Elektor Formant

Device type	Modular synthesizer
Purchased when	15-Jul-2006
Purchased where	from a friend
Price including S&H	Sort of technical help flatrate
Condition when purchased	defective, incomplete
Current condition	working, incomplete
Status	in use

2 VCOs (usually 3, but one is missing)
1 6/12/18/24dB VCLPF
1 12dB multimode VCF
1 RFM
1 Noise
1 triple LFO
2 ADSR
1 dual VCA

Some day, i posted a list of IT gear in de.alt.folklore.computer, as i was working on getting rid of those old computers and peripherals, and i wrote that i also like swapping the equipment for music instruments. Among others, i got an answer like "i also have too much IT stuff, but i have a Formant around here, if you are interested".
So this guy didn't take any IT equipment from me, but he brought this synthesizer in a dusty condition, as he had it around unused for over 20 years. Talking about what it should cost, he just wanted me to help him here and there in repairing his studio equipment. This deal works quite fine, i sometimes repair something for him and he sometimes brings new equipment or other interesting stuff :)

The first minutes of the Formant were very interesting, more about this in the repair section below. Besides this initial repair, everything works okay, the potentiometers are scratching massively, but i will fix this some day when i have the time and patience for this. There also need some different things optimized on the front panel wirings of the modules.

To see the repair history, continue reading the following pages.

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