FBT Synther 2000 – vintage 3-VCO synthesizer

The Synther-2000 is a rare bird. Externally quite interesting, this Italian vintage synthesizer turns out, in fact, to be an instrument with a mediocre sound. One of the many Minimoog imitations and obviously one of the many less successful.

FBT Synther-2000

FBT Synther-2000

The biggest handicap is the limited filter design (no filter resonance) and the lack of external CV / gate controls. Nonetheless you get some interesting features such as 3 VCOs, noise and an envelope with “presets” and auto-repeat function …

Envelope with auto-repeat and presets

Envelope with auto-repeat and presets

In the performance section there’s a slider that allows total frequency control of VCO1. Unusual. Today, the Synther-2000 is of historical value only. It’s a vintage synthesizer with interesting details, but all in all it’s simply too inefficient.

VCO1 continuous frequency

VCO1 continuous frequency

There’s a FBT Synther-2000 audio file below. It starts with a single VCO and ends with a thick 3-VCO sound.

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.