| Notes | There are two main differences between the EMW-200 and the EML-200. The first is that on the EML-200 there is a MIC AMP module that is nothing more than a microphone amplifier. In the 70s the mixers were very expensive pieces of equipment and having a mic amp nearby could have seemed a good idea. On our EMW-200 we replaced this module with a LFO or Low Frequency Oscillator that can be used to modulate the VCOs or other modules on the machine.
The second difference is that on the old EML they used a spring tank on the Reverb module that on our model was replaced with a Digital Delay line. The main reason that lead us to do that is that the spring tank is a sensitive device that can suffer damage from excessive vibration and the ones that produce a good reverb effect are the big ones. Adding a spring tank to our project, and doing it the right way, would raise the equipment dimensions and final price to an unacceptable level.
After some consideration, several tests and a special design for our delay unit we decided to use this module. It was carefully designed to have a vintage sound and was proved to extend the equipment possibilities and timbral range.
The ElectroComp 200 was one of EML's first synthesizers, introduced in 1969. It's old school but has very sophisticated features for the time (such as a Wave Shaper and stereo sound). It is monophonic and includes two oscillators, independent high- and low-pass filters, two ring modulators, an LFO with sample-and-hold, stereo panning, and built-in spring reverb. The front panel of the 200 is nicely designed and laid out (they can be found in either silver or blue, as seen here). There are 31 mad-scientist-looking knobs and over 60 patch points! With a little patching, even people new to analog synths will be able to start getting sounds out of the 200—it was originally intended for use in educational institutions.
The eml-200 came in 2 colors, blue and silver. The later ones were silver and the original ones were blue. The blue 200s were also built into larger cases and were a bit heavier than the more recent silver ones. |
