Atomic

Performance Artist Tim Kaiser Danger Danger Danger!!

Keyboards

Some items have sound clips- click on a picture or highlighted text to get an mp3 of that instrument

The Atomic HarshTron was inspired by Mike Walter's (Mystery Circuits) version of the MelloTron that he called the "MelloMan." I used eight cassette players (that came off of exercise equipment) and wired all of the outputs together. Push a button and start the motor up for that corresponding tape. Still a few kinks to works out, like 60 cycle hum problems, but I'll get it up to snuff when I have some spare time- HA!

The PedalSynth is built from an old set of organ bass pedals. I used a dual oscillator driver circuit and an envelope filter for controls. Really really really low bass!

The StenoPhone is an old stenography keyboard re-wired to be a synth! Controls for pitch, gain, vox and sustain. Sounds cool run through an envelope filter. The sound clip is one pass through a delay while twiddling with the controls (on the synth, not the delay).

The JetStar is another pedal synth built from an old set of organ bass pedals. I used a vintage analog synth board for the main sound and a modified toy vocoder to create a 3-voice filter set that has a huge amount of dynamic range. A little on the heavy side, but fab sound! Now owned by Joel from Idee Fixe.

The Little Gem is a 4 key synth (the 5th grey key changes the voice) based on a crib toy. It also has a handful of short classical melodies stored in memory for auto-play. I salvaged some parts out of a Wurlitzer drum machine and used vintage guitar amp jewels for the lights. Measures a mere 7" wide. I believe this went to Texas.

The Bass 3 used to be an old Hohner synth that my friend Christian picked up at the music store for cheap because the oscillator was blown (as were all of the transistors and a few other components. Not wanting to waste a nice little keyboard in its own briefcase, I yanked the original board and installed the analog guts from a "Stylophone" into it and added a sub-octave filter. This thing really growls!

The HL-1958 Synth is a 20 key synth with envelope filter, 1 second looping delay (that also does flange, double, echo, etc.) and a dual-voice brain. Contols for sustain and pitch warp. And of course a classic analog meter to go with the classic analog sound. Now out in Los Angeles...

The Kaiser is a 24 key synth with vibrato, envelope filter and a dual sub-octave filter. The little "window" blinks with the vibe. Named the Kaiser either after me, or the station wagon that I got the emblem from...recently went to Italy.

The Aleatron was a nightmare of exponential proportions! What the hell was I thinking? I still wake up with cold sweats....

The 400!

The 400 with Flangulator was a commission from a very generous guy in Phoenix, who in-turn gave it to Nick Rhodes (currently behind a velvet rope in his London studio). I re-worked an old EH-400 Mini Synth brain into a new case, added real keys from a smashed Farfisa Compact and incorporated a hybrid flanger/ring modulator circuit. Also features a pseudo-ribbon controller for the stop frequency and a way cool "magic lamp."

Gizmotron

The GizmoTron is a simple circuit-bent synth. Wacky animal sounds, gibberish glitch, odd "do-re-me" voice and a siren that sounds like our monthly tornado alerts. Stores a huge number of notes or beats in its built-in sequencer. Sold this on Ebay.

SFX Synth

The SFX Synth was based on a a Radio Shack DJ toy. The sound samples are actually pretty good (they remind me of early Sakamoto stuff). Anway, the stubby little keyboard makes it kind of fun. Originally owned by Andy Tolley of the bands "bipolarbear" and "airport71."

I didn't build this. My wife's cousin dutifully prevented this Carillon from going into a dumpster and brought it over to my house. I spent a few days working on it and hung it on the side of my garage. The wiring was really messed up, so I ended up hanging the bells asymetrically in order for the keyboard to play the right note. Thanks to the North American Guild of Carillon Repairmen for their helpful advice!