If you're into analogue synths you'll like this one.It's at its best as a programmer's machine but can function equally well as a preset one.Japanese sub-contracted manufacture probably not as good as the OB8 etc. but if you get a good one it should be OK.Software bugs out occasionally and microprocessor has its hands full with all the LFOs and ADSRs but reliability OK overall.Levers on mine are not worth a curse and aftertouch can only be reached by almost snapping the keys off.Would be nice to have ring-mod but hey!Will be eternally in the shadow of the Matrix 12 but offers a lot of that beast's facilities for a great deal less moolah. Sum-up:you'll get out of it what you put into it.
Blackstone Hamilton : Overall it's a pretty decent keyboard, but it ends up sounding a bit sterile since there are no sliders or knobs.
It has 2 DCOs , 3 Envelopes, 2 LFOs and 2 Amps per voice. The only interface to programming the synth engine is through a keypad and an 10 character LCD. In the olden days a synth user would literally patch a VCO into a filter with cords and then into an LFO etc. The Matrix 6 allowed for a similar kind of flexibility where the source of one component could be routed to another component. These routings form a matrix, hence the name.
There are a few default routings (such as DCO 1 pitch modified by LFO 1) and 10 user defined routings. A common user defined routing is Pedal 1 to ENV 1 Decay, but you could just as easily get pedal one to alter the width of the DCO 1 waveform or use one envelope to modify another envelope based on velocity.
There is also a component called the Tracking Generator and this can be used to make something non-linear. There! is also a form of FM synthesis. It is ends up sounding very different from the Yamaha DX idea of FM. This is less than straightforward to say the least. The synth engine has lots of possililities but would require a computer program to really tap.
The keyboard can be split into 2 zones with a sound in each. You have to preallot the number of voices that will be in each zone, 0 in zone 1 and 6 in zone 2, 2 in zone 1 and 4 in zone 2, 6 in zone 1 and 0 in zone 2, or 4 in zone and 2 in zone 2. The keyboard zones can be mutually exclusive or they can overlap, up to the full range of MIDI keys. This allows you to layer a sound, so it's odd that there is no voice allocation of 3 and 3.
The synth also features a real Voltage Controlled Filter (VCF). You can store your sound data to audio tape if you don't have a MIDI data filer. It supports patch changes through MIDI, of course, but you want to wait for the voice to finish because it will just cut off. It has an analog input for a pulse to synchronize the LFO (say with a drum) but not via MIDI (aargh!) If you are into toying with a synth just for the sake of it, this one offers some interesting choices.
Released: 1985
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