| Robert L's Analog Synths |
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I am a long-standing collector of old analog synthesizers and
instruments, with both
the electronic and musical skills.
As for anything in this world, the important things in the electronic
instruments refurbishing business are love, motivation,
knowledge and skills. I have graduated physics, later on achieved MS in computer science, and along the way dealt a lot with electronics. But, as you may well know, all the knowledge and skills in the world is not enough if there is no love and motivation for whatever you are doing. As a keyboardist, music composer, and arranger on one side, and also a producer and sound engineer (by necessity!) on the other, my motivation to enter the world of analog electronic instruments was obvious. Music is the art of sound, and the search for better sound is the faith of music producers. While searching for my "future sound" amongst the most modern synthesizers and keyboards, suddenly I started to turn more and more to the keyboards from yesteryears. It was the late 80s and early 90s, when people were throwing away their old synths and keyboards, exchanging them for the new era digital machines which were proclaimed as substitutes for just about everything. For a short time I believed it, too, even selling my Rhodes Stage Piano 73 and Roland SH-101 in the mid eighties. But in the same time when doing this (stupid thing), I was assure that the keyboards that produced the legendary sounds of the 70s and 80s, cannot really get outdated and obsolete -- ever. So, together with some new sampling keyboards, in 1987 I bought my first retro synth, ARP Odyssey. It was in a terrible condition, dirty, greasy, rusty, with several electronic failures, and -- smelling very bad. But it was no question at all what to do withit. This instrument shall live, this instrument shall make the sound that, in turn, will make our music live! This synth literally forced my own odyssey -- the odyssey into the world of the analog electronic sound. The first refurbishing work was full of long-lasting and quite often frustrating efforts. But it was done, and the synth was soon incorpo-rated in a semi-professional studio that I had with my companion in Zagreb, Croatia. After the hard work, the love comes easily. It was then, in the late 80s, when I was using mostly digital synths, when a few other analog electronic instruments brought to our studio really hit me with their sound. Among them I remember Roland JX-8P, the E-MU Emax digital synth with analog filters. Not only that those synths were sounding better than any sampler, of course, regarding the sounds within their territory, and you know that we are not talking about grand pianos here, but they were also sounding so different from each other! It took me quite awhile to realize that the synths with analog circuitry have so distinct character, and the sonic quality that cannot be repro-duced by digital synths. Even the cheapest analog synth can offer unique sounds that just need to be recognized and used in the right way. This fact was proven many times. A 100$ Casio synth was making music history (Da, da, da), alongside with the 100 times as expensive electronic keyboard masterpieces like Yamaha CS80 and Roland Jupiter 8. When I moved back to my home tome of Varazdin in the early 90s, I was buying the old synths and analog machines all around Croatia. |
I was restoring their
functionality and look as close to the original as possible, bringing them back
to life. In the same time, the analog craze began and was highly gained by the
popularity of techno and dance music. A dozens of these machines were exported
to my partner in Germany till 1996, and later on to other countries in Europe.
Saving the old magnificent synthesizers and sound machines, renovating them to the best possible condition and bringing the old analog sound to this modern times, became one of my great passions for the last decade and the years to come. It is also one of the priority missions of the Lexonic project, that I have started a few years ago. Alongside with refurbishing synths for others, my own collection grew. The interest for the authentic analog sound never stops. This should guarantee a special relationship toward our customers, too. We consider ourselves to be analog fans. We are friends to all the similar souls who love the original sound sources. We love the job we do, even if we don't get paid for every hour and every extra effort that we make! But this job, as you can easily guess, is not just enjoyment and fun! As first it is a lot of work. It's no fun dealing with dirty electronics, no pleasure at all dealing with ugly, scratched and broken keys and heavily rusty parts. But when doing that, we see what shall become of that -- an instrument that we and you will love. The work starts with a thorough cleaning and washing of various parts, including electronics and printed circuit boards, using my proven technologies. After cleaning all the inside steel parts are protected from rust and lacquered in professionally quality. All other parts are fixed and treated as they should be. Outer surfaces are carefully cleaned and refurbished if needed, to be as close to original as possible. Even the worst looking instruments will be brought to a beautiful condition. They will not only look good, but will also smell nice, and be fully disinfected. For example, every keyboard is completely dismounted and every key and its contacts are carefully cleaned by hand. The metal keybeds on which the keys reside, usually full of rust, are treated thoroughly as explained above. Of course, the most important part for the sound is a proper servicing of electronic parts. All potentiometers are checked and treated for better functionality and prolonged life. What makes the analog electronics truly analogous to acoustic instruments, is the need for thorough adjustment and tuning. This part of procedure requires technically skilled personnel and a lot of time (for details see Cleaning and Servicing). In contrast to that, let's just say that digital electronics requires no tuning at all. Some will say that this is to its advantage. We say that no effort and no extra time can be disadvantageous if it results in a better sound! So we always recheck our tuning and spend even more time to tweak the trimmers to achieve that extra quality adjustments, when possible always above the factory specifications. Ande at the end of the procedure, when we are already proud of what we have done, the synths are either filled up with original factory programs, or with a sound palette programmed by ourselves, showing the synthesizer's overall capabilities.* This is where the refurbishing stops and the joy begins. This is where the music starts... |
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| *This is a normal procedure. Sometimes a reduced price can be agreed if some cleaning or cosmetic procedures are not included. In any case, the buyers are informed about all the functional and aesthetical details of the unit, to the best of our knowledge. |
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