer stuff, Zyklus was way too experimental and difficult to handle and it was very expensive because of it's great hardware quality as it was designed to withstand gigging for live performances. Finally to top it all, the appearance of Atari ST with C-lab sequencer killed Zyklus once and for all. So, only about 40 units were ever sold... that's why it is now almost impossible to find... specially for sale!!!

I got even two memory cartridges for Zyklus... well, talk about cartridges, these are made into very heavy and thick metal case!

I can barely wait until I can get my hands into (working) Zyklus... I am waiting for new screen from Germany. As soon as I will get my Zyklus working I will straight away do proper demonstrations about it's features. Zyklus will be the center of my studio because I am specially interested of instant and spontaneous improvisations so there's no better equipment for my needs than real Zyklus Midi Performance System!

by the way, it's also very promising what Bill Marshall (The man behind Zyklus) told about Zyklus:

"There are no custom chips or strange items because it was designed to be repaired using off-the-shelf parts."

So if anything goes wrong, the chances to repair it are good.

I also found this great Zyklus broachure:

Also, out of my curiosity, I would like to know the prices for Zyklus units that were sold at ebay, because the listings are now deleted.

i met Bill a couple of years ago at the AES in Amsterdam. Very nice gentleman!

Congrats on the find!

If I recall correctly mr Marshall posted here about creating a new product with similar functionality, but that was somehow halted because of NDAs/copyrights/trade secrets/patent idiocy or something.

The topic was continued at soundonsound forum and result is that he got only 2 companies interested to develop his ideas. CME will do Marshall's special master keyboard and someone else is doing software version of enchanced zyklus.

This is your deepest dream?

So what the hell is it?

Yes it is, because there's no yet anything equivalent at hardware level... it is still totally unique device.

take a look of some details here:

http://www.elbizri.com/?p=112

ANIMATION

Nice, I can use it for basic recording even without screen. A pity I can't make any configs so without screen I can't change even midi channels. Maybe with a bit more trial&error I could be able to do it.

It can have up to 12 individual polyphonic sequences (recorded step or realtime) which are either triggered (repeat (loop), single-shot (play once) or hold-at-end (play sequence and hold last note(s) until triggered again)) via blue control button per sequence (it's also possible to assign many buttons for same sequence but with different configs) or with midi keyboard.

Each sequence can be transposed individually or merged into group. The transpose can be done polyphonically, max. 8 different pitches at the same time for each sequence!!! For example, one sequence could be only 2 long note but at will could be played polyphonically as a chord! Having 1 complex polyphonic sequence tranposing to several pitches makes sometimes a bit mess

And now imagine that I could config to have each sequence to respond different midi channel controlling different sounds!

Besides transpose there's also other realtime controls as well which I haven't yet tried... so far I have touched the tip of iceberg! :poke:

Vangelis was maybe the only famous user of Zyklus. Vangelis was so fascinated by the possibilities of it that he asked the authors of Zyklus to make new customized gear suited for his needs and the result is Direct sequencer but that's another story. Vangelis used Zyklus exclusively at his album "Direct" in 1988 and next album "The City" was the first one using Direct sequencer.

Here's some best songs of Direct album showing the realtime controls of Zyklus:

[YOUTUBE]ocKqg4ab3-k[/YOUTUBE] (just ignore the woody )

[YOUTUBE]8pzMtOOEX6E[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]Yd2qWL4fxMk[/YOUTUBE] fantastic Simmons drums

[YOUTUBE]FPW-M78eZDw[/YOUTUBE]

Notice the Zyklus:

another view

That is Vangelis' rig? Does he play that keyboard all the way down near the floor with his weiner?

Vangelis owned hell a lot more keyboards than in the pic. The pic is from somewhere 1987-1989 when he moved away from London, closing down the Nemo Studios.

For other gear take a look:

http://www.elsew.com/data/synths.htm

I got the screen fixed now!

You can expect demonstrations from me sooner or later!

just AWESOME machine :love:

Cool!

I still barely understand what it is, other than somelike a real time sequencer?

How rare are they? Are they only in Europe?

I look forward to some demos, though.

Yes, these are very rare as you know, only one batch was ever manufactured, one batch of only 40 units, and yes most of them sold in europe.

It's sequencer designed to do live performances and much of experimental things where you can control all sequences independently, loop, transpose, harmonize, superimpose...

you can record up to 99 independent polyphonic sequences and run max 12 sequences at the same time but you can change sequences quickly on-the-fly.

You know the darn handy transpose feature of analog sequencers? You simply record 8 or 16 steps (or more depending of the sequencer) and then you can change the pitch with the keyboard in realtime... for example, SCI pro one or MFB synth / lite.

Now, imagine that Zyklus can do the same, recording either realtime or by steps, but each individual sequence can be polyphonic. You can record, if you want, simple things like basslines or complex chords.

But when you playback the sequences, the transposing is not limited for one key, but you can transpose at max 8 pitches! This means that you can record, for example, one single note sustaining forever... then you can play it as a chord. And the most important thing: the sequences may respond to velocity if you want! You can for example make bassline to open filter with higher velocity, so depending how hard you hit the transposion key for bassline, it determines how much it affects to filter as you want.

