I've been asked to program alot of eproms over the years,
but this was a new one on me...

A guy sends me an e-mail asking if I can copy some "rare" chips for him.

I figure out that I do in fact carry that particular type of chip
and told him I could make the copies.

So he sends them to me, overnight UPS Express from the US ...insured for $500.

I get the chips, and only see a small sticker which says  N.E.D  1986

I google for this, and after awhile I find ...  
"New England Digital Corp. (1976–1992),  best known for its signature product, the Synclavier System. "

I did a Wiki search on Synclavier, and found...

"The Synclavier System was an early synthesizer and sampler, manufactured by New England Digital. First released in 1975, it proved to be highly influential among both music producers and electronic musicians, due to its versatility, its cutting-edge technology and distinctive sound."

"Synclavier Systems were expensive - the highest price ever paid for one was about $500,000, although average systems were closer to about $200,000 - $300,000"

"The Synclavier became one of the most advanced electronic synthesis and recording tools of the day.
Notable early adopters included:


    * Michael Jackson, particularly on his 1982 album "Thriller"
    * Laurie Anderson, whose 1984 album "Mister Heartbreak" includes visual depictions of Synclavier sound waves in the liner notes
    * Frank Zappa, who composed his 1986 Grammy-winning album Jazz From Hell on the instrument.
    * Producer Mike Thorne, who used the Synclavier to shape the sound of the 80s producing bands such as Siouxsie & The Banshees, Soft Cell, Marc Almond, and Bronski Beat
    * It found use on most Depeche Mode albums in which band member Alan Wilder was involved.
    * Sting
    * Genesis
    * The Cars
    * Herbie Hancock

----

Wow... I've come full-circle....
I'm now providing a fix for something that shaped the music
I listened to in my arcade days...

...maybe I should have charged the guy more than $10 to make copies...  

Cheers,
Steph

wow.. i still have a synclavier manual (lifted from McGill in 1986).. What a beast of a machine. back then it was at $140K machine that the music lab had.  16Bit sampling when 8 bit sampling was too expensive for the musical market.

sadly, the dinosaur monoliths  all went bankrupt in the early nineties as cpu's and midi's became cheaper & more powerful but Synclavier et Fairlight paved the way for all that music software & concepts are still trying to emulate.

Steph, you really did touch a peice of history.

Quoted from takochef

Steph, you really did touch a peice of history.

It sure feels that way...

... and for some strange reason, I've had this uncontrollable urge
to Listen to Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk and Jean-Michel Jarre all day...  I wonder why...  ?



Steph