=?UTF-8?Q?J=c3=b6rg_=22Yadgar=22_Bleimann?= <yaz### [at] gmxde> wrote:

>
> Larry Fast must have been massively influenced by Tomita, when it comes
> to sounds ... "The Planets" dates from 1976, so
> there very well could have been such an influence... perhaps I should
> get in touch with him once more (in 2010 we swapped some e-mail and I
> showed him samples of my own synthesizer music) and ask him about it...
>

I've always been one of those DIY guys, so back in the mid-to-late 1970's, I
built a (large!) one-note-at-a-time music synthesizer from kits made by PAIA
(John Simonton.) Tomita was my major influence to do so. The only trouble with
PAIA kits (at the time) was that they didn't use the standard 1-volt-per-octave
paradigm, that almost every other synth did. And it was purely analog; the
circuits would 'drift' slightly, requiring recalibration every now and then. But
along with my trusty 4-track TEAC reel-to-reel tape deck, that synth was an
astounding creative tool.

Sad to say, I dismantled that old synth years ago.

Now, the old synths (MOOG, ARP, and probably others) are all available in
software emulation. (And they would certainly be *easier* to use than in the old
days!) I haven't purchased one yet, but I might get the urge to
dive back into synth music in the future.

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