Let's now imagine 2 sequences, one for monophonic bassline and other one is the single note sustaining forever. Bassline is configured to be monophonic sequence and other one is polyphonic. When you play it, the first key you hit will be the pitch for bassline... so you can play chords for the synth pad but you can always control what key is for the bassline... just imagine the results of 12 independent sequences which all can be configured in many ways...

This transposion is the only thing I am at the moment familiar with it. There's also functions like Cycle, Build, Align, momentary, group... so much to learn.

Wow. I mean, really, wow.

That's what I always thought sequencers SHOULD do. In fact, i think I once started a thread, where I was trying to find a sequencer that did all those things, particularly polyphonic transposition of sequences (played from the keyboard). I'm still even trying to find software that will do that.

THey only made 40 units? WTF! That's stupid that this machine didn't take off.

Now I'm mad at you for revealing it to me.

I'll never find a Zyklus here in the states. And if I do, I won't be able to plug it in to the wall. The horror!

Oh well, I'm happy such a device exists. Maybe someone will emulate it.

'Oh well, I'm happy such a device exists. Maybe someone will emulate it.'

I have never heard of this device before this thread, but it seems there is a resurgence of interest in something like this. There is a pretty large thread about someone making a software version (don't know how accurate it is) of this (over at KVR). Or at least based off the idea. There are some you tube demos out there and I think he may have a demo version fairly soon. The thread link is here if you want to read further.

I too am always on the lookout for interesting sequencers.

Dang! Checked out that thread... looks VERY promising! I hope that fellow is able to release a VST or stand alone version. I know I'd pay for it.

It is available: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zyklusimprovisor

You have to join first, then see the Files section. It is a standalone version designed for Windows XP.

Many Kurzweil keyboards (PC3 / K2600) can do what you're talking about. Even the Casio CTK-7000 / WK-7500 will allow you to built sequences have have them respond (transpose) based on what you're playing.

How does this compare to the sort of things you can do with KARMA?

(I've posted a message before, but it must be approved by a moderator? How long will that take?)

There are similarities like hitting a chord and the sequences play in the key and scale of that chord, but with Zyklus Improvisor you can record your sequences in real time and loop them instantly. Karma has more then 100 parameters you can tweak, Improvisor is much simpler and more or less an arranger (sort of).

Well... can they transpose sequences individually, polyphonically? Responding to velocity? You just don't have the idea what it can truely create. Zyklus MPS is still totally unique device, at least in hardware level... I certainly would love to see something equivalent... Just wait until I can get the screen working and studying the Zyklus thru and show you something non of those you mentioned, could do at all.

Zyklus improvisor is maybe closer to the Direct sequencer but it misses all of those master controller functions. Remember, Vangelis used Direct for mostly just being able to have the vast possibilities to be able to improvise instantly, not just arpeggiate things.

Hey, Bronswerk, I also downloaded the improvisor but didn't try it yet. If you want I could demonstrate some functions and info about Zyklus MPS which you could add into software.

Btw, I also managed to grab Oberheim Systemizer module. Just imagine the possibilities of the combination of Systemizer and Zyklus MPS.

With Zyklus Improvisor you can record something in C major for a start, and when the sequence is looping you can change to another key and scale just by hitting a chord, but it makes a big diffrenece how that chord was played (inversions, wide or narrow type of chords etc) because it affects how the sequence is going to change.

@AnalogGuy

Please send me all the info you have about the Zyklus MPS, I do have the original manual in pdf btw. A demonstration of some of the functions would be cool.

I've heard about the Oberheim Cyclone, but never of an Oberheim Systemizer. Please tell me more.

(ok, googled on systemizer, I have an idea)

Sorry guys to keep you waiting. I am now finally able to use Zyklus. The screen I previously mentioned which I bought from germany, was somewhat faulty, because just after 2 weeks of successfull installation, it seems like the graphic circuit broke off and didn't show correct letters... and I mean I didn't do anything with it... Zyklus was simply sitting on my desk and I didn't even move it... just went to holiday in last new year, came back, put zyklus on and to realize that the letters were mixed was not usable at all

So now, after many painful months (the compatible screens were either hard to find or extremely expensive... the only screen I found would cost 150 euros!!!), finally got new information about fitting Zyklus with normal 5 volts led screen and bypassing the high voltage... and now I have crystal clear, fully working screen! Oh, yeah, and the ordinary led screen cost me only about 13 euros

Hopefully I can have enough time to explore the possibilities and spend more time to make demonstration videos as well!

Oh... right... I heard rumours someone else would be making Zyklus mps demos to youtube as well... I must hurry and be the first one

Also, I heard that the other Zyklus that was sold in here Finland ended into a hands of "collector"

Damn... lonely Zyklus machine sitting there as decoration and collecting dust... it's such a crime! Zyklus machines deserves the best possible treatment; the ultimate musical midi tool either for spontaneous experimentation (live? gigging?) of (hopefully) a creative musician or for serious music production... and I don't mean that spontaneous experimentation wouldn't be serious music production

Another big surprise came when I heard from a friend of mine that some artist brought his Zyklus for repair as it had gone thru over 900 gigs... that's exactly what I wanted to hear!!! I heard this guy was visiting near me so I wanted to contact him because I just wanted to meet someone else who uses Zyklus as well and discuss about the possibilities and the ways how he/she uses it but sadly it wasn't possible... apparently he/she was some big name then Hopefully he/she can read this topic and can receive my regards!

Just wondering but, erm, is that the same derivation as Zyclon?