GRS VCO.3 – The Forgotten Italian Minimoog

GRS VCO.3 © www.scolopendra.it

GRS VCO.3 © www.scolopendra.it

… there it is! Only 30 pieces of the VCO.3 were built before a flood destroyed all the instrument’s documents in 1973. The Italian company GRS with headquarter in Florence is one of the great unknowns in synthesizer history. The VCO.3 with – guess what – 3 VCOs looks very interesting. Built-in spring reverb, tube amplifier … Too bad there is no CV/Gate. The panel labels are interesting. RUMORE seems quite suitable for “noise”, doesn’t it?

2 weeks ago a restored VCO.3 appeared in a shop in Bologna. We have received permission to publish the pictures of the instrument.

For more information about the GRS VCO.3 see Peter Forrest’s “The A-Z Of Analogue Synthesisers” (2nd edition), p. 163.

GRS VCO.3 © www.scolopendra.it

GRS VCO.3 © www.scolopendra.it

GRS VCO.3 © www.scolopendra.it

GRS VCO.3 © www.scolopendra.it

GRS VCO.3 © www.scolopendra.it

GRS VCO.3 © www.scolopendra.it

GRS VCO.3 © www.scolopendra.it

GRS VCO.3 © www.scolopendra.it

 

Filed under 2012, General

“Es genügt, einen Ton schön zu spielen” sagte der Komponist Arvo Pärt im Jahre 2005. Diese Aussage ist ebenso einfach wie ich auch exzellent: Es braucht kein Meer an Tönen, denn entscheidend ist der Klang. Dass so mancher Vintage-Synthesizer der 70er und 80er Jahre teils unerreicht hochwertige Klänge liefert, steht außer Frage. Doch tatsächlich leben wir “heute” in einer nahezu perfekten Zeit. Einerseits hat man – mehr oder weniger – noch Zugriff auf die Vintage Analogen, andererseits wird auch bei Neugeräten die wichtige Komponente des hochwertigen Klanges wieder zunehmend berücksichtigt. Doepfer, Cwejman, Synthesizers.com, MacBeth, Moog, GRP, Studio Electronics, COTK, John Bowen und andere Hersteller bauen hervorragende Synthesizer, die den “Klassikern” in nichts nachstehen. All diesen (alten wie neuen) “großartigen” Instrumenten ist Great Synthesizers gewidmet. _________________________________________________________ In 2005 composer Arvo Pärt said: “Playing one tone really well is enough”. In other words, it is sufficient to play one tone 'beautifully'. I agree with that. All musical efforts are focused on the sound itself. Although I studied classical music (piano and drums), it’s the electronic sound that inspires me. Synthesizers are the epitome of new sounds and exciting tonal spheres. Today, many companies produce high-quality - excellent! - synthesizers: Doepfer, Cwejman, MacBeth, Moog, GRP, Synthesizers.com, COTK, Studio Electronics, John Bowen and others. It's their products I'm really interested in ... apart from Vintage Synthesizers, which I have been collecting for 20 years. Subsequent to our former websites Bluesynths and Blogasys, Peter Mahr and I have now created GreatSynthesizers. We hope you like it.