The Yamaha VP-1



This is an interesting one. It came out in 1994. Apparently only 3 of them were ever sold. One to a Music Store in Cologne, another one to a sonic research center in Isogawa, Japan and a third one to a Robot research center in Nara, Japan. Price: about 30000€.

It never got properly released by Yamaha.

It's a 16 note polyphonic virtual acoustic synth with free running VA oscillators. It's design is in the same fashion as the Yamaha VL-1 and the VL-7.

Here's a good source for more info and sounds.
The Owner's manual can be downloaded here.
The Perfomance Notes are here.

I want one! Only a pity that it's as rare as hens' teeth and that it would cost a fortune...

Synth Prototypes

A collection of synth prototypes that later on evolved into commercial products.

First up, the Emulator IIIx. This one was revealed to the public in 1991:


Next up, the Oberheim OBMx prototype. This is the first version without the LCD:


The Yamaha CDSX prototype. What was to become the Yamaha DX1:


The Akai VX90 prototype. I'd rather wished they left it like this, than the one they eventually released:

Synths that never were - Part 3

Here are some synths that never made it past a music fair.

The first one is the Mellotron Digital Workstation III built into a grand piano. Not much is known about this workstation. Googling didn't turn up any usefull info.


The second one isn't really a synth but a Master Keyboard with a built in sequencer, signed Roger Linn. The Akai MWS-76. It was first revealed to the public in 1989, never to be heard of again.


The Akai AX90, at first glance not much different than the AX80